TUDOR TRIUMPHS AT BASEL 2012
By Wei Koh

It’s just the beginning of the 2012 Basel Fair and already Tudor has launched two of the most exciting sports watches of the fair. We’ll start our coverage with what I believe is one of the world’s best dive watches.

TUDOR PELAGOS

This is what all diving watches should be. Designed with a clarity of vision and a design purity that is simply charming but combined with some of the most useful innovations we’ve ever seen assembled in one watch.

1) Titaniun: The entire case and bracelet of the watch is fabricated from titanium, a material, which is not only incrediblly strong and lightweight but is extremely resistant to the corrosion of seawater. For a long time, Titanium has been our preferred case material for sports watches because, when scratched, an oxide forms on top of the exposed metal, ‘healing’, so to say, the scratch. Combine that, with its feather-light weight, and you can craft a muscular sports watch that is also incredibly comfortable. (Too bad Rolex’s Deep Sea doesn’t come in a titanium version

2) Ceramic bezel: Using the Cerachrom technology pioneered by Rolex, Tudor creates a remarkable new look by micro-ball blasting the surface of the ceramic to endow it with a stealthy, matt finish.

3) Luminous bezel markers: Yes, that’s correct; Tudor has out-Rolexed Rolex, by creating the first luminous bezel for the company since the iconic (but slightly radioactive) Bakelite bezel from the GMT model 6542. A fantastic way to tap into the history of Tudor’s parent brand while offering an incredibly pragmatic level of visibility for the critical elapsed dive-time indication. Tudor is the second luxury Swiss company to make a luminous bezel - the first being Blancpain – but, while Blancpain uses a sapphire layer to cover its bezel, here, the luminous material is totally integrated into the ceramic bezel. CHECK OUT REVOLUTION’S VIDEO OF THE TUDOR PELAGOS DAZZLING IN THE DARK.

4) Helium Escape Valve: This was first seen in the venerable COMEX 5514 Sea Dwellers and was created to ensure that helium trapped inside watches would be able to escape during decompression.

5) Retro Modern design: Check out the beautiful Snow Flake hands and square markers; a wonderful tribute to Tudor’s iconic Snow Flake subs MODEL 94110. Do note the attention to detail in the incredibly sexy bevels on the lugs of the Pelagos case, a tribute to the lugs found on the old Big Crown subs like the MODEL 7924.

6) Intelligent clasp: On the titanium bracelet when you extend the diver’s link and strap of the watch over the neoprene suit, you also activate a spring-loaded mechanism that allows the bracelet to contract and expand as your neoprene suit contracts and expands according to your dive depth. This is the first intelligent clasp we’ve seen on a dive watch and is truly a market leader in its execution and functionality.









Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2012 12:41AM by rbdelacerna.