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Tudor began updating and relaunching its dive watches in 2012 with the introduction of the Heritage Black Bay. Since then, the award-winning Black Bay has become a favorite in an era when the steel sports watch reigns Tudor BlackBay
supreme among collectors. Today’s models retain many of the design signatures of the original 1950s and ’60s Tudors, but they are stronger, with sleeker designs, state-of-the-art movements, and other modern updates, including intricately constructed bracelets and luminescent markings on the dials. The dial retains the model’s
signature snowflake hands and square hour markers, which first appeared in 1969. The goal of the thick hands with large counterweights was to allow for abundant luminescent material, thus guaranteeing high legibility in all conditions. Some of the largest navies in the world have also chosen to use these for their diving personnel, including those from France, the U.S., Canada, and Italy. In the 1960s, the snowflake hands were used on two different diving models, references 7016 and 7021. It wasn’t until the 1990s that watch collectors nicknamed them snowflake hands, because they are reminiscent of the shape of a partial snowflake.
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