You may remember late last year when Daniel Craig made an appearance at the Planet Omega event in New York City He appeared for very official photographs wearing a Speedmaster we had never seen before, and one we still haven't seen outside of his wrist. Well, we now have our 2024 version of that scenario in the wake of Tudor announcing its sponsorship of the Visa Cash App RB Formula One racing team.

Today, a series of images appeared online from, again, an official photoshoot where Visa Cash App driver Daniel Ricciardo is posing with a curious watch on his wrist. At first glance, it appeared as though he was wearing a standard Tudor Black Bay Ceramic – the model released in 2021 that represented Tudor's first foray into ceramic as a case material, and METAS-certified movement manufacturing. And in some ways, it was that watch.

In the same photoshoot, Ricciardo was modeling two watches. One was the aforementioned standard BB Ceramic, and the other was – um – that watch, but with a dial we've not seen before today. Look closely at these images and you'll notice Riccardio wearing a BB Ceramic but with a striking blue dial, a blue you can spot even when the image is fully zoomed out. Of course, we zoomed in.

After a bit of digging around, and speaking to some friends in the industry it seems pretty clear that this is a team watch. It's the new Formula One watch which appears to have been specifically made for the Visa Cash App RB team, with a dial in what I understand to be "Visa Blue" (hence this particular shade). This isn't a gifted watch like the Black Bay Chrono we featured earlier this week for the Genève-Servette hockey team. This is an active piece of team kit and I am sure we will see it on the wrists of the team members going forward.

And it makes sense for it to be the Black Bay Ceramic. Tudor, a brand known for its heritage-leaning line of Black Bay models, would want something like this as the front-facing model associated with its new sponsorship. You've got the METAS-certified movement and the advanced materials via the ceramic. It all tracks, and I believe this will be the representative model of the partnership going forward for now.

To be honest, I am really digging this piece. The blue dial reminds me of the since discontinued standard Black Bay blue dial. It appears – at least from the photos – to be a rich flat blue as opposed to a sunray finish which matches the purpose-built aestehtic of the entire piece. Looking forward to spotting this one on the track and hopefully seeing it in person this year.