Tudor Launches New Black Bay Chrono 39: Smaller, Thinner, and Yellow

Tudor has followed up Watches and Wonders with a surprise release that nobody saw coming. It is a brand-new Black Bay Chrono in 39mm dubbed the “Bumblebee.” While everyone was waiting anxiously for a revamp of the Tudor Big Block, the brand took things a step further and brought something really fun and exciting (dare I say…daring) to the table that can sit alongside hits like the pink and Flamingo Blue chronos.This watch is exciting for a lot of reasons, the least of which is the fact that we now have a Tudor chronograph at 39mm, which is a massive re-size from the current-generation Black Bay Chrono models, which are 41mm. But it doesn’t end there, as the brand has seen fit to adjust the thickness of the watch, from 14.4mm all the way down to 13.1mm, while using the MT5813 caliber inside.

So much of this release feels like the day we first learned about the Black Bay 58, a watch that turned size and scale on its head from a Tudor we thought we knew while introducing a modern and future classic. This just feels like a big moment for the brand in all the right ways.

Sure, the vibrant yellow dial might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it fits the brand’s vibe of pushing the boundaries of color in its models, especially the Chrono range. This particular dial, with its yellow hue and punches of red, brings to mind the neo-vintage yellow-dial Tudor Tiger, for sure.

But the size and the thickness aren’t even the full story, as Tudor has even reworked small things like the shape and appearance of the Snowflake hand and the knurling on the crown, and delivered a bracelet I think many will love, which is full satin-brushed with flat link sides — meaning there are no rivets in the three-link construction.Time will tell if Tudor releases more colorways into this new format, but at $6,725, this is a really compelling player in the chronograph space and really exciting summer release.