BB 54 Review: Tryin' to get the feeling...

I'm writing this while still wondering if I'm going to keep the watch. I'm all over the place with this thing. First...story time:

I should start by saying I'm pretty conflicted about Tudor as a brand. The marketing is awful—second only to Rolex (no surprise) as the worst of the hyper-earnest, "professional" cosplay watch brands. I also cringe every time I see David Beckham and the "#BornToDare" tagline. Is there anything less daring in the watch industry than reissuing vintage tool-watches from the Rolex archive using movement technology, materials, and designs that have been around for decades? There's also the Rolex association, which I have a hard time getting past. It's not the "poor-man's Rolex" trope (a phrase I find hugely insensitive) but more the idea that Rolex is a brand I have loads of problems and negative associations with ...but by buying a Tudor, I'm ultimately still giving Rolex my money and directly supporting everything that bothers me about them. It's a brilliant business plan on their part—building Tudor as a sub-brand to hoover up all the customers tiring of AD games, skyrocketing prices, and increasingly garish designs as Rolex itself pushes exclusively into the luxury fashion space—but I feel a bit like a hypocrite and a chump for buying into it.

However, part of being turned off by brand marketing is a determination to rise above it and appreciate a product on its own terms. I can't get riled up about brand snobbery when people say "I'd never pay that much for a [insert name of attainable brand here]" if I'm doing the same thing in the opposite direction, right? I was really intrigued by the size and understated design of the 54 and so I put pride aside and tried it on at my local AD, determined to check my cynicism at the door and see what all the online love was about.

And...yep, the 54 rose above all the negative associations I'd built up around the brand, its marketing, its parent company, and the unending hype in the enthusiast community. It was one of those rare experiences where a watch instantly felt like it was custom-tailored for my wrist. Everything about it—the weight, the size, even the design—felt comfortable. I never questioned "is this too ___?" or wished it was anything more than what it was. It just felt...right. I took a day to think about it, which included deciding what watch I'd sell to make room for it, checking 2nd-hand prices to see how much a hit I'd take if I changed my mind in a few weeks, and to consult with a watchmaker friend of mine who assured me the new movements are rock solid and I shouldn't expect any serious issues. Everything checked out and I picked the watch up the next day.

So, the review? This thing has been described and discussed in such painful and pointless detail that I won't get into the obvious stuff. Suffice it to say that, in almost every way, my first impression has stuck. As a watch, it's solidly built, nicely finished, incredibly accurate, and has an ageless design (not a surprise given the cheat-code of being a reissue of an already iconic watch). It fits my wrist perfectly and is in my exact length, height, and diameter sweet-spots. There are some great little details, like the slightly domed dial with its muted, not-quite-black sunburst effect, the copper tone of the printing and handset, and the old logo on the crown. And I love that it has a solid caseback. This thing is as serious as cosplay tool watches get. Everything feels precise and tight, with that quiet and confident sense of over-engineered quality that Mercedes Benz epitomized back in the day.

Bearing in mind that all discussions of "value" in the luxury game are relative, I think this is a solid deal compared to what you'd get from other Swiss retail brands around the same price (those qualifications intentionally included to avoid comparisons to Sinn, CW, and Seiko). The Longines Legend Diver 38 is probably the Black Bay 54's only solid competition in that space. Even the Oris Calibre 400 divers are more expensive for no discernible reason. Hold this next to IWC's cheapest watch—a Spitfire on a fabric strap—and try to explain why in the world the IWC costs $1000 more than the Tudor on a bracelet.

There's a cliché emerging around Tudor that they're offering what Rolex used to, which is literally true when it comes to the homage designs, but also figuratively true in terms of the watches being very high quality, understated tool-style luxury watches that are expensive enough to be aspirational but not so expensive as to be unattainable. That makes a lot of sense to me now. So does the idea of this being a perfect watch for someone who isn't an enthusiast or collector, but just wants a "really nice watch" to wear forever the way our grandparents did. The sizing and styling mean it'll never look dated by the whims of fashion and if my watchmaker-friend is right, it should last a very long time with minimal maintenance.

Still...I have issues. The movement has been super-accurate and dead quiet, without a hint of rotor spin, however when hand-winding, it hits a point (perhaps when it's fully wound?) that it starts making a loud clicking noise with each full rotation of the crown. Maybe that's normal for this movement—I haven't asked my AD yet—but I've never heard that from a watch before. I have a little hangup where the more I pay for something, the more these little glitches stand out for me, so I'm curious to get to the bottom of it.

Objectively, the bracelet is the biggest problem--and I'm not talking about the stupid rivets (yet). Despite all the hype and drool over the "t-fit" adjustable clasp, it has a pretty major flaw in that the amount of adjustment it offers doesn't relate to the size of the links themselves. Since no half-links are included, it's been impossible for me to get the fit right, rendering the adjustability moot. Take a link out and the bracelet is too tight at at the t-fit's most open setting, or add a link back in and it's loose even at the t-fit's tightest setting. I'm not alone in this—many owners have mentioned it online and it's common enough that two companies have now started selling half-links to correct the issue. The consensus seems to be that the aftermarket half-link solves the problem, but I don't accept the idea that I should have to buy a third-party accessory (that doesn't quite match) so a $4000 watch with a built-in micro-adjust system will fit properly. Folks complain about Grand Seiko only offering half-links instead of micro-adjustable clasps and this is the same problem in reverse.

The clasp is also pretty bulky, especially compared to how slim the watch itself is, and often pulls the watch up or down the wrist. Also be prepared for the link closest to the t-fit adjustment to get scuffed from use.

And, yes, the faux-rivets are a dumb, indefensible design choice that's completely at odds with the otherwise purposeful styling of the watch, but it hasn't really bothered me in the real world. If anything, they're a sort-of welcome quirk on a watch in desperate need of quirks.

And that's my last big point of conflict. As I said before, this could be the perfect purchase for someone who isn't an enthusiast and just wants one damn good watch that goes with everything, can take a beating, keeps great time, and won't look dated in 25 years. But (like everyone on WC, I assume) I'm not that person. I have other watches that I bought because they were unique in some way that connected with me on an emotional level, almost always from a design or historical perspective. Watches that I want to stare at and talk about. I won't say "watches with a soul" because that's a romantic projection, but I will say "watches that connect with MY soul." And the Black Bay 54 is great in ways my brain appreciates, but my soul hasn't connected with yet.

Speaking rationally, the 54 could well be the Platonic ideal of a premium watch. Stupid rivets aside, there's not a thing here that feels off or out of place. Not a bit of wabi-sabi or evidence of any human inspiration or interference. I've said this about many modern Tudors and it applies here: The watch feels like it was generated by AI programmed to scrape watch-enthusiast comment threads, and the result is exactly what we say we want: a high-quality, attainable vintage no-date Rolex diver in a mid-sized case with an in-house[ish] COSC movement. What's missing is anything that elevates it to art or inspires emotion. Beauty is about imperfections, tensions, and balance. It's about the little sparks of humanity and invention, and the Black Bay 54 has none of that. There are no chances taken with color, form, or technology. If Tudors are “#borntodare” its parents must be hugely disappointed. It is a completely rational watch at a time when there's nothing rational about buying a mechanical dive watch, let alone one at this price.

And that's what I'm wrestling with. Objectively, it may be the best all-around watch I own, but it's also the least interesting to me. When I get dressed, I keep reaching for a watch that fits my mood, my outfit, or my plans for the day and this one always seems to lose out to the vintage thing or the fun thing or the fancy thing or the rugged thing, all of which have something about them that I find unique and compelling. Two weeks in, the Tudor feels like the experience you get from a big-ticket classic-rock concert where a group of pros with varying ties to the original band faithfully play the hits everyone showed up to hear with no mistakes, no surprises, no risks, and, while enjoyable and often worth the price of the ticket, no chance of anyone being moved enough to say it’s the best concert they’ve ever seen. The result is an oldies show presented with meticulous technical perfection and no room for emotional resonance. The Eagles could sell Black Bays at their merch table.

It's a testament to how much my left-brain is blown away by the 54 that I'm sticking with it for a while longer in hopes that my right-brain finds a little poetry in some details I'm missing or that I'll find a strap that livens things up somewhat. At the moment, however, I'm feeling like I'm too passionate about watches to love a watch this dispassionately perfect. Stay tuned. I hope my feelings change and that any of this makes sense to someone other than me.