Week 1 Newsletter – The Tudor Black Bay 58
Hello watch lovers, and welcome to the very first edition of the MinuteMarkers Newsletter.
In this issue, we’re taking a look at the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight and the vintage icon that inspired it — the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner 7924. This felt suiting for a first issue as the BB58 was my first “serious” watch purchase, lets dive in!
The Watch We Know And Love
Quick Look
| Specifications | Value |
|---|---|
| Reference | M79030N |
| Case Diameter | 39mm |
| Lug Width | 20mm |
| Water Resistance | 200m |
| Calibre | MT5402 (In House) |
| Power Reserve | 70 hours |
| COSC Certified | Yes |
| Crystal | Domed Sapphire |
| Bezel | Unidirectional Aluminum Insert |
Overview
Introduced in 2018, the Black Bay Fifty-Eight is a vintage-inspired dive watch whose name pays tribute to the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner of 1958. Its appeal largely comes from a 39 mm case diameter, which is modest by today’s dive-watch standards and suits those who prefer a more understated wrist presence. Its predecessor, the 41 mm Black Bay launched in 2012, marked Tudor’s return to dive-watches after the Submariner line was discontinued in 1999.
The Case, Bracelet and Movement
The Fifty-Eight’s case is crafted from 316L stainless steel with fully brushed surfaces and polished, chamfered edges. It showcases a 60-click unidirectional bezel with a coin-edge grip, a red-triangle marker at 12 o’clock, and gilt accents on both the bezel numerals and the dial’s hands and hour markers. Its solid-end-link bracelet, styled with faux rivets inspired by Rolex’s 1950s stretch bracelets, measures 20 mm at the lugs and tapers gradually to 16 mm at the T-link clasp.
The MT5402 COSC-certified movement is Tudor’s own “manufacture” calibre but is actually produced by Kenissi, a specialist movement maker co-founded by Tudor (with investment from Chanel and Breitling). Kenissi engineers, manufactures and tests the MT5402 in its Swiss factory to Tudor’s specifications, giving Tudor an “in-house” movement without building its own production workshops. The MT5402 measures 26mm in diameter, featuring Rolex’s Microstella-adjsusted balance wheel and silicon hairspring. This calibre has a 70 hour power reserve meaning you could easily take off your wrist on a Friday night, wear a different watch on the weekend, and put it back on Monday morning without needing to set the time. It features 27 jewels and to set the time you turn the crown counter-clockwise which is particular.
I may be biased, but the Black Bay Fifty Eight feels like the best all-rounder watch, combining heritage with a contemporary feel, it truly can be worn on any occasion despite its sporty nature.
The Vintage Icon - The Oyster Prince Submariner “Big Crown” 7924
Overview and History
The 1958 Oyster Prince Submariner ref. 7924, better known as the “Big Crown” features a 37 mm stainless-steel Oyster case with fully brushed flanks and polished, chamfered lugs. It wears an oversized 8 mm screw-down crown without guards, so you can wind or set it even with gloves on, and sits beneath a thick, domed Tropic-style Plexiglas crystal that boosted its water-resistance to 200 m.
Its matte-black dial pairs original snowflake hands and hour markers filled with radium lume, which, due to its harmful radioactive properties is no-longer used on in watchmaking. The watch’s power comes from Rolex’s Calibre 390, a 17-jewel automatic movement with Tudor’s Auto-Prince rotor ticking at 18,000 vph for reliable timekeeping.
The watch was originally supplied on a drilled-lug Oyster bracelet (ref. 7206) with stretch-free links, early 7924s found real-world duty on the wrists of the French Marine Nationale. That combat-tested feel and the fact Tudor never even listed it in its brochures, makes the Big Crown one of the rarest and most collectible dive watches of the era.