It's been a while since I've talked about wristwatches.
Rolex has a diffusion brand (budget-friendly line) called Tudor.
Rolex's headquarters is currently in Switzerland,
but originally it was in London. Aiming to expand sales in Britain,
they created a brand using the Tudor Rose—the crest of the House of Tudor, which produced English royalty—as their logo. That brand is Tudor.
Broadly speaking, there's the "big rose" (デカバラ) with a large 3D rose at the 12 o'clock position,
the "little rose" (コバラ or "chi-ba-ra") with a small rose printed on it,
and the "shield rose" (盾バラ) with the little rose inside a shield.
After that, Tudor's logo became the shield logo.
They share certain parts like cases and crowns with Rolex,
and adopted third-party movements like ETA,
so the original strategy was to price Tudor lower than Rolex.
But recently they've gone their own way and no longer use Rolex-branded parts.
Currently, Tudor has no official distributor in Japan—only parallel imports.
Though vintage models are different, relatively recent models can be serviced by Japan Rolex.
There's no so-called "parallel import discrimination" where parallel models face higher service costs or outright refusal.
The reason Tudor isn't officially distributed in Japan seems to be that Rolex's sales strategy deems it unnecessary.
Tudor vintage watches are extremely risky to buy,
and you can practically say that no surviving examples have retained their original condition.
Most dials have been redone (dial refinishing),
which splits into old redials done as repairs while the model was still in production,
andmalicious redials made to pass off as excellent original examples.
The latter are overwhelmingly common.
You might say "that's just how vintage watches are," but the danger level here is higher than for vintage in general.
The current Tudor lineup includes a "Heritage" series,
and some models in this line use the little rose logo—a bid to hook old fans.
Most importantly, with a genuine "little rose" Tudor,
you can actually service it at Japan Rolex. That's the nice part.
↑This is the Heritage Black Bay from 2014 onward.
You could call it a more affordable version of the Rolex Submariner non-date.
The hour hand with the square section (square hand) is commonly called the "squid hand,"
but the little rose logo and the squid hand don't match chronologically.
The squid hand came much later.
Initially, the Black Bay only came in this color,
with variations mainly being metal or leather band options.
But then they released models with red, black, or blue bezels,
and even an all-black case, bezel, and metal band model.
As a sports model for Tudor, it must be selling well—
they've been churning out derivative versions.
In 2018, they're apparently releasing date and chronograph versions.
This cost around ¥238,000 back in 2014,
but the price kept creeping up, eventually settling around ¥298,000.
In late 2015, when it was around ¥258,000,
I went to my regular watch shop in Shinsaibashi with the intention of buying this,
↑but a Seiko Spring Drive diver, the SBDB009, was on special price,
so I impulse-bought that instead.
Earlier I said the Heritage Black Bay eventually reached around ¥298,000,
and you're wondering why "eventually"—
because it got a model change in 2017.
The reference number went from 79220R to 79230R.
What changed? The logo became the current shield logo.
Part of me wishes I'd bought it when it had the little rose,
but honestly I'm relieved not to have a reason to buy it anymore.
I don't need a shield-logo Tudor.
By the way, at my regular watch shop it currently goes for ¥318,000.
The Tudor Heritage series has another model—
a reissue called "Heritage Ranger" of the original Ranger.
The Ranger corresponds to the Rolex Explorer
and the original reference numbers include 7995 and 9050,
but this model is dangerously complicated.
I may never see a genuine original Ranger in person my whole life.
↑From Tudor's official website.
The one marked "2014" is the Heritage Ranger.
The reference is 79910, changing the final 5 of 7995 to 10.
It's shown alongside an original Ranger,
and unlike the Black Bay, since this is officially a "reissue,"
they faithfully recreate the original's three-hand design and dial.
But they unnecessarily (really unnecessarily) enlarged the case size as a "modern version,"
so while the Heritage Ranger looks like a well-made, nice watch on its own,
as a Ranger reissue, it's tough to accept.
In the earlier image the Heritage is placed in the back,
but I found this image on an overseas site
showing them side-by-side.
The Heritage is 41mm, the original is 34mm.
On the Heritage, the bezel flange is thin relative to the case,
making the dial appear even larger—
the design becomes completely different.
However, unlike the Black Bay, this one still has the little rose logo as of 2017.
It's the only current model with the little rose,
so I went to buy it for that reason alone.
It was around ¥198,000 in 2014, but now it's roughly ¥255,000.
I'm to blame for not deciding sooner.
...But I didn't end up buying it.
Two days after confirming a restock, I went—
and it was already sold out.
I've accepted that I'm just not meant to have the little rose.
Instead of the Heritage Ranger, I bought another model I'd been considering:
the Heritage Black Bay 36.
The price is about the same as the Heritage Ranger.
What appealed to me was that they took the rotating bezel off the diver Black Bay,
gave it a plain bezel,
and sized it down to 36mm.
Who was it that said they didn't need a shield-logo Tudor? That guy's an idiot.
The crown is engraved with the Tudor Rose.
The caseback is the shield logo.
The double-locking clasp has a shield-logo-shaped indentation,
so a shield-shaped lock would theoretically click right in—
Wait, that's not it!
That was probably the plan, but it didn't work out because the point was too sharp.
With a 36mm case size, it's not exactly a ladies' watch,
but the metal band has fewer links even with full sizing,
so for me it was just a matter of adjusting the clasp hole by one or two,
no need to remove links.
Someone with thick wrists who uses all links on a Rolex would have trouble here.
A camouflage nylon band comes standard,
and the bag says it's 19.5mm wide—
the lug width is only slightly over 19mm,
so finding a compatible aftermarket metal band is difficult.
I have a Tudor big rose (Oyster Prince).
The dial is amalicious redial, and with this type of big rose,
there are so many in circulation from that era
that you can "read between the lines," so to speak.
I've seen inside the movement—it has an ETA generic movement with a Tudor rotor,
though I doubt it's original to the watch's production.
The crown has the Rolex logo,
and so does the caseback.
The metal band is a 19mm lug-width Rolex one,
but original Tudors never came with solid bracelets.
I did that myself.
Not that it matters, but this is a Snoopy lens cloth.
I also have a 19mm lug-width beads-of-rice bracelet.
For leather straps I use a 19mm Morellato genuine leather with a modified clasp,
but I don't wear it much.
The day I bought the Black Bay 36, a regular customer happened to be wearing a Rolex Explorer,
so I asked if I could photograph them side-by-side.
Man, the Explorer really is something special.
He bought it about 20-odd years ago at a department store sale—
marked down from ¥260,000 to ¥180,000.
It was serviced at Japan Rolex fairly recently.
From this angle, the Black Bay 36 looks more like an Explorer
than a Submariner.
They're releasing a 41mm version of this in 2018,
but that's what the new Air King (2016 onward) is already doing,
so I think that's fine.
The prices are completely different though.
Speaking of the new Air King, its movement and case width are the same as the Milgauss,
so I probably won't buy one.
Though I want to.
I love the perfected design of the Oyster case.
Grand Seiko also essentially uses the Oyster case concept,
but some people criticize it harshly for being "just slightly off the design,
and the slight misfire comes across as clumsy."
I don't hate it, but there are models with an awkwardly grafted crown guard,
and I wish they'd figured out something better for that.
↑Back is the Explorer, front is the big rose.
The Explorer's lug width is 1mm wider.
Finally. From Tudor's official website: a 1958 Submariner.
The hour hand is a Mercedes hand, not a squid hand.
They should reissue this.
Rolex has a diffusion brand (budget-friendly line) called Tudor.
Rolex's headquarters is currently in Switzerland,
but originally it was in London. Aiming to expand sales in Britain,
they created a brand using the Tudor Rose—the crest of the House of Tudor, which produced English royalty—as their logo. That brand is Tudor.
Broadly speaking, there's the "big rose" (デカバラ) with a large 3D rose at the 12 o'clock position,
the "little rose" (コバラ or "chi-ba-ra") with a small rose printed on it,
and the "shield rose" (盾バラ) with the little rose inside a shield.
After that, Tudor's logo became the shield logo.
They share certain parts like cases and crowns with Rolex,
and adopted third-party movements like ETA,
so the original strategy was to price Tudor lower than Rolex.
But recently they've gone their own way and no longer use Rolex-branded parts.
Currently, Tudor has no official distributor in Japan—only parallel imports.
Though vintage models are different, relatively recent models can be serviced by Japan Rolex.
There's no so-called "parallel import discrimination" where parallel models face higher service costs or outright refusal.
The reason Tudor isn't officially distributed in Japan seems to be that Rolex's sales strategy deems it unnecessary.
Tudor vintage watches are extremely risky to buy,
and you can practically say that no surviving examples have retained their original condition.
Most dials have been redone (dial refinishing),
which splits into old redials done as repairs while the model was still in production,
and
The latter are overwhelmingly common.
You might say "that's just how vintage watches are," but the danger level here is higher than for vintage in general.
The current Tudor lineup includes a "Heritage" series,
and some models in this line use the little rose logo—a bid to hook old fans.
Most importantly, with a genuine "little rose" Tudor,
you can actually service it at Japan Rolex. That's the nice part.
↑This is the Heritage Black Bay from 2014 onward.
You could call it a more affordable version of the Rolex Submariner non-date.
The hour hand with the square section (square hand) is commonly called the "squid hand,"
but the little rose logo and the squid hand don't match chronologically.
The squid hand came much later.
Initially, the Black Bay only came in this color,
with variations mainly being metal or leather band options.
But then they released models with red, black, or blue bezels,
and even an all-black case, bezel, and metal band model.
As a sports model for Tudor, it must be selling well—
they've been churning out derivative versions.
In 2018, they're apparently releasing date and chronograph versions.
This cost around ¥238,000 back in 2014,
but the price kept creeping up, eventually settling around ¥298,000.
In late 2015, when it was around ¥258,000,
I went to my regular watch shop in Shinsaibashi with the intention of buying this,
↑but a Seiko Spring Drive diver, the SBDB009, was on special price,
so I impulse-bought that instead.
Earlier I said the Heritage Black Bay eventually reached around ¥298,000,
and you're wondering why "eventually"—
because it got a model change in 2017.
The reference number went from 79220R to 79230R.
What changed? The logo became the current shield logo.
Part of me wishes I'd bought it when it had the little rose,
but honestly I'm relieved not to have a reason to buy it anymore.
I don't need a shield-logo Tudor.
By the way, at my regular watch shop it currently goes for ¥318,000.
The Tudor Heritage series has another model—
a reissue called "Heritage Ranger" of the original Ranger.
The Ranger corresponds to the Rolex Explorer
and the original reference numbers include 7995 and 9050,
but this model is dangerously complicated.
I may never see a genuine original Ranger in person my whole life.
↑From Tudor's official website.
The one marked "2014" is the Heritage Ranger.
The reference is 79910, changing the final 5 of 7995 to 10.
It's shown alongside an original Ranger,
and unlike the Black Bay, since this is officially a "reissue,"
they faithfully recreate the original's three-hand design and dial.
But they unnecessarily (really unnecessarily) enlarged the case size as a "modern version,"
so while the Heritage Ranger looks like a well-made, nice watch on its own,
as a Ranger reissue, it's tough to accept.
In the earlier image the Heritage is placed in the back,
but I found this image on an overseas site
showing them side-by-side.
The Heritage is 41mm, the original is 34mm.
On the Heritage, the bezel flange is thin relative to the case,
making the dial appear even larger—
the design becomes completely different.
However, unlike the Black Bay, this one still has the little rose logo as of 2017.
It's the only current model with the little rose,
so I went to buy it for that reason alone.
It was around ¥198,000 in 2014, but now it's roughly ¥255,000.
I'm to blame for not deciding sooner.
...But I didn't end up buying it.
Two days after confirming a restock, I went—
and it was already sold out.
I've accepted that I'm just not meant to have the little rose.
Instead of the Heritage Ranger, I bought another model I'd been considering:
the Heritage Black Bay 36.
The price is about the same as the Heritage Ranger.
What appealed to me was that they took the rotating bezel off the diver Black Bay,
gave it a plain bezel,
and sized it down to 36mm.
Who was it that said they didn't need a shield-logo Tudor? That guy's an idiot.
The crown is engraved with the Tudor Rose.
The caseback is the shield logo.
The double-locking clasp has a shield-logo-shaped indentation,
so a shield-shaped lock would theoretically click right in—
Wait, that's not it!
That was probably the plan, but it didn't work out because the point was too sharp.
With a 36mm case size, it's not exactly a ladies' watch,
but the metal band has fewer links even with full sizing,
so for me it was just a matter of adjusting the clasp hole by one or two,
no need to remove links.
Someone with thick wrists who uses all links on a Rolex would have trouble here.
A camouflage nylon band comes standard,
and the bag says it's 19.5mm wide—
the lug width is only slightly over 19mm,
so finding a compatible aftermarket metal band is difficult.
I have a Tudor big rose (Oyster Prince).
The dial is a
there are so many in circulation from that era
that you can "read between the lines," so to speak.
I've seen inside the movement—it has an ETA generic movement with a Tudor rotor,
though I doubt it's original to the watch's production.
The crown has the Rolex logo,
and so does the caseback.
The metal band is a 19mm lug-width Rolex one,
but original Tudors never came with solid bracelets.
I did that myself.
Not that it matters, but this is a Snoopy lens cloth.
I also have a 19mm lug-width beads-of-rice bracelet.
For leather straps I use a 19mm Morellato genuine leather with a modified clasp,
but I don't wear it much.
The day I bought the Black Bay 36, a regular customer happened to be wearing a Rolex Explorer,
so I asked if I could photograph them side-by-side.
Man, the Explorer really is something special.
He bought it about 20-odd years ago at a department store sale—
marked down from ¥260,000 to ¥180,000.
It was serviced at Japan Rolex fairly recently.
From this angle, the Black Bay 36 looks more like an Explorer
than a Submariner.
They're releasing a 41mm version of this in 2018,
but that's what the new Air King (2016 onward) is already doing,
so I think that's fine.
The prices are completely different though.
Speaking of the new Air King, its movement and case width are the same as the Milgauss,
so I probably won't buy one.
I love the perfected design of the Oyster case.
Grand Seiko also essentially uses the Oyster case concept,
but some people criticize it harshly for being "just slightly off the design,
and the slight misfire comes across as clumsy."
I don't hate it, but there are models with an awkwardly grafted crown guard,
and I wish they'd figured out something better for that.
↑Back is the Explorer, front is the big rose.
The Explorer's lug width is 1mm wider.
Finally. From Tudor's official website: a 1958 Submariner.
The hour hand is a Mercedes hand, not a squid hand.
They should reissue this.