Tudor Pelagos Vs Black Bay

If you’re looking for a dive watch that offers the quality of a Rolex watch without its massive brand markup, you might want to consider looking at Tudor watches. Their Tudor Black Bay collection is composed of excellent watches from dive watches to dress watches. 

However, some Tudor brand’s divers watches such as the Tudor Pelagos and the Tudor Black Bay look almost the same when it comes to design. Even watch enthusiasts cannot tell the difference between the two.

Therefore, we created an in-depth comparison of the Tudor Pelagos vs Black Bay to get a better understanding of the differences between these two watches. We will take a closer look at these timepieces by studying their features to help you decide which is better.

If you’re interested to know more about the in-depth comparison of the Tudor Black Bay vs Pelagos, keep reading!

TLDR: Tudor Pelagos vs Tudor Heritage Black Bay

Tudor Blue Pelagos

The Tudor Pelagos features a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal that is completely flat. This contemporary tool watch also includes a screw-down crown with a few extra features, which offers a water resistance of up to 500 meters. 

Similar to the Rolex Submariner, the Pelagos provides a proprietary triplock system. To improve WR, this feature utilizes a beefy gasket around the crown. Another excellent feature you can get with this watch is its helium escape valve, which you can find at the 9 o’clock position.

The Tudor Pelagos includes a shield logo, which is also the signed crown with a notched pattern. Another key feature of this Tudor watch is its bright blue bezel, which is covered with a ceramic insert and is more scratch-resistant.

In terms of the unidirectional mechanism, Pelagos blue bezel is easy to use. The bezel’s inclination is slightly beveled and protruding, the same goes for its thicker configuration. Lastly, the Tudor Pelagos includes a thick layer of Rolex’s Chromalight application. This feature makes its hands and indices glow with more intensity, as well as its numerals.

Pros

Here are a few best features of the Pelagos:

• Features a flat anti-reflective and scratch-resistant sapphire crystal
• Water-resistant up to 500 meters
• Includes a helium escape valve, located at 9 o’clock
• Has a shield logo
• Provides a proprietary triplock system
• Has a blue dial and ceramic bezel
• Offers a thick layer of Rolex’s Chromalight application

Cons

Here are a few flaws to have a better understanding of the Pelagos:

• Expensive

Interested? Click here to buy it!

Tudor Heritage Black Bay

The Tudor Black Bay shares a few similarities as well as differences with the Pelagos. The Black Bay also features a scratch-resistant and anti-reflective sapphire crystal. However, its shape is slightly domed instead of flat like the Pelagos. The screw-down crown guards a 200-meter water resistance, and its style displays a rose logo. 

Another major difference of the Tudor Heritage Black Bay from the Pelagos is the blue ceramic bezel, which is constructed out of steel and covered with an aluminum insert. The bezel’s styling is also perfectly flat and a bit more desirable, which is also available in the iconic red color.

In terms of the lume, the Black Bay’s hands and indices are painted with a nice layer of Superluminova, which is noted in the market for its durability and brightness.

Other features you will admire about the Tudor Heritage Black Bay are its in-house movement, black dial, a 70-hour power reserve, a high frequency of 28,800 BPH, and an accuracy of 4 to 6 seconds per day. 

Pros

Here are a few claimed best features of the Black Bay:

• Features a slightly domed anti-reflective sapphire crystal
• Scratch-resistant
• Offers an in house movement
• Has domed black dials
• Water resistant up to 200 meters
• Includes a rose logo
• Features a blue ceramic bezel
• Painted with a nice layer of Superluminova

Cons

Here are a few flaws to have a better understanding of the Black Bay:

• Expensive

Interested? Click here to buy it!

In-Depth Comparison of Tudor Pelagos and Tudor Black Bay

Specifications

	Tudor Pelagos	Tudor Heritage Black Bay
Case diameter	42 mm	41 mm
Case thickness	14.3 mm	14.8 mm
Lug width	22 mm	22 mm
Lug to lug	50 mm	50 mm
Crystal	Flat Sapphire	Domed Sapphire
Water resistance	500 meters	200 meters
Crown	Trip lock screw down	Signed screw-down
Bezel	Unidirectional 120 clicks, blue bezel	Unidirectional 120 clicks, blue ceramic bezel
Lume	Chromalight	Superluminova

Quality and Durability

One major comparison between the Tudor Pelagos and the Tudor Black Bay is its stainless steel case measure. The prior is only available in 42 millimeters, while the Tudor Heritage Black Bay can be bought in either 32, 36, 42, or 43-millimeter variants.

Nonetheless, these two diver watches possess similar lug to lug length, which both fit six to seven-inch wrists. In terms of the lug width, the Tudor Black Bay’s bracelet tapers down a little more toward the clasp compared to the Pelagos.

Additional Features

Both the Black Bay and the Tudor Pelagos have the same in-house movements, which can hand-wind and hack the second hand. These two dive watches also provide a high frequency of 28,800 bhp and a power reserve of up to 70 hours. 

Both the Black Bay and Pelagos offer accuracy of -4 to +6 seconds per day, making both watches COSC-certified. When it comes to the date complication, the Pelagos only includes the MT5612. This movement also offers an extra jewel, bringing up a total amount of 26. However, the jewel only serves aesthetic purposes, but the reliability and accuracy of both movements are the same. 

Warranty

Tudor offers a five-year warranty, which covers any malfunction that isn’t part of normal wear and tear. They also offer a two-year service warranty for those who got their watches serviced by Tudor or an Authorized dealer.

In January 2020, Tudor upgraded their two-year warranty up to five years. This advancement places Tudor’s protection length on par with Omega and Rolex.

What Do People Say About It?

Amazon

Thomas Hearns rated the Tudor Heritage Black Bay a good star rating and described it as a “killer value.” He shared in the comments section, “As an avid collector of dive watches, I can say that the entire Tudor line is superb, especially with their new in-house movement that can maintain a crazy 70-hour power reserve. 

This watch is a perfect size, its relation to Rolex is obvious. I am not a gold fan of wristwatches but the very subtle outlines of the dots and hands add some great sizzle to this piece. 

I own three black bays: one with the older ETA movement, and two with the new movement. If there is one thing I am not crazy about it’s the riveted bracelet, but I am in the minority on this. The older versions have the bracelet with no rivets which I think is cleaner. However, of the three I won, this one gets the most wear.”

For the Pelagos, Thomas M. Allen rated the watch a good star rating as well. “Better than I expected. Extremely comfortable and being titanium, it’s light on your wrist,” he wrote.

“This Tudor Pelagos keeps better time than my Rolex. I used to think that Tudor was just a baby Rolex, but I think Rolex needs to be taught by the people at Tudor.”

YouTube

The Watch Collection Strategy filmed a YouTube video reviewing the Tudor Heritage Black Bay. They claimed that the watch is a “bargain in the grand scheme of things in the watch collecting hobby.”

One feature they admire about the Heritage Black Bay watch is the craftsmanship and attention to detail, making it worth the purchase despite its hefty price. 

“After putting it on the macro lens, I can tell you this: the finish is on par with their bigger brother, Rolex, despite being half the price.” They claim that the finishing is great. No dust or foreign material can be found inside the dive watch.

The Black Bay is also suitable to be an everyday watch thanks to its in-house caliber and 70-hour power reserve at a COSC certified. Compared to the Submariner, they described the Black Bay as a more relaxed and laid-back watch.

The Verdict: Which Is Best For You?

Tudor watches produce some of the best dive watches. Both the Pelagos and the Black Bay almost look the same on the surface and share a few similar features. We created an in-depth review of the Tudor Black Bay vs Pelagos to have a better understanding of these two watches and see which is better.

We highly recommend the Tudor Pelagos is the better dive watch. This diver watch includes many excellent features such as a blue ceramic bezel, a blue dial, an in-house caliber, a 70-hour power reserve, and a 500-meter water resistance.

If you liked this article, you might want to read our other reviews at EvesWatch.com