My 2025 New Year’s Resolutions And Visiting Australia’s Red Centre With My Tudor Black Bay 58

I bought the Tudor Black Bay 58 in blue as a present to myself for my 30th birthday. It’s a significant watch for me and one that I have worn a great deal. So it felt like a natural choice to take it on a trip to Australia’s Red Centre in the Northern Territory.

This trip had me reflecting on the hobby and even my career in watch journalism more broadly. What would be my objectives in 2025? You see, when I started writing for Fratello, I had just gone through a stint of significant career changes. Fratello has been a steady constant in a period of significant personal and professional changes for me. Therefore, it seemed natural to reflect on my time writing for Fratello thus far, and what better watch to do so with than my Tudor Black Bay 58?

The Tudor Black Bay 58 and my 2024 watch journey

The Tudor Black Bay 58 is a watch that has enormous personal significance for me. It is the watch that I bought for myself as a sign that I had reached a certain level of maturity and success. Now, when I say “success,” I don’t mean financial or even professional success. It was more a sense that I had a clearer concept of who I am, what my values are, and what I am willing and not willing to accept in life. In addition, 2024 was a year of huge highs as a watch journalist.

I had come off the back of some interesting historical features exploring brands like Certina, Nivada Grenchen, Rolex, and Tudor. From there, it was an opportunity to springboard into a series of hands-on articles that provided me the opportunity to take watches underwater and photograph them in a real-world setting. One thing that has been a real boon is the sheer number of readers who have contacted me with positive feedback over these hands-on features. Thanks to our readers for appreciating the extra time and effort that goes into these articles.

The Northern Territory, a place ripe for adventure 

The Northern Territory is an immense expanse of land within Australia. In fact, it’s the second largest state or territory in Australia, second only to Western Australia, which eats up just under half of the country’s land mass. To put it in perspective, WA is 2.646 million km², and the NT is 1.42 million km². The size of France is 551,695 km², and the Netherlands, where Fratello is headquartered, is a mere 41,850 km². This means that close to 34 Netherlands can fit inside the Northern Territory. Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Uluru, which is 2,800 km and a 30-hour drive away from my home city of Sydney. Uluru is a sacred part of Australia, particularly to our First Nations communities.

Reflecting on 2024 with the Tudor Black Bay 58

The Northern Territory is also known for its wide expanse of desert, incredible starry night skies, and nearby Kata Tjuta rock formations. For anyone considering a visit to Australia, I cannot recommend highly enough a trip out to this part of the country. It has a rugged and remarkable natural beauty that will leave you breathless. It may sound strange, then, that I ended up taking the Tudor Black Bay 58, a dive watch, on a journey to the desert. But a lot of time when not hiking was taken up at a pool because the heat can get quite intense in this part of the world. I certainly was not going to take it into the NT’s creeks and river systems, which are full of saltwater crocodiles. You can see one lurking in one of the photos below.

When considering what makes this hobby special, I think it boils down to a few things. The most important thing, however, has to be the community. Who knew that so many people out there would be interested in tiny mechanical (or battery-powered) marvels strapped to our wrists? If you had asked me a few years ago about getting into the horological hobby, I may have even scoffed at the idea. How wrong I would have been! The watch community is full of interesting people who come to this with many other passions too. Not the least of which appears to be a broad interest in design and how esthetics and history make something as simple (and complex) as a wristwatch an object of endless fascination.

The durability of modern watches 

Another element that makes this hobby special and attractive for me is the premise that watches are built to last (or that’s what a lot of their marketing says, at least). In an era of throwaway capitalism and disposable objects, the notion that something is made to potentially even outlast us is becoming a rarer and rarer concept. A well-made watch with an easily serviceable movement, like an ETA 2824-2 or a Sellita SW200-1, could easily last a century if treated well. That means your grandchild could happily be wearing that watch while going on his or her life’s adventures when you’ve been dead for 50 or more years! In fact, as I write this, I am wearing my grandfather’s IWC Caliber 89 watch, which is already more than 60 years old.

Considering all of these notions, I think a key objective this year will be spending more quality time with watches and watch designs that I naturally gravitate toward. This will undoubtedly mean more aquatically capable timepieces. But I think it will also be an opportunity to venture a little further afield with the hobby, to take on some life experiences and bring a meaningful watch along the way or pursue a new skill that I can incorporate into this hobby. That’s why one of the things I’ve resolved to do this year is get a PADI Open Water Diver certificate. It seems crazy that, as someone who lives 80 meters from the ocean, I don’t already have one. It also further opens up the aquatic world that I am so passionate and curious about.

Concluding thoughts 

There are many things to look forward to this year. Spending more and more time in this hobby also gives me more confidence as a writer and a better ability to back myself. One of the best things about working for Fratello has been the privilege to pursue many of my story ideas. Freedom is a creative’s dream.

Simply put, to be in this position where I get to write about something that I love week in and week out makes me a very lucky writer indeed. Another resolution for me will be developing a few more dents and scratches on my Tudor. After all, what better way to reflect adventures and memories on a watch than a few marks? But what about you, Fratelli? Let me know your horological resolutions for 2025 in the comments.