The Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Arrives in Navy Blue!

We finally have some news from Tudor! The new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue is here and brings variety to a beloved dive watch.

Well, I guess we saw this coming. Blogs and keyboard warriors all speculated about what could be in store from Tudor. Renders were created, fuzzy pictures of what could be were circulated. But it’s always best to wait for the real scoop and now we finally have it. The Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue is here! And while this watch doesn’t really blaze any new trails, it does something more important. Namely, the Fifty-Eight Navy Blue gives the fans more of what they want.

A quick trip back to 2018

It’s hard to believe that it was over two years ago that I penned our article on the then-new Black Bay Fifty-Eight. In some ways, it feels longer ago. It also feels like yesterday because this is still a relatively hard watch to find. I was extremely positive on the newest addition to the Black Bay family and, for me, it basically rendered the rest of the three-hand collection obsolete. Its 39mm case and thickness of just 11.9mm (thanks to the in-house chronometer certified MT5402 automatic) allow it to sit on the wrist like a proper pre-Maxi case Submariner. Looks-wise, the original Black Bay Fifty-Eight is a modern take on a Tudor Submariner from 1958. That adds up to a 200 meter diver without crown guards, a gold on black colorway, and aged lume. If there were detractors, they typically lodged concern about the aged look.

The new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue

With the new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue, we get everything from the original version with a more modern look. Oh, and instead of black we now get blue. And to please the anti-fauxtina crowd, the aged lume indices and bezel pip give way to crispy white Super-LumiNova. Buyers can choose between a version on a riveted Oyster bracelet, a blue Soft Touch strap, or blue and grey fabric.

My thoughts on the new release

I’ll admit that I was a little crestfallen when I first read about the new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue. After all, it’s been two years since the original showed itself at Basel and the big news is a new color variant? Maybe I expect too much. Besides, I highly doubt that Tudor will answer one of my three genie bottle wishes by dusting off the Rolex 14060M, drop in their own movement, and rebrand it as their own Sub. But seriously, as safe a release as this new Fifty-Eight is, it’s hard to argue with this watch. And for history buffs, I guess it’s about as close as we’ll get to a rerelease of the famous Snowflake Submariner “Marine Nationale”.

Taken on its own, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue is a damn good looking watch. Blue is still a hot color, it has historical context within the Tudor brand if that matters, and the dimensions are spot on. The other thing I somehow always forget with this series is how, relatively speaking, easy they are on the wallet. At €3,430 on bracelet and €3,140 for either of the strapped variants, the Fifty-Eight strikes me as seriously good value.

Tudor embarked on a reinvention back in 2010 with the introduction of the Heritage Chronograph. We’ve watched them evolve from an “inexpensive Rolex” to “can’t miss” news each and every year during novelties season. With the new Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue, I’m guessing the brand has another major hit on their hands. Ironically, much like their parent company, they’ve now managed to captivate watch fans solely by changing a color. Ten years on, I’d call that a successful reinvention indeed.

For more information on the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight Navy Blue, visit the official Tudor site.