BY HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN
The Pelagos from Tudor is their main line of diving watches, providing buyers with all the utility they could ever need. For 2022, the brand has released an updated, 39mm version of their now iconic diver in titanium. It’s compact, handsome and functional, but it still has a fairly decent price tag, and so undercuts some key competition.
Before we begin, we should talk about what you don’t get with the Pelagos. It’s easy for people to compare Tudor watches to Rolex and Omega and claim them to be superior purely because they do what the others do at a cheaper price point. There is something to be said for doing it at a lower price, but you don’t get the iconic Seamaster design or the Rolex name with the Pelagos. You also don’t get their movement technology, but we’ll come back to that later.
The Pelagos has a black dial with a ceramic bezel with applied lume to match the glowing indications of the dial. Compared to previous versions of the Pelagos, this one lacks a date window which I’m all for. Also, the markers, which used to be partially recessed into the inner bezel, have now emerged fully onto the dial. It seems the paragraph of text that Tudor (and Rolex) likes to put on its dials is less obvious than before, too. Despite its utilitarian design, the Pelagos isn’t completely without thrills. For example, the dial has a sunray finish to it, so there’s more visual pizazz than the flat blacks of old.
Powering the watch is Tudor’s calibre MT5400. It’s a self-winding calibre with a 70-hour power reserve, 4Hz beat rate and non-magnetic balance spring, so well in line with the modern calibres of today. Tudor doesn’t make these in-house themselves, but the MT5400 is their movement for their watches. It’s made by a company called Kenissi Manufacture SA, which has partnered with Breitling and Chanel in recent years.
Coming with a black rubber strap and a titanium bracelet with an 8mm diving extension, the new Pelagos costs CHF4,200.
Visit Tudor here.
