Tudor Black Bay 41

For the better part of a decade, Tudor has been doing a fantastic job with their contemporary offerings. Watches such as the Black Bay, Heritage Chronograph and Pelagos collections have been flying off the shelves for their impressive looks, sporty construction and aggressive price points. 

Focusing on Tudor’s Black Bay collection for a moment, one can easily overlook their time-only offerings considering the brand makes a damn good dive watch and travel watch with the Black Bay 58 and the Black Bay Pro, respectively. The Black Bay 36 however, was (and still is) a handsome wristwatch. With its almost-perfect proportions, vintage ‘snowflake’ hands and a minimal, elegant design, the BB36 offers up an incredible value proposition for those looking to acquire an everyday, three-hand sports watch. 

In 2017, Tudor expanded the Black Bay collection, quite literally, when they released the Black Bay 41 — a thoughtfully upscaled sibling to the BB36. 

This piece, a Reference M79540-0005, features a 41mm stainless steel case with a polished bezel, a ‘rose’ signed screw-down crown, sapphire crystal and a blue sunburst dial that sports a luminous applied indices, ‘snowflake’ handset, ‘lollipop’ seconds hand and a ‘smiley’ ‘self-winding’ text at 6 o’clock.

Powered by a self-winding movement, this piece comes fitted to a signed leather strap with a signed deployant buckle. Don’t let its refined look fool you — this BB41 boasts 150 meters of water resistance — more than enough for any casual swim during the warmer months or abroad.

In virtually unworn condition, we simply cannot speak highly enough of this watch as an entry-level daily driver, for anyone with a slightly larger wrist. It’s simple, robust, and timeless.

Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf created Tudor in 1926 for the everyman — for miners, construction workers and all sorts of tradesmen. For your everyday person Rolex was sometimes — and is now more so than ever — out of reach. It was meant for the explorer and the businessman, whereas Tudor was to be a different creature entirely.

In creating Tudor, Wilsdorf wanted to offer “a watch that our agents could sell at a more modest price than our Rolex watches, and yet one that would attain the standards of dependability for which Rolex is famous.”

Tudors were in many ways Rolexes in all but name, with the same waterproof Oyster cases and similar styling. However, in order to keep costs down, the brand used off-the-shelf Swiss movements rather than their own in-house calibres. What resulted were watches that were more affordable than Rolexes to the consumer, but still uniformly tough and reliable.

Today Tudor has certainly defeated any impression of being the redheaded stepchild of the Rolex family, and their current timepiece collection — as well as their vintage counterparts — are getting the recognition and respect they most rightfully deserve. From the colorful “Home Plate” chronograph to the complicated Advisor, these models often picked up where Rolex left off, daring to be more bold and playful in their design. And now that the brand has introduced in-house movements while still managing to keep pricing modest, the company is better poised than ever to win the hearts and minds of millions of new watch enthusiasts.

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Analog:Shift stands behind the authenticity of our products in perpetuity.

Condition

Since our pieces are vintage or pre-owned, please expect wear & patina from usage and age. Please read each item description and examine all product images.

Warranty

We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a one-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.

International Buyers

Please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.

All of our watches include complementary insured shipping within the 50 states.

Most of our products are on hand and will ship directly from our headquarters in New York City. In some cases, watches will be shipped directly from one of our authorized partners.

We generally ship our products via FedEx, fully insured, within 5 business days of purchase. An adult signature is required for receipt of all packages for insurance purposes. Expedited shipping is available at an additional cost. We are also happy to hand deliver your purchase in Manhattan or you may pick it up at our showroom.

Returns must be sent overnight or by priority international delivery, fully insured and paid for by the customer. A restocking fee may apply. Watches must be returned in the same condition as initially shipped.

We welcome international buyers, please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.