By John Galt
By now I’m sure you know about the Only Watch bi-annual auction being held in Geneva on November 7th in aid of the Monaco Association against Muscular Dystrophy, a few brands have already released their one of a kind or special piece now it’s time for Tudor to join the party with this excellent one-off piece. The rules of the auction are simple: the piece must be either the first one of a limited run meaning 01, a prototype piece or my personal favourite totally unique built solely for this auction and never to be made or released.
This Only Watch 2015 sees for the first time ever the Rolex group participating through their sister brand Tudor, their piece is a unique vintage inspired Tudor heritage Black bay one with the reference 7923/001.
For the main this is an existing Heritage Black Bay that has been changed cosmetically by Tudor, the watch itself is based on Tudors historical military diving watches. However, the Heritage Black Bay one has been given a specific reference number based on their iconic 1954 Tudor Submariner ref 7923 thus the only watch version called 7923/001 and will only ever be one piece. Tudor have gone all old school and inserted a deep black bezel with red accent at 12 O’clock, unique “gilted” style gold-toned hands and hour markers all adding to the vintage inspired look even right down to the red wording on the lower part of the dial.
For those of you that desire a vintage Rolex or Tudor, this watch will really be desirable to you. But you, will need deep pockets over a regular Black Bay, with the normal Black Bay retailing for around USD3,800 I do envisage this going for more around the USD11,500-USD15,000 mark, so we will wait and see. For more info, please visit tudorwatch.com
JOHN GALT – CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
John Galt caught the horology bug back in 2010 on his first visit to a London watch show and has snowballed since; John has become an avid writer and blogger of timepieces of all kinds, from everyday timepieces to modern Luxury HauteHorology, his favorite brands being HYT and GreubelForsey that push the boundaries of modern watch-making. John keeps a keen interest in the UK watch scene with their many emerging brands and timepieces. John Galt currently contributes watch related articles for online publications in the UK and USA. You can follow John on Twitter @johng73 Read his articles here.
