Practice the new Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25”

Tudor has released the Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25” for this year’s Miami F1 Grand Prix. The watch celebrates collaboration with the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls (VCARB) F1 team with a 2,025-piece limited run. I had a practical opportunity to see what is.

I was happy to have this opportunity as it allowed me to test my preconceptions. I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of the joint special edition watches. I’m not a general fan of Tudor Black Bay Chrono, so I’m sure I don’t like this watch at all. Let’s see if that’s really true!

Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25”

But first, let’s quickly sum up the specifications of the Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25.” Get a 42mm forged carbon case. This is 1mm wider and 0.1mm thinner (14.3mm) than the steel version. It remains the same water resistance of 200m. The sapphire crystal is located surrounded by an integrated carbon staggered bezel.

Internal tick caliber MT5813. This column chronograph caliber is based on Breitling’s B01. It beats at 28,800 VPH and offers ample 70 hours of power reserve. Tudor specifies an accuracy of +4/-2 seconds per day. The same movement drives the normal Black Bay Chrono.

The Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25” is placed on a hybrid leather/rubber strap with blue stitching. The strap piece is pushed into a pair of fitted carbon end links. There are two spring bars on each side. One is for the end link and the other is for the strap. This allows you to wear the strap with or without an end link.

Not advertised

Therefore, as explained above, I got this review with low expectations. I’m happy to report that watches were better in real life than I’ve collected from press images. Forged carbon appears to be more subdued than most competing products. The exterior is much dim and 3D. It claims to be somewhere between carbon and ceramic.

But the most surprising thing was the blue, white and black combo. The blue accents are much less in real life than in press images. I like the brightness of most of this shade. It offers plenty of characters to the watch without being overwhelmed.

The white dial also looks subtle than I expected. It has an unprecedented brighter opaline effect, which pulls it away from the overly clinically pure white. The subdials are more textured flexier forged carbon, providing a little more extra detail. For more information, even the frames in the date window match the carbon structure of the subdial. Overall, my first impression was fundamentally different from what I expected from the press.

Wear Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25”

I was hoping for a second positive surprise. I remember the Tudor Black Bay Chrono as a watch that doesn’t tire you out on your 18cm wrist. In my humble opinion, it is too clunky and unsleek. This is also a matter of style, so mileage may vary. For me, it’s simply too big. Naturally, my expectations for this even larger model were low.

It must be a slimming effect of the dark material and overall brightness of the watch, but I really liked the fit of this Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25”. Certainly, it’s still too thick, but I think it’s very wearable now.

I also liked the dynamic movement of the watch. The dial, blue accents, and the room react strongly when moving indoors from the bright sun. From a certain point of view, the dial looks silver, but in others it turns bright and refreshing white. I miss the depth of the forged carbon in the Flecier, but this still looks great and beautiful.

Close thoughts

I love it when the clock goes against my beliefs. Doing this for a living is very easy to get a little tired. You see it all and you know what you like. But then, somehow, there will be a watch that doesn’t fit any of the well-organized compartments in your mind. This is the case for me.

Would you like to buy it? Well, no. First of all, the VCARB F1 team is not important to me. And even if this is a normal production model, it’s not my style. But they are subjective issues. In terms of purpose, I rarely complain. I think this is very well done.

In real life, we recommend looking for the new Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 25” (7,460 Euros / 7,575 US dollars / CHF 6,800). As mentioned above, the press image is not just that. It is much more subtle, wearable and generally unharmed than it appears in Tudor images. Take care; you may want this watch much more than you had planned.

What do you think about the new Tudor Black Bay Chrono, “Carbon 25”? Please let us know in the comments section below.

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