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REVIEW: The Tudor Style REVIEW: The Tudor Style

REVIEW: The Tudor Style

Felix Scholz
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The Tudor Style has classic razor sharp design cues reminiscent of the Grand Seiko and Omega Aqua Terra.

Tudor had one of the most impressive, crowd pleasing lineups of Baselworld 2014. Everyone instantly loved the Heritage lineup – the Black Bay Blue and the Ranger garnered rave reviews and left strong, singular, first impressions. One watch, however, received a little less love from the watch cognoscenti, but that doesn’t mean it’s a poor cousin. And that watch, of course, is the Tudor Style.

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The immaculate finishing of the Style guarantees lightplay, in all kinds of light.

The Style is a very simple, unassuming watch. Haters might go so far as to call it boring. But the lack of flashy design features is this watches greatest strength and it speaks to the heart of what Rolex (the Tudor mothership) do best – create designs that are enduring and timeless. In five or 10 years, current Tudor darlings the like the Black Bay or the Heritage Chrono will clearly be of the current era, when vintage was trendy. The Style on the other hand (and somewhat ironically) will be largely immune to the vicissitudes of fashion, hopefully in much the same way as that other perennial fashion icon, the Rolex Datejust. The ‘Style’ Tudor are referring to with this nomenclature is classicism. Pure, iconic classicism. Sure, it’s a Style that nods to the past, notably with the dial printing “ROTOR SELF-WINDING” and it clearly draws on Tudor’s rich back catalogue of simple, everyday classic timepieces, but these references are just that. They’re points in a story, but not the whole story.

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Classic touches like including ‘ROTOR SELF-WINDING’ on the dial allude to Tudor’s rich history.

The other key point to understand about the Style is the audience – this watch is intended for anyone, but most strongly it’s aimed at women. The watch comes in an almost dizzying number of variations; case sizes of 28mm, 34mm, 38mm and 41mm, three dial colours, options for diamond set dials, gold bezels, bracelets, two-tone bracelets or leather straps. In the Style Tudor have created a versatile new watch that will appeal to practically all demographics. It’s also a completely new watch, and family, and is perhaps the basis of a new collection – and a clean, three handed timepiece is as solid a foundation as any.

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The Tudor Style, on the wrist at Baselworld 2014.

On the wrist the Tudor Style is much as you would expect from pictures. Comfortable, well made and versatile enough to go with pretty much anything. It can easily dress up or down. If you’re after ‘one good watch’ and like your watches a little on the refined side, the Style is a solid option for you (other options with the same vibe would be the Omega Aqua Terra or some of the offerings from Grand Seiko). It has the requisite visual interest, with the rich dial (the black is really glossy in the metal), and the mirror like, beveled, dauphine hands and applied indices. It’s a dial that could easily have been boring, but Tudor have given it just enough to elevate it.

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“It’s a dial that could easily have been boring, but Tudor have given it just enough to elevate it.”

The Style might not have been the sexiest of last years Tudor offerings – the competition sure was steep with the dashing denim blue Heritage Black Bay and the sturdy Ranger – but it’s a solidly built, reliable watch with truly classic looks, that will form the basis of what I suspect will be a significant collection. We tend to forget as watch geeks that to the majority of the watch public, many of the watches we fawn over are very left of centre. The Style is not such a watch – it’s aimed squarely at the middle, and for its intended audience it’s a great option.

Australian Pricing- Tudor Style

Pricing for the Tudor Style is sharp. Very sharp. The model reviewed here (ref 12300 – 65030, 34mm steel black dial) is priced at A$2,500, which is good value in our view.