Since the official release of the Chrono Pink (M79360N-0019) back in March 2024 (an already unexpected release from the brand), there has been the introduction of a newer Flamingo Blue (M79360N-0024) dial variant, continuing the brand’s ‘daring’ theme of brightly coloured watches. But before I start talking about whether or not you should buy one, lets take a step back.

The Black Bay first made its debut in 2012 with the release of the Tudor Heritage Black Bay 79220R with a burgundy bezel and black dial. This really helped shape the path for the Black Bay lineup today, with the brand’s current offerings primarily built around it. A few years later in 2016 the brand moved to their first manufacture movement calibre MT5602, in partnership with Kenissi (a movement manufacturer owned by Tudor). A year later, the brand came out with their first Black Bay Chronograph, a watch that was still in keeping with the distinctive Black Bay case shape, and overall design philosophy with the first release having a black dial and a steel bezel (this is still one of my favourite more modern Tudors). It wasn’t until 2021 that Tudor would release the black bezel, black dial and ‘panda’ variants of the chronograph (still offered in the brand’s lineup today). I can still remember when these first released and how desirable they quickly became, a very similar way to how the newer Chrono Pink and Blue were and still are.

Now for some more technical specs. The Black Bay Chrono Blue and Pink measure in at 41mm wide and 14.4mm thick, featuring the same movement as the standard Chrono, being the COSC-certified Tudor manufacture calibre MT5813. 41mm is on the larger size especially for my small wrists. I suppose it feels larger than normal as I am used to my Black Bay 58 which is slightly smaller at 39mm (in my opinion, a much better, more wearable size for most, if not all people). The case features a large screw down crown as well as screw down pushers which look great and add the benefit of making the watch waterproof. Like a lot of the new updated Black Bays, the Chrono Blue and Pink now feature on a five-link bracelet, very similar to (and clearly inspired by) the Rolex Jubilee. It is personally not to my taste and I think that in recent years it has become a bit of a trend in the watch world to put jubilee bracelets on everything. I would much prefer the standard Oyster style bracelets like on the black and white Tudor chronographs, or for it to at least be an option when buying the Chrono Blue and Pink. However, there is one great thing about these new bracelets and that is that they come with Tudor’s T-Fit clasp. This is one of the things Tudor has done so very well. So well in fact that I would choose a Tudor bracelet over the Rolex equivalent. I am hoping that Rolex can update all of their professional models to have a similar mechanism as standard. I have T-Fit on my Pelagos 39 which has been my daily for the last few months and it is such a seamless process to just quickly adjust, particularly when it gets hot and my wrist expands. It also means that I can get the perfect fit as there are more points of adjustment, making it a lot more comfortable to wear day-to-day. Hopefully Tudor updates this to their Black Bay 58 range next year, as this year, they updated it to their standard Black Bays.

Now to mention the elephant in the room, the dial colours. First, the release of the ‘Chrono Pink’, a watch that was made as the logical follow-up to the recent (at the time) partnership with the Inter Miami football team, which made perfect sense thinking back on it. At the time of release, the Chrono Pink wasn’t really in the Tudor catalogue, I can remember it being briefly put on the Tudor website and then soon after taken down, and it became a sort of ‘off-catalogue’ release. It was said at the time that the watch would be produced in limited, very small numbers. This was then later changed and added to a new section of the Tudor website featuring other ‘daring watches’ released by the brand. Even today it is still hard to get your hands on one of these; but they are becoming ever more available to purchase at retail.

The second release was the Flamingo Blue. Early this year saw the release of a new dial variant for the Black Bay Chrono, now in Flamingo Blue, a colour which is a very striking bright blue, almost more of a turquoise. The name I am not so sure about, as I thought flamingos were known for being a more specific, different colour, but it is a fun follow up to the Miami Pink released earlier in March of 2024. I think it is a fun way for the brand to show that the watch world can be a little less serious once in a while and adding a new chronograph in blue fits right alongside the existing chronograph in pink. It does feel a bit like Tudor was following the Tiffany Blue trend like everybody else after the Phillips charity auction, where a Tiffany Blue dial Patek Philippe 5711 sold for over $6.5M. Lots of other brands soon after released tiffany blue coloured watches, even with Rolex at this year’s Watches and Wonders releasing a turquoise dial for the Daytona. Is this just a ‘trend’ or do you think these new turquoise dials will still be in the brands lineups five or even ten years from now? Only time will tell.

Final thoughts? By now we know the Tudor Black Bay Chrono very well and know that it is just an all-round great and excellent watch, with its Tudor manufacture calibre MT5813 COSC-certified movement and its timeless design, so should you buy one? I guess the answer to that really comes down to the dial colours. Even Tudor stated in their press release that these watches weren’t necessarily going to be everyone’s cup of tea, they are supposed to be a bit of fun. Personally, if I had to choose between the two of them, I’d lean towards the Miami Pink. In person the pink is actually quite subtle which makes it hang a bit more under the radar, especially compared to the very bright blue of the Flamingo Blue. It will be interesting to see where the brand goes from here, will there be a yellow Black Bay Chrono joining the lineup? With the up and coming 100th anniversary of Tudor, anything is possible. What I am really hoping for, is a Tudor made in platinum, but how likely that is, I don’t know.