Latest Review
Well, Tudor did the thing. And by “did the thing,” I mean that Tudor finally made the watch we all knew was coming, but maybe had started to doubt would ever arrive. But now the long wait is over, and the Black Bay Pro with Opaline white dial is here — and the new watch is everything people have been asking for and more, literally (but we’ll get to that in a minute).
For as popular as the Black Bay Pro has been for Tudor, it didn’t take long after its launch in 2022 to notice a curious refrain of voices asking — nay, demanding — that Tudor bring a white dial in the style of the ‘Polar’ Explorer II to what is probably the outdoorsiest entry in the Black Bay family. Renders abounded, and a Polar BB Pro has been a fixture of prediction pieces for the last three years. Now, after a long wait, the watch so many asked for is here, and Tudor nailed it, not that there won’t be complaints.
But first the good stuff. The dial here is awesome. The Opaline white dial (not Polar) looks — unsurprisingly — great against the all-steel look of the BB Pro, and the yellow GMT hand continues to please, albeit despite sacrificing some of the contrast that defined the original release. Thankfully, any contrast lost is more than made up for elsewhere, most especially thanks to the black surrounds on the hands and markers. The markers here are the same three-dimensional ceramic lume plots as on the black model, but here they forfeit the off-white look of the original BB Pro, instead leaning into the monochromatic, contrasty feel of the watch.
I’ve always been amazed by how different the Polar Explorer II feels compared to its black-dialed sibling, and the contrast is just as dramatic here. The watch feels less severe. The new Black Bay Pro still feels fully fit for purpose, but in a slightly more laid-back, ‘I could just as easily be hanging at the pool’ kind of way. It’s also a great counterpoint to last year’s Black Bay 58 GMT, which does feel distinctly dressier, and less visibly robust.
Of course, as I said, there will (like with any Tudor release) be complaints. First among these will, inevitably, be the same gripes we heard about the Black Bay Pro’s thickness three years ago. The new Opaline release maintains all the dimensions of the initial launch; that being a 39mm case that’s 47mm lug-to-lug and 14.6mm thick, with much of this thickness coming as a result of the MT5652 movement also found in the 41mm Black Bay GMT (which also got the Opaline dial treatment a few years after its launch).
If we’re looking to call balls and strikes here, we have to be honest — the BB Pro is not a svelte watch. It’s the better part of 3mm thicker than the Black Bay 58 GMT (which also sports a 39mm case) and can, especially on a pass-through NATO-style strap, feel tall, which I expect will remain a deal-breaker for some. But if you can get past the watch’s height, and the sense that it may not have Tudor’s most up-to-date movement, you’ll have something special on your hands. The Black Bay Pro continues to read to me as the true modern successor to the 5-digit Explorer IIs so many of us love, and this new configuration only confirms it.
The Tudor Black Bay Pro with Opaline white dial is available now for $4,050 on a fabric or hybrid rubber and leather strap, or $4,375 on a faux-rivet stainless steel three-link bracelet. Tudor
