Rolex no longer treats Tudor like an inadequate stepsister, but as a bonafide brand in its own right. The clearest sign of that is that Rolex exhibited Tudor for the first time ever at Baselworld this year, with its own large booth right beside the big brand.
Tudor introduced four new products at Baselworld, but the star of the Tudor show was the Heritage Chrono Blue watch. Tudor calls it a “reinterpretation” of one of the most famous Tudors of all, the Montecarlo chronograph, launched 40 years ago and only produced for a few years.
The dial design is nearly a spitting image of the original, using the same tricolor combination of royal blue, gray (slightly lighter now), and orange. The date window at 6 o’clock is smaller and the magnifier is gone. (Today’s Tudors no longer have magnifiers over the dates; that feature is now reserved for Rolexes.)
Chrono Blue keeps the Montecarlo’s two counters inside blue trapezoidal shapes, with the seconds hand at 3 o’clock and the 45-minute chronograph counter (typical of Tudor in the 1970s) at 9. New are the three-dimensional hour markers with two beveled metallic edges around a space filled with SuperLumiNova.
The steel case is larger than the original by 2 mm (a 42-mm diameter vs. 40 mm). It has a bidirectional bezel with a blue an- odized aluminum insert, and water resistance of 150 meters. The screw-down steel crown and pushers are knurled and have a chrome finish; the crown features the blue lacquered shield that is the Tudor emblem. The watch is powered by an ETA 2892, which has a 42-hour power reserve.
Chrono Blue comes with both a steel bracelet with a folding clasp and a reinforced blue/gray/orange fabric strap with a buckle. The suggested retail price is $4,425.
