It’s a big year, literally and figuratively, for the Black Bay. This year, Tudor has introduced the all new Black Bay 68, continuing with a naming convention that began with the Black Bay 58 all those years ago. The new Black Bay 68 fills out the range of vintage inspired Black Bays with an all new size for the range, coming in at 43mm. According to Tudur, the new size was created to meet demand from customers who wanted a dive watch with a larger footprint. After the Black 58 and Black Bay 54 (both under 40mm) and the longstanding “standard” Black Bay coming in at 41mm, the Black Bay 68 represents genuinely new ground for the collection in terms of size, and signals that the small watch trend that many say started with the Black Bay 58 might be coming to an end. 

If you’re familiar with the various forms of the Black Bay, there won’t be too many surprises here. The case is stainless steel with a unidirectional black bezel, with dial options in blue and silver. The dials are subtly domed and have a barely-there radially brushed finish, and are matched with large lume filled hour markers. The hands are the now familiar “Snowflake” style launched in 1969.

While the case is 43mm, the important thing to note about these watches is that they are proportionally identical to the Black Bay 54 and Black Bay 58. So, in spite of the larger size, they wear in a way that feels quite familiar if you’ve spent any time at all with either of those earlier Black Bays. According to Tudor, the larger size fills what they identify as a hole in the collection. The idea here is that customers now have the broadest possible choice when picking the Black Bay for them. 

The Black Bay 68 is offered on a rubber strap or a three link bracelet option. The bracelet, to the relief of many, we’re sure, is now sans-rivets. This is a pretty big development if you’re into bracelet minutiae, as the faux-rivet bracelets on Tudor watches have been a topic of much debate and controversy for as long as they’ve existed. 

The new Black Bay 68 runs on a METAS certified MT5601-U caliber. According to Tudor, it’s tolerant to 0/+5 seconds per day, and benefits from the increased magnetic resistance common to all watches that go through the METAS process. The movement’s power reserve is 70 hours. 

The Black Bay 68 has a retail price of $4,700 and is available now through Tudor. Tudor