The Deep Track, Ep. 110 - First Impressions of the Tudor Black Bay Chrono 39

This week, the Tudor Black Bay Chrono 39 has finally arrived for a hands-on look, and while the full review is still in the works, I offer first impressions about all the small details that excite me about this watch. Okay, so the yellow still isn't hitting, but many of the other details are, and they open the door for a watch I've been asking for for a very, very long time. Also in this episode, a quick look at the Nikonos camera, and the Canon Sure Shot WP. 

Show Notes:

The Deep Track

Tudor Pelagos FXD

GMT on Film

Nikonos

Tudor Black Bay Chrono 39

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Deep Track Podcast, an exploration of watches, trends, and culture with the few adventures in between. I'm your host, Blake Benner. This will be a solo episode this week talking about some upcoming plans, uh some new film cameras that I've just brought into the collection, and the Tutor Black Bay Chrono 39, aka the Bumblebee, which I've been spending some time with this past week. And it's a watch that has had a few surprises up its sleeve for me, so we'll get into all of that in this episode. Before I do, a quick thank you to everyone who has bought uh the Deep Track hat. I really just have a couple of them left. So if you want one, be sure to jump on it now before they are gone. Uh, thank you to those who have bought one, though. The support really means a lot to me, so thank you. And we did get uh some great feedback from the last episode with Wesley. We talked about doing some uh uh maybe a strap project in the near future. So the wheels are turning on that stuff. I also have some pretty cool ideas for uh some shirts uh with uh with a graphic design uh around the deep track and watches and stuff like that on it, so keep an eye out for that. Um hopefully later on this year, and we'll see how the strap thing uh comes along. Uh and again, if you have any other ideas there, feel free to reach out. I am all ears. Alright, before we get into it, I am wearing a Tudor Pelagos FXD in black, and I've got a 20mm uh Matte Supreme NATO from my friends at Crown and Buckle. I still like these straps a lot. Uh, you've likely seen them on a lot of my watches if you follow me on Instagram or anything like that. I've been wearing it with a 20mm width strap uh lately, which honestly feels pretty good. Uh the size here kind of makes it uh a little more manageable almost on the wrist, like it's not as wide uh up at the top. So, and there's not really that much of like a visual hint that it's like undersized for the watch or anything like that. So I think some guys on Grey NATO Slack had suggested it. Uh so thank you to you guys. You know who you are. Um, but I kind of dig this looks. If you've got an FXD, maybe try popping a 20mm pass-through on it and uh and just seeing if it takes to you or not. I will be heading out to Myrtle Beach next week uh to spend some time with the in-laws and uh hoping to get in the water for a dive, uh, to dive a wreck out there. Um hoping I can get on a charter. And in doing so, I just picked up a Nikonos, uh, Nikonos 5, uh actually film camera that has been pressure tested and should be good, up to 40 meters, uh, which is certainly more than enough uh for for for my needs. Uh I don't even have flash units for it or anything like that, so I don't think it would be much good at that depth. Anyways, were I to take it down uh that far. But uh this is a this is a really interesting camera, and it's one that has a pretty rich like pedigree to it as well. The brand was launched by by Nikon in like the 60s to be cameras specifically meant for underwater photography. The Nikonos represented like kind of a big step up from like the Calypso cameras um that uh uh Jacques Cousteau would use and stuff like that. So uh this it's a 35mm camera. It's it's not huge, but it is dense. It's it's a bit heavy, uh, and I think there's a lot of you know bushings and and and stuff like that in it to kind of keep everything sealed, obviously all the all the vital bits uh sealed. And what makes this camera interesting is that it has two knobs on the lens that are used to adjust um the focus and the aperture. You can set the knob up on the top of the thing to kind of manage the shutter speed on its own, and then you can manage the distance that you want things to be in focus and uh and whatever aperture you can get away with using. I think you'd want it probably stopped uh, you know, as as as close down as possible so that you could kind of allow yourself as much leeway in what you are uh what you are hopefully getting in focus in front of you. It seems like a really interesting camera to use underwater, so I'm excited to maybe give this thing a try and uh and see what happens. Like I said though, um, you know, without any kind of external flash um units on this thing, or at least a big torch or something like that, I don't think it would be all that useful below, I don't know, like 10 meters or so or something like that. As the visibility gets uh can can get a little bit rough once you get once you get deeper. Obviously you'd want to use a higher speed uh film with this stuff as well. The highest I have on me is only 800. I think I have some Cinestil 800T, uh, which is tungsten balanced. So I guess maybe I'll chuck a roll of that in and uh see what it looks like at shallower depths uh just to just to see what it's like using it. Uh I think it'd be really kind of fun experience uh to add to the dive and a little more interesting than a uh GoPro dangling uh around the wrist. So I also picked up a Canon ShureShot uh weatherproof uh 35mm camera uh as well to take with me. And this has kind of like a sealed case as well, and uh I figured this would be a fun one to hand off to my son and kind of let him go nuts. With some Ektar 100 in there or something like that. Uh so I think those are the only two cameras that I'm gonna that I'm gonna take with me down there and kind of see what happens with this. I've promised myself that I will start sharing uh more of the film pictures that I take on Instagram as a way for me to kind of get back into the swing of posting on Instagram kind of on my own terms, and I did post a picture of a watch. I've taken one picture of a watch with a film camera and I put it up on on Instagram last week. It certainly captures something that um I don't know, I don't want to say magic or anything like that. Like it's it's just a different vibe. And uh, you know, and I find it kind of an interesting aesthetic, and uh I don't really shoot watches with this kind of stuff, and uh I don't really plan to shoot a whole ton of watches with them. Uh, but you know, if the if the if the light is nice and uh and uh you know if it's the mood or anything like that, then maybe I will fire off uh an exposure or two to see what I can capture with it, and I think I got a nice one of um of the GMT, which is on Instagram. I'll leave a link to that down below if you care to look at it. I also took my son to a My Chemical Romance concert, and I took uh I took a film camera, a Minolta X370 that was loaded with some Ilford HP5. Not a fabulous lens on that or anything, um, but uh but it did capture some pretty cool shots of uh of the crowd standing in front of of the band with all the big kind of pyrotechnics and lights that were going off. Uh, I think there was some pretty cool pictures uh that came from that as well. I gave him a disposable camera to take uh to get some shots, but uh unfortunately it was a little too dark uh there to use that, so um nothing that could really be done about that. But yeah, overall, uh I am still very much on the film train and kind of diving uh and still kind of diving into that hole uh and learning more about it. It's uh obviously kind of a space that's tangential to to watches and uh uh and there's there's so much to learn, and just just like with watches. So it's kind of once you get once you get that a little bit under your skin, uh then you just kind of want to keep consuming more and more uh content around it to learn more about it because you're hunting for like uh like the experience that goes with these things. That's why we use these things at all. Obviously, a lot of other cameras are gonna take much better pictures, just like a digital camera or just like a digital watch will keep much better time than uh than a mechanical watch. Um but we enjoy the experience of using a mechanical watch and wearing one. You know, it's something that's worthwhile um to put our time into. And with the cameras, it's it's uh it's largely the same. You know, there's a there's a there's an experience that you're looking for around these things that um that you just don't find with uh you know with a camera. I've talked about it in the past, of course, with with the Sony stuff and all that, you can you know just kind of stand there and you're just kind of like a um uh a passive participant uh in it uh a little bit. So, you know, so if the process of getting nice pictures is fun to you and it's something that you go out of your way to do, then uh, you know, I'd encourage you to at least give it a shot. Uh especially if you're a person that um, you know, inexplicably buys mechanical watches that are more expensive than digital watches and keep worse time. Um there's a reason that you that uh that we do that and and that we engage with these things uh on that level. And uh and it's the same thing that really kind of has me uh jazzed about kind of getting back into uh film photography and really kind of falling back in love with uh with that kind of stuff. So all right, with all that out of the way, let's talk about this Tutor Black Bay Chrono. What is his full name? The Black Bay Chrono 39. Uh this is a new chronograph that was released earlier this year that addressed the really the biggest concerns that people have had in complaints about uh the Black Bay chronograph, which has obviously been it's it's heft in its size, and you know, nothing new there. I think there are a number of tutor watches that uh have had those kinds of complaints levied against them. You know, I think not every watch needs to be small and and thin and stuff like that, so I generally don't have an issue with them making larger watches that are a little bit bulkier. I know there's certainly a market for that kind of stuff, but it's certainly nice to have an option for those of us who prefer maybe a little tidier package on the wrist. And this certainly is that. Uh this is a 39mm steel chronograph that uh that measures just a hair over 13 millimeters in thickness. So it's really just uh it's a fantastic package on the wrist. And on my wrist, it really just kind of fit like a glove, like the the first time that I put it on. Um, you know, I'm I'm not gonna beat around the bush there. It this is this thing is just fantastic on the wrist. And I I I dearly hope that they continue developing on this. And I, you know, I I I feel like now that they have this thing here, you know, they've got the template for it down, and it's not like they had to go way out of their way. I mean, I say that maybe maybe they did they did, but when I'm, you know, for me looking at it, you know, they're using the same movement that is in the other Black Bay chronographs, and it seems to me that they've they've lifted everything up a little bit to kind of tuck everything in tighter into the back pack everything in tighter into the case, because it feels like the dial is is set very, very shallow under the uh under the crystal, which which I kind of like. To me, this kind of like brings the dial right up there. It's like this has this like HD kind of effect. Uh, you know, I've talked about it before with with why I like the FXD, because it it really kind of feels like there's barely even a crystal there. Like it looks like you're just literally looking at the dial. It just does wonders for um for legibility overall. And it's the same here. And uh so for for me, like I really like that um uh about it, and to me, it kind of just like proportionally feels uh feels right. So, you know, obviously now that they know that they can do that and they've they've put the work into you know whatever's going on internally uh within the case and how they're keeping the movement in there, they've they've cracked that nut. So hopefully we do start to see additional options that can be offered alongside their uh the the larger Black Bay chronographs, which I know um are still very popular and a lot of people like, and and that's great. Um, but you know, this to me was was uh was really fantastic to wear on a kind of a daily basis if you wanted to walk around in, go to work in, go out in the evenings in, wear it over the course of a whole weekend, over the whole week. Uh, this is a watch that you could certainly do that in and really not think twice about it. Um it has uh it really just kind of has that level of uh of comfort and of ergonomic uh quality, I guess you could call it. Uh, but there's it's more than that as well. There are some other details about this watch that uh that I found really interesting that I wasn't really expecting. And I will preface this by saying I haven't really spent that much time with a 41mm black bag chrono just because it's it's it's not a watch that's really been um it's it's not really like to my tastes. I know there are some some really sharp configurations and uh and and they've been popular, but but it's generally just hasn't been uh my thing. So I haven't had the the interest to kind of spend all that much time with one. Looking at the 39, there were a few kind of small details that jumped out at me that I went back to look at some of the previous Black Bag Chronos and didn't didn't find. And uh in the first one is the bezel itself and how they handled the design of the tachymeter around the edge of the bezel, and how they weight the information that is presented around the uh uh around the bezel, like the size of the dots when you're up at real high speeds, go from large to small, uh, and then how the uh dispersion of the index kind of uh spreads out gradually from 100 uh to to slower, but how they still kind of manage to prioritize to make it like really easy to read, like to separate the differences between um between some of the numbers. And I don't see that on the original uh Black Bay on the 41mm Black Bay Chronos. I really like how they've handled uh the tachymeter bezel here. To me, it's really just kind of like one of those little details that signifies the level of of thought that went into uh to designing this special, instead of just kind of thinking, okay, we're just gonna shrink this down a little bit and jam the movement in there and uh and call it a day, no big deal. Uh like every little part of it seems like they've they've gone back and addressed in a way that would make sense for a smaller package. And that includes ways to prioritize the information uh so that your eye has an easier time reading it. Uh now I did notice that the hands as well feel maybe slightly thinner than I was expecting, um, so that they aren't blocking off as much of the subdial uh information as you know when they're passing over overhead as you might expect. And again, I did not have a 41 right with me or or next to it to kind of to see just how different they are. In the pictures on their website, they really don't look all that different. Um, but uh but but when I when I had this thing on the wrist, uh I did notice that it wasn't that it wasn't that bad. Uh so that's another change that they even reference in uh in the kind of detail sheet of this watch. Uh the other thing has to do with the case, the treatment of the case, and the and the chamfer that they put along the edge of the lug. It is uh a much more old school chamfer style. It's like wide and shallow and it widens out toward the tip of the lug to kind of visually thin out uh that lug a little bit, which I love. This to me is like uh one of those real small old school details that um that you notice the effect of, but again, you might not be able to put your finger on it exactly what it is or or why it is that way or why it feels that way. Uh but if you look at the the 41mm case, it has a very consistent, kind of small chamfer that runs the line of uh the kind of top belt of the case there from lug to lug. And it is a much more organic and again old school kind of shape of chamfer that is being used here on this example on the Chrono 39. And you know, this is the kind of thing that tells me, okay, they've got maybe bigger plans here for this thing. And you know, I've talked before about how the general kind of design of the Black Bay chronograph is not isn't really my thing. But looking back at the history of Tudor chronographs, they obviously have some very unique designs that I would dearly love to see in this kind of a case that have a similar style of chamfer along their edge. Uh, you know, if if you listen to this at all in the past, I'm sure you've heard me go on and on about these kind of things, but the 7149, um, the 7159, uh, you know, the uh the 7169, you know, these are the so-called uh uh Monte Carlo uh chronograph designs, and and they are purely original to tutor. So I I think that it is they represent really like an important part of the history of them establishing themselves as their own brand and and really kind of giving themselves an identity that is all their own. And to me, this is the watch that really kind of did that for the first time. So I think that this design deserves to be um to be recognized and to be used today because I think it would accomplish the same thing. And obviously, they aren't shy about doing this in their other collections, then um, you know, I think they've hashed this out pretty well in their in their Black Bay family, we can say, right? So this case and uh this size, I think opens the door for them to approach these chronographs of some of these chronographs from their history in a more nuanced manner that that we would love to see, you know, these uh uh some of these great chronograph references in the past, uh, but really it's more than that. It is like their their DNA, their own DNA that is unique to them. Um, that's not Rolex or anybody else, like it is their own thing. So I think that's what makes it really important and why I think if they you know bring this back if if and when that they do it in a way that um that does it justice uh to some of these details that we've been talking about. And what I see with this 39mm black bay chrono is like that. It's it's laying the groundwork to do exactly that. And I don't think that they should do it in a way that is reissuing it one for one or anything like that, but I think it should be kind of a modern evolution of the design because it is their own. And you know, what what would this look like in in modern guys? And uh, and you know, let's do it. Now they've got the case to do it, they've got uh their movement for it, and uh, you know, I'd love to see it. This is before they went into the uh the Valjeu 7750 kind of era chronographs that have the three separate uh subdials in that configuration. You know, these these original ones have uh the dual the the dual registers um that totalize up to 45 minutes and then a running second hand. To me, that's all you really need in a in a chronograph, anyways. Like even if you, you know, on the rare occasion that you're using it, it's probably something that is you know inside of those time frames. That makes it a little easier to use, anyways, I think. Um, I think it would be interesting to see them approach this and do um a variation that does keep an aluminum insert here in the bezel. Uh, but also but also do one that is closer to the 7159 that had a steel bezel. Like I think this would look fantastic with a brushed, that's very important, brushed steel bezel and an etched tachymeter in there in this 39 millimeter case, I think would uh would be a real showstopper. So, you know, fingers crossed that all that stuff is on the horizon at some point. Uh, because because everything else about this watch is is is is really fantastic. And I why I say everything else, because the one thing that I didn't really talk about is the dial. And of course, it's very vibrant yellow, and it is uh you know beset with black subdials and the black uh bezel insert. And you know, I'm I'm not yeah, I'm not a huge fan, I'm not a huge yellow guy, so it still didn't quite grow on me, I think, the way that um that some other colors would have. But I say I didn't hate it uh at all, but it's just not a color that I could walk around in every day. You know, it's it's it's almost I mean, if it was almost maybe a little desaturated from what it is, then maybe I could. But it's I mean, boy, it's yellow. You're gonna notice this thing from from across the room and know exactly uh what you're looking at. So and honestly, even if it was white and black or you know, something like that, gray, that that like I would like, it's still not the design that like really grabs me for a chronograph. I would probably still just kind of hang on and wait to see if they bring back um you know an evolution of some of those older original Tudor design chronographs, because that's kind of what what I what I want to see from them. I don't know if that's ever gonna happen, so who knows? Um but I mean I do think that this would be super sharp in in some of the more obvious colorways, uh, you know, a blue dial, a black dial, a white dial, the kind of things that you see already existing in the uh in the 41. Uh any of those would look fantastic in this size. Um even the even the pink and the bright blue, you know, all that kind of stuff. Um, you know, who knows who knows. But uh to me, this the bigger picture here is kind of these smaller details that they put into this watch to get it right for hopefully something something else down the line. And you know, I th it feels obvious to me that they weren't gonna do this and just do a color like yellow that is obviously going to be very polarizing. Uh right, you are limiting yourself to a much smaller market when you do when you have a watch that only has a yellow dial, just because you know it's gonna be uh you know an immediate non-starter for for a large group of the of the buying audience there. Whereas, you know, uh a panda and a reverse panda would be, you know, have a have a huge audience that I think would be interested in. I think if they release this exact watch in a panda and reverse panda, it would be absolutely gangbusters. And uh and I hope that they I hope they do that. I think that would look very sharp. But who knows, maybe they'll keep this frame for only kind of special designs, like like some of these throwback stuff or some of the weirder stuff, you know, like like yellow. I've I'm I'm sure we'll see maybe uh uh you know the black and gold type stuff that they like to do in this line as well. Um, you know, maybe a rendition of that would look good in here as well. But uh but anyways, taking a step back, the bigger picture and the thing that I was really happy with is how they did the case here, a lot of the small details and attention to detail they put into the design of things like the bezel and the hands and stuff like that. It works really well on a lot of different levels for me. So I am very excited about this watch, and I will have a full in-depth review of the watch over on thedeptrack.com, and uh you'll have to keep an eye out for that in the coming days if it is already live. When this goes up, I'll put a link to it down below. So those are my thoughts on the Tutor Black Bay Chrono 39 Bumblebee. I don't think they call it the Bumblebee. I don't I don't see that word anywhere. It's just like a very obvious nickname for the for the thing. At any rate, very cool uh watch and uh well done to Tutor on this one. Alright, that's gonna do it for this week's episode. Uh if you have had a chance to see this watch, be sure to drop your thoughts uh down in the comments on the review. Uh, would love to hear from you on this one. Alright, thank you so much for tuning in, and until next time, take care.