TIME ZONE
THE NEW PELAGOS FXD PAYS TRIBUTE TO DECADES OF US NAVAL SERVICE
T he history of the Tudor divers’ watch dates back to 1954 with the launch of reference 7922. Waterproof to 100 meters (330 ft), it is the firstborn in a long line of divers. Affordable, robust, reliable, and precise, it is representative of the tool-watch philosophy of the brand. The seven decades following its introduction have witnessed the constant improvement of this Tudor divers’ watch and those that have gained unanimous acclaim from professionals in the field, including some of the greatest military navies in the world. As early as the mid-1950s, Tudor diving watches were being tested and evaluated by a number of outfits inside the US Navy, and by 1958 they were officially adopted by the Navy and purchased to issue them to divers operating in various units. This Pelagos FXD model is the spiritual successor of those watches. The nomenclature hints at the background of the watch, with FXD referring to the incredibly powerful FiXeD strap bars of the case. The model represents a modern, high-performance, and robust take on the famed Milsub (short for Military Submariner) of yesteryear. Visually, it’s most in line with a late ’60s-era Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner reference 7016; it incorporates elements from the US military specifications for diving watches, such as fixed spring bars, as well as details inspired by other generations of issued Tudors, like pointed crown-guards typically found on early Tudor Submariners.
The Manufacture Calibre MT5602 that drives the Pelagos FXD model displays the hours, minutes, and seconds functions. It has the finish typical of Tudor Manufacture Calibres: its rotor in tungsten monobloc is openwork and satin-brushed with sand-blasted details. In contrast, its bridges and mainplate have alternate sand-blasted, polished surfaces, and laser decorations. Its build has been designed to ensure robustness, longevity, reliability, and precision, as has its variable inertia balance, maintained by a sturdy traversing bridge with a two-point fixation. Together with its non-magnetic silicon hairspring, the Manufacture Calibre MT5602 is certified as a chronometer by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC), with its performance going beyond the standards set by this independent institute. In fact, where COSC allows an average variation in the daily running of a watch of between -4 and +6 seconds in relation to absolute time in a single movement, Tudor insists on between -2 and +4 seconds’ variation in its running when it is completely assembled. Today, the Tudor collection includes iconic lines such as Black Bay, Pelagos, 1926, and Royal. Since 2015, Tudor has also offered models with mechanical Manufacture Calibres with multiple functions and superior performance.
TUDOR PELAGOS FXD with 22mm fabric strap
TUDOR PELAGOS FXD with Rubber strap
59 REIS-NICHOLS JEWELERS MAGAZINE
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