TUDOR joins Alinghi Red Bull Racing as Main Partner in their quest for the 37th America’s Cup.
Participating in the America’s Cup, the world’s most important sailing event and long-established sporting trophy, requires vision, innovation and audacity. It is this spirit that led to TUDOR joining forces with Alinghi Red Bull Racing; a team that unites the legendary two-time America’s Cup winner, Alinghi, with a driving force in global sport, Red Bull and that will sail under the flag of the Société Nautique de Genève.. TUDOR lives by this daring spirit since its very creation, a century ago, and today celebrates through its signature #BornToDare.
Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Challenger for the 37th America’s Cup, brings together two sporting icons, equally obsessed with reaching peak performance. Alinghi, twice winner of the America’s Cup in 2003 and 2007, returns to the competition by joining forces with a driving force in global sport, Red Bull recently buoyed by being crowned of F1 World Champion. This association is unprecedented and comes with a renewed team and a fresh approach. Beyond the 100% Swiss Made sailing crew, Alinghi Red Bull Racing brings together cutting-edge skills, particularly in the field of design, with an international team comprising fifteen nationalities.
To celebrate its partnership with Alinghi Red Bull Racing, TUDOR presents two brand new Pelagos FXD models: a chronograph and a time-only watch inspired by yacht racing. With cases made from carbon composite, titanium, and stainless steel and fitted with manufacture calibres, these watches embody the daring spirit that is needed to be a contender in the most competitive yacht race in history.
Both models have a matte black carbon case and a bi-directional titanium bezel with a carbon insert, matching the case in colour. The Pelagos FXD has a case diameter of 42 mm and is 6.5 mm high. In contrast, the case of the Pelagos FXD Chrono measures 43 mm in diameter and 7.23 mm in height. Both timepieces are water-resistant up to a depth of 200 m.
The case of the FXD is characterised by its fixed strap bars and was developed with divers from the French Navy. Inspired by the components of the hydrofoil AC75, Tudor uses a material combination of high-tech carbon, titanium, and stainless steel in the Pelagos FXD and FXD Chrono for the first time.
The screw-down crown and pushers on the FXD chronograph also consist of titanium, with the Tudor logo in relief on the crown. However, the caseback, bearing an engraving of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing logo, and the movement container are made of 316L stainless steel. In addition, a flat sapphire crystal protects the dial.
Daring and innovative spirit of TUDOR is on full display when it comes to the two new Pelagos FXD and Pelagos FXD Chrono models. The watches are imbued with the spirit TUDOR and Alinghi Red Bull Racing; Two separate entities that share the vision of pushing traditional boundaries.
REGISTER YOUR INTEREST WITH R.L. AUSTEN
If you would like to find out more about the new TUDOR Pelagos FXD or TUDOR Pelagos FXD Chronograph please visit our website where you can register your interest in these models. You will also be able to view our entire TUDOR range, purchase online, or book an appointment to come and see us.
by Joshua Getting
THE TIME TRAVELLING, TIME ZONE HOPPING, TIME TELLING WATCH. THE BLACK BAY GMT
The world has just awoken to a new age of travel. It is now possible to travel from London to the United States of America thanks to Pan Am. Economies were experiencing a boost and many young affluent had a strong desire to travel. Economy domestic flights were expensive but much desired.
This was also a mystical time where organisations such as militaries and exploration professionals could request watch companies to create a timepiece for their specific needs. Pan Am needed a watch fit for travelling the world with them and their pilots and Rolex were tasked with the job.
The watch was created. The Rolex GMT Master, model 6542. There is loads to learn about this game-changing timepiece but all-in-all, it was a super cool tool watch. Originally featuring a Bakelite bezel insert painted half red for daytime hours and blue for night-time hours, you could use this watch to tell two time zones at once. The colour scheme has remained much the same, however the materials have changed; the bezel was changed to anodized aluminium in 1959. If you were the person wearing this watch, you were one of the new elite, travelling the world from one adventure to the next or sat in the cockpit of a machine capable of 1,300 MPH; Concorde.
Now, TUDOR had not been making watches for the time-zone traveller at this time, with their tool watch offering focused firmly on formidable diving watches. Today however, one of the very best watches to offer a GMT function is one out of the TUDOR stable. Joining the family in 2018 (in fact mirroring a release from its sibling company) TUDOR released the Black Bay GMT. The black bay range comes in a whole host of flavours, each satisfying the different watch enthusiast’s desires in their own ways. This one was not one called to creation to reminisce on TUDOR model of yesteryear (such as the Black Bay Fifty-Eight also released at the same time) but simply a nod to the enthusiast who like myself romanticised the golden age of flight and travel and beyond all else, the watches that went along with it.
True to the original Rolex 6542, the Black Bay GMT has no crown guards, has bright, strong colours on the bezel and a beautiful domed glass. Coupled with a fantastic movement featuring timekeeping of -2/+4 secs/24H and a 70-hour power reserve this watch absolutely shines through at it’s price point which is only around £3,000.00. Still a substantial amount of money that’s for sure however, for an original 6542, you could spend as much as 300,000 CHF (see Phillips Geneva watch auction 6).
Of course, Rolex still make the Rolex GMT Master, now the GMT Master II thanks to its upgraded independent hour hand function (as shared with the Black Bay GMT) and this is a fantastic watch. It is however a completely different watch, with a much more dressy tool watch feel – incredibly versatile and appeals to lots of people, a model worn by men and women alike; Pussy Galore wore a Rolex 6542 in my all time favourite Bond film Goldfinger.
For me, this watch is more than just another Black Bay, it is an homage to a time gone by and an absolute reinterpretation of the original GMT Master with a representation of that Tudor signature design that I love. As a self-confessed watch geek, this to me feels more like a time machine to go back and purchase one of the original iconic watches for what I feel is incredible value. I also cannot wait to spend many years with this watch, eagerly anticipating how the bezel insert will change with time, as the later original aluminium inserts have done.
In my opinion, this watch has a place in anyone’s collection, unless of course you do have a spare 1/4 Million pounds (see Southebys important watches auction also)…
