For many years, the Tudor brand has lived in the "shadow" of Rolex. Many people think that Tudor is a sub-brand of Rolex, and many people think that the Tudor brand is the brand founded by The founder of Rolex, Mr. Hans Wilsdorf. But this is not the case. Therefore, before talking about many B models of Tudor (mathematical expression: B x N), it is necessary to explain the true origin of the Tudor brand in the simplest terms.
In 1926, a trademark called "The Tudor" was registered, and it was not Mr. Hans Wilsdorf who registered it, but a watch dealer called "Veuve de Philippe Hüther" (also a watchmaker, but probably not at a high level and in production). After the company, which was a watch distributor, registered the brand, Mr. Wilsdorf was granted exclusive access to their home. Therefore, the first person to register the Tudor trademark was not Mr. Hans Wilsdorf.
The first tudor products were sold to Australia, and the brand logo at that time was the letter spelling of "Tudor", but the upper horizontal of "T" was very long, covering the back of the same capital, but the font size was much smaller "UDOR" four letters. I don't know if it was a lack of business or some other reason, but in 1936, 10 years after the brand was registered, the dealer officially transferred the Tudor brand to Mr. Hans Wilsdorf, and since then, Tudor has become what we call today: the concept of rolex sub-brand. The logo of the full spelling letter "TUDOR" also ends, in exchange for a rose pattern that we are all familiar with. And there was a shield wrapped around it.
The old version of the Tudor LOGO: "T" on the top of the horizontal is very long, covered with the back is also capitalized, but the font size is much smaller "UDOR" four letters
But it can't be said that Mr. Wilsdorf just picked up a bargain. In fact, "The Tudor" is just a trademark, not a real watchmaking company. So on March 6, 1946, a company called Monteres TUDOR S.A, founded by the founder of Rolex, Mr. Hans Wilsdorf, was founded in Geneva, and Tudor was transformed from a dealer-registered trademark into a watchmaking company, which began to become a low-selling supplement to the Rolex brand. So Tudor and Rolex are so complicated and entangled along the way.
Tudor Shield surrounded by a rose pattern
At this point, the relationship between the founders of Tudor and Rolex and the process of evolution are briefly explained. So since we want to talk about the BB series (Tudor Heritage Black Bay series), we must start with Tudor's diving watch. In general, the history of the brand's production of diving watches is divided into two major stages, the first stage is from 1954 to 1968, and the second period is from 1969 to 1999. Many of the classic watches in these two histories have laid the groundwork for the BB series we see today. As for what exactly? I also have a foreshadowing here, and you will not know it without carefully reading it.
In 1954, an Tudor diving watch also known as Submariner was born. Model number is 7922. In the official manual of tudor it also has a full name called: Oyster Prince Submariner, familiar with Rolex at a glance to understand, Oyster, oyster waterproof structure, Prince is often used by Tudor, the little prince - does it mean that Rolex is the big prince? The shape of this 7922 looks really too Rolex, if it is a very small size of the picture used to guess the watch, I believe many people will think that this is a Rolex black water ghost.
The water-resistant depth is 100 meters, the black one-way rotating outer ring, and the most important thing is that the use of the Mercedes-Benz needle is exactly the same as that of the Rolex. Basically, the movement is simply equipped with some. The year after the birth of 7922, 7923 was introduced. 7922 and 7923 can be said to be a natural pair but not exactly the same, the biggest difference is that this watch is very thin. Why? Because it actually uses a manual winding movement, derived from ETA 1182, the diving watch lock handle structure is actually manual, which is also quite an idea.
In addition, the Mercedes-Benz needle is gone, and it has been changed to the appearance of an ordinary pointed straight line. The rest of the area hasn't changed much either. The point here is that a few years later, in 1958, a diving watch called the Oyster Prince Submariner Big Crown was born, the Model 7924. Why say it? Because of Big Crown! It has a huge handlebar with a diameter of 8mm! It's so big that even if it's completely locked, there will be a small bulge. At this point, do you understand why it is the point?
Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner7922, 7923
Tudor 7924
Because this Big Crown big head element was reproduced by BB!
Later, in 1959, the Square Crown Guards 7928 with head and shoulder pads and the 1964 Tropical 7928 upgraded the appearance of the Tudor diving watch. However, these two did not bring any inspiration to the BB series, and can only be said to be the product of the normal evolution of the case. The only thing to say is that the name Tropical was added to it by later collectors, and it wasn't there back then. The reason for this is mainly the discoloration of the face plate scale caused by the lack of advanced materials previously sprayed. You all know, collectors love the discoloration caused by this quality problem – that's a digression, not to be expanded.
Tropical 7928
At this point, the first stage is over, to say an interesting thing: all the Tudor Submariner series mentioned earlier have the Rolex crown mark engraved on their heads, so don't think that it is a assembly table, the handle used by Tudor at that time is a Rolex mark. There are no dedicated rose marks.
The handles of the Tudor Submariner series are engraved with the rolex crown on their heads
Then came the second stage, and the focus came at the beginning: in 1969, the 7016 Submariner was born, in fact, in 1969 there was a new model called the 7021, the biggest difference between the two is that the latter has a calendar window and a magnifying glass structure, which is the one that can be seen everywhere on Rolex today. And 7021 is also a two-color calendar, black and red, the former representing even dates, the latter is odd dates. I haven't found out whether Tudor did this first or Rolex did it first, but at least the elements of this two-color calendar can still be seen on Today's Rolex Datejust. Why are they the points?
Tudor 7016 and 7021
pointer! For the first time, Tudor used snowflake hands on its dive watch. This element is also one of the important marks of the BB series!
In addition, the scale has also changed a lot. The First Stage Submariner scale was similar to today's Rolex, with a large inverted triangle at 12 o'clock, a bar scale every 15 minutes, and the remaining dots in small hours. In addition, the logo on the dial is no longer a rose flower, but a pure shield.
Of course, then in 1989 and 1995, the new 79090 and 79190 were born, the change was not so big before, the pointer returned to the design of the Mercedes-Benz needle, the only biggest change was that the 9 and 6 o'clock scales also used triangles, and the 79190 was still used stainless steel hemming - Rolex used platinum hemming, it can be seen that the sub-brand low-end is also in all aspects.
Tudor 79090 and 79190
In addition, it should be said that although the Tudor of this stage has evolved a lot more than the first stage, it still retains the Rolex crown mark on the carving of the head, but the movement is still the main ETA, and the ETA 2824-2 model was used for the first time at the 79090 in 1989, although it is not as famous as rolex's 3035 or 3135, but whether it is 2892 or 2824, there is absolutely no objection as the most stable large three-pin calendar movement.
After talking about such a large part of the history of Tudor dive watches, we can finally start our BB journey. BB, which has always been our abbreviation for the new Tudor diving watch, wrote here only to find that such a title is not very "elegant", so it is necessary to say its full name, called: Heritage Black Bay, Heritage Black Harbor! Sorry to start again, the official name: Qi Cheng Bi Wan, for Heritage can be understood, Qi Cheng's translation is also very Chinese poetic; Bay, Harbor, no problem; as for Black, called "Bi", it is really taking the first letter of the harmonic sound.
Leave it alone, Qi Cheng Bi Wan, or a very nice name, sometimes it sounds more like a high-end community. This is a milestone in the Tudor reboot dive watch series, at least that's how I see it. Because from this series, Tudor's diving watch has finally come out of the shadow of Rolex. The series really came out very early, in 2012.
And a gun head won an award at the Geneva Watch Awards the following year. Coincidentally, I actually bought a first-generation Kai Cheng Bi Bay diving watch with a red outer ring. At that time, I liked its shape and the redesign of the rose logo on the dial - unfortunately, this design was later lost, and the shield mark was reused on the new Qi Cheng BiWan, which was quite boring.
In 2016, this series once again lit up the eyes of the mass media, mainly because the movement at the beginning of the MT was fully equipped in the watch of Qi Cheng Biwan. MT: Manufacture Tudor means homegrown movement.
Again, we reiterate: mankind has stepped into the 217th year of the Common Era, and we must not take the self-produced movement as a standard of high or low. The reason why we say homemade movements here is because Tudor has never used its own movements in its own diving watch series in history, so the first time is always impressive and memorable - for watches, for women. Therefore, in 2016, the Qicheng Biwan series, which was fully equipped with MT's own movement, can be regarded as the highlight of Tudor.
And I bought this watch not because of the movement at all, just because it looks good. First of all, its outer ring is red, and I'm a person whose life is full of fun and sunrise, so red is what I like, no! Vibrant colors! Secondly, I have an inexplicable liking for the dive watch itself. Plus, that was when I was deeply obsessed with Panerai, so any watch smaller than 40mm caliber was a Lady Size for me. And this Diving Watch of Qi Cheng Bi Bay is only 41mm, but! Its shell type is more special.
To this end, I would like to say in particular: tudor Qicheng Biwan's case parameters are not large, but because the side of the lugs hardly has any downward arc, but are basically very stout, to the end of the instantaneous decline in the design, so the case looks very heavy, and compared with the Rolex diving watch one layer higher than it, its actual wearing visual size is 40mm Rolex Submariner. So to buy Qi Cheng Biwan cousins please fully consider this factor, it is really really quite large, although the size of the data is not large.
In the end, it was very affordable, and for more than 20,000 yuan, I bought a brand new Rolex sub-deck diving watch, and it didn't look much like a Rolex, and it was beautiful and durable— in summary, there was nothing wrong with buying it, at least for me.
Then I found that the design of this Big Crown, even the large crown mentioned above, is also what I like, at least unscrewing it or screwing it on. Many people criticize why it always gives people a feeling of not tightening. I want to say that this is really a matter of benevolence and wisdom, and those who don't like it will not like that small bulge, and those who like it like me like it is like its large caliber and feel and reproduce the appearance of the 7924. Although Tudor no longer carves the Rolex crown mark on the head, Qi Chengbiwan is very careful to engrave the rose on the head, and since there is a carving, it is better to be larger. And at the end of the day, don't men all like to be older?
The other one in particular is the bronze series launched in 2016. If you just comment in one sentence: conscience bronze! Everyone already knows why, and we know which brand I like very much but must be severely criticized when encountering this problem, the same is bronze, why one is more than 100,000 and the other is so approachable. And the problem of green patina produced by the long-term exposure of bronze material to the air has also been solved by Tudor, which actually uses a copper-zinc alloy that can inhibit oxidation very well.
Of course, the number of years is not far away, and it remains to be tested as to how effective it will be. But another small place is very sweet. That is, this bronze Qi Cheng Biwan did not use the same material on the back of the watch, mainly considering the skin allergy problem - how humane the design. Plus the box with two straps, one is very retro, one is very Nato trend, although I am personally 100% immune to the Nato belt, but one more strap is still one more choice, not to mention that there are very few people like me who do not like the Nato belt at all. So this bronze Qicheng Biwan is very good.
Of course, before it came out, I thought about buying but in fact, I have not yet started, it is also coincidental, in fact, I have long asked my friend to order, but due to the initial hype I have not been able to get it, when I can take it I found that the caliber of this watch is 43mm, I already have a 41mm red circle small flower, and visually it has been really big, do I still need 43mm bronze? Besides, maybe one day I will still buy it, because Tudor is really serious, just to say a little:
This bronze movement is MT5601, while the ordinary Qi Cheng Biwan is MT5602/5612, why is it not the same? Because the caliber of the watch is different, Tudor actually made a larger movement for this 2mm. What a spirit this is!
Tudor Tudor Kai Chengbiwan gold steel type, steel type
Of course, this year's watch exhibition God Rudder Kai Cheng bi wan is out of the new model! One is the upgrade of the movement, from MT5602 to MT5612, on the other hand, the combination is increased, with the choice of steel belt. In addition, more calibers have been added, the 36mm Qicheng Biwan 36 model, the cancellation of the rotatable outer ring, but also equipped with the same 41mm caliber without an outer ring - watches are more and more like clothes, offering different options from S to XXL is a good thing, after all, not everyone's wrist is the same circumference, which can adapt to more wearers. There are also gold and PVD black coating options, so there is always a door to your dish.
Tudor 2017 Basel's new Product Kai Cheng Biwan Series Stainless Steel Chronograph Watch
In addition, QiCheng Biwan launched the timing model for the first time. The movement is also homegrown MT5813, the snowflake hands and large dial are still retained, the eye design, and because it is a newly designed movement, even if it is a 41mm caliber, the distance between the two small discs is not squeezed in the middle to form a ridiculous cockfighting eye style. However, judging from the video sent in front of the watch exhibition, the side of this watch still retains a thick lug design, so on the whole it is still a very thick and visual sense of a very large watch.
Maybe those with thin wrists are not very blessed. Overall it looks very good, but it still won't be one of the lists I bought, after all, I still prefer a slim tachymimeter outer ring rather than a large design like the modern Daytona or Qicheng Biwan chronograph. If Qi Cheng Biwan wants to buy again, for me personally, bronze is still the first choice.
Just a few days before I finished the manuscript, the Internet spread that Qi Cheng bi wan had another bronze style with a blue color, which should be cooperated with Pozilai, and the result was that the originally not very elegant BB became BBBBB, well, you watch fans are really funny enough. █
Tudor Tudor Kai Chengbi Bay gold steel type
Case material: polished and frosted steel
Strap: Yellow gold and steel strap or antique leather belt with folding clasp and safety clasp attached to the watch with a webbing strap with buckle
Bezel: gold unidirectional rotation 60 minute scale outer ring, matte black anodized aluminum bezel, gold markings
Case size: 41 mm
Caliber: Tudor MT5612 self-winding mechanical movement with two-way rotor system
Water resistance: 200 meters
Tudor Tudor Kai ChengbiWan steel type
Strap: Steel strap or antique leather belt with folding clasp and safety clasp attached to the watch with a webbing strap with buckle
Bezel: stainless steel unidirectional rotating bezel, 60-minute graduated bezel, engraved with black markings
Tudor Tudor Kai Chengbi Bay Chronograph Type
Reference price: 4,800 Swiss francs for metal belts, 4,500 Swiss francs for belts and nato belts
Case material: stainless steel
Movement: Tudor manufactures chronograph movement MT5813
Tudor Tudor Kai Chengbi Bay Type 41
Movement: Self-winding mechanical movement
Water resistance: 150 meters