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Old 5 March 2019, 04:18 AM   #1
colonelpurple
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An amateur meets the relaxed Tudor Style 41 - beauty and fun!

I actually went into the shop to buy a light dress watch, very interested in the new 1926 range, especially the white face 39mm with the blue hands and complicated bracelet.

I have never considered the Style before, perhaps because whenever I think of Tudor I think of the Black Bay, and frankly I've never considered the DJ before which the Style has some similarities to.

However I decided to actually take some time and look through the Style, 1926 and Glamour range. Trying to appreciate the different design choices and features. These are all lovely watches with unique design approaches, and its a shame they are not as well known, but maybe dress watches generally have not been in fashion so much in the last few decades. Diving watches and racing watches have been the best sellers in the west whilst dress still dominate in the east. Perhaps as watch sizes now start to get smaller the dressy watch will make a come back. Wearing the gorgeous Style 41mm I can say without hesitation that this dress sport hybrid really works for those that are sick of dull watches.

But is it a dress watch ? The fluting says yes but in some ways this beautiful watch is understated. In fact it manages to stay non-bling at a distance. When it comes to features it’s actually much more of a general purpose watch.

At this point I thought about how the Rolex and Tudor ranges compare. Does the Black Bay compare to the sub-mariner ? Well the original Tudor sub-mariner certainly did. A cut-down and less glamorous but robust full Oyster version of the Rolex. However Tudor dropped off the radar for many years and its re-emergence has both significant influence from Rolex, but also a license to go its own way and pursue a young and more "yuppie" demographic. The vintage nature of the Black Bay, together with its riveted bracelet aluminium bezel and shape is nothing like the sub-mariner, but its Rolex influenced movement, oyster case, screw in back, snow flake hands and other small constructions clues show its the house of the Rolex.

I went over the Black Bay because its the most well known range of Tudor and thus will trigger more synapses in the average watch aficionados' brain, but the story of the Style is analogous.

The Style is a beautiful watch in its own right, a stylish well constructed dress/sports watch with a unusually obsessive attention to detail, with some surprises up its sleeve. What surprises ? The bracelet for a start, you might have thought that there was one middle link with a double indent but you would be wrong. The middle is actually composed of three separate links that rotate freely but are linked together by the link bar, so it’s a five segment bracelet. Exceptional detail for this price point and more like Tudor exuberance then Rolex conservativism. In addition, the bracelet tapers sharply, a Rolex characteristic, making it very comfortable to wear and both sophisticated and appealing. The clasp is exceptionally smooth, with a safety catch but very fluid to take on and off. That's where the bracelet functionality ends - no easylink, no micro-adjustments and no half links. Interestingly the links are quite small which is probably why Tudor didn't bother with a half link, and makes the bracelet very comfortable. I don't like hard rubber straps which never adapt to your wrist and IMHO remain uncomfortable, cutting into the skin. This is why I returned a new Omega 300M Diver and it’s rubber strap. I also personally don't like hard or thick leather straps which take ages to soften. Metal link bracelets with curves on the inner side and the smallest links possible are the most comfortable.

So there we have the bracelet. Something very comfortable, very beautiful with an unusual attention to detail, where the cost cutting is well targeted, but doesn't seem to effect the comfort or enjoyment of the bracelet. This becomes a theme of this watch.

I really like the weight of the whole package. It quite light for an all metal construction, so the comfort, water resistance and longevity don’t come with the usual disadvantage.

The case continues to show the same thought. The surprises start with a screw down crown, and the same oyster case and back design as the Black Bay. A dress watch that can be worn on the beach! The matt curved slim case is lovely with polished surfaces just on the lugs. Otherwise the detail on the case is minimal, with a knurled crown and the Tudor shield on the end finishing it off.

The bezel is a key feature of this watch and sets it apart from the competition. The fluting on the bezel is similar but shallower then the DJ, and of course stainless steel rather then platinum alloy. Worth noting that it offers a better shield to visible scratching then a smooth bezel.

The face is a dark blue, and I suspect, like Rolex, that the flat sapphire crystal is not coated. This provides a lovely array of reflections and a dial which dances between blue and black. Rolex watch designs are based on longevity, and the argument goes that coatings wears off in time and damage the crystal. Take it or leave it...

The date window is perfectly positioned for a 3 o’clock date, just beyond the pip. It’s nice that Tudor, unlike some makes, does not randomly destroy numbers or pips, something that has put me off some recent heritage designs, for example Longines. The date window is small, but with a black font and a white background, its easy to see at a glance. Again, another personal thing, but I am not a fan of the cyclops and very pleased to see it not slavishly adopted here.

The highly polished silvered hands and pips are easy to see except in the darkest conditions. In some ways it reminds me of the Cartier Ronde de Solo with a blue face, but more legible due to the thicker hands and higher polish. The bezel is thin which means the face area is generous and the sweeping second hand to the edge fits perfectly. The minute hand, thicker then the second hand, also goes to the edge, with the hour hand stopping just before the twelve and six o'clock pips, which are double the thickness of the other ones with a depression down the middle.

The movement is I believe the highest grade of of the ETA 2824 but is not chronometer certified. The curved “self-winding rotor” reference on the dial is both a nod to Tudor heritage and a code for an ETA movement in the range. The Tudor and Geneva font finish off the dial with a Tudor shield. All the fonts are in a subdued white.

This is a beautiful everyday watch which is accurate and dependable but is something special in terms of the look and bracelet, injecting extra joy into the working day.

The compromises made for the price point have been selected carefully not to effect the user’s comfort or the watch’s work horse status. Most people will not care about the movement, the steel fluting is actually more robust and the bracelet compromises will be forgotten a day after first adjustment. However the quality of the case, fluting, screw down crown, 5 link bracelet, perfectly designed face, etc. will stay with the wearer constantly.

For those that want an unusually dressy day watch that can be mixed up a bit, whether with a dinner jacket, at work, holiday, swimming pool or beach, although probably not mountain climbing or rough water rafting ;) the Style 41 is a stunning watch that is worth serious consideration.

Ultimately for me, I have a collection of sports and dive watches, but the DJ never made sense in my collection due to its cost and cyclops ... the Style however, makes perfect sense
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Old 5 March 2019, 05:33 AM   #2
Terrakot
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This stunnning blue color
Congrats!
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Old 5 March 2019, 07:38 AM   #3
colonelpurple
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Terrakot View Post
This stunnning blue color
Congrats!
yes
I was thinking hard between the white and blue one
the white one is more conventional but the blue one is more sexy ...
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Old 5 March 2019, 07:53 AM   #4
Terrakot
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Originally Posted by colonelpurple View Post
yes
I was thinking hard between the white and blue one
the white one is more conventional but the blue one is more sexy ...
For me, this Tudor with a white face looks better on leather
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Old 5 March 2019, 07:58 AM   #5
colonelpurple
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Originally Posted by Terrakot View Post
For me, this Tudor with a white face looks better on leather
very nice

I will get a leather strap at some point

I was thinking black croc would go well with blue
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