The replica Tudor brand has released a number of well-received additions to their Black Bay series, consisting of updates to both the Fifty-Eight and S&G lines, as well as debuts their first ever fake GMT watch.
But away from the robust tool-like models that have made the fake Tudor a favorite among the world’s military forces, 2018 has also seen them introduce a new range of casually gorgeous dress watches aimed at both men and women, topped off with an extremely tempting price tag.
Tudor’s important topic this year has seen them looking to the past to recapture some of the essence of their impressively rich heritage, and this new family has more than a few old-school touches.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the finishing on the selection of dials. Amongst the large number of pieces released into the lineup, 36 at the last count, the brand offers a choice of black, opaline or silver faces, either polished or with a machine-stamped ‘waffle’ pattern taken straight from their earliest days.
The range comes with Arabic numerals and the option of arrow-shaped indexes or diamond accents on the odd-numbers. All the replica watches for men in the series have an amazing balance and remain highly legible because of strongly contrasting dial elements, especially the opaline dials with their blue hands and hour markers. Even the date window at three o’clock doesn’t throw out the symmetry, thanks to the lack of Cyclops on its sapphire crystal.
When the replica Tudor was first formed, it was manufactured to be the more utilitarian, lower cost alternative to the extreme luxury of its parent company. The major difference between the two, and the reason the fake Tudor was able to make its prices down, was their use of third-party movements, specifically from Swiss ébauche manufacturer ETA.
With such a comprehensive set of styles to choose from, there is a replica Tudor 1926 that will appeal to most tastes. The 28mm two-tone, silver dial piece with diamond indexes is complicated enough for any company, while at the other end of the spectrum, the 39mm, all steel, black dial example has the look of a watch that could take some serious punishment, and bears more than a passing resemblance to the latest Explorer, but at a fraction of the cost.
The popular Tudor brand has been going from strength to strength recently, with ever more collectors discovering both its current range together with the highly collectible models on the vintage market.