Tudor Heritage Chronograph Blue

Today, we’re going to change it up a little and talk about a watch. Which watch you ask? The Tudor Heritage chronograph blue!

This is easily one of my favorite watches I've found so far. The first time I saw it was on the wrist of James May, in The Grand Tour, season four episode one named “Seamen”. I noticed it right away, and absolutely needed to know which watch it was. After getting a close enough look (and I think he might have mentioned it) I was able to figure out it was a Tudor. From there I was able to find out which model. The Heritage chrono blue! 

Tudor first came to fruition in 1926, by a man named Hans Wilsdorf. This is the same man who started Tudor’s now parent company, Rolex. In 1970 Tudor released its first Chronograph watch, called the Oysterdate chronograph. And throughout the following few years continued to make the same model but with a few minor changes. The first chrono blue came out in 1973 and looked more or less like the “new” one released in 2013.

Original from 1973

By now you must be asking, what the hell is a chronograph? Simply put, a chronograph is basically a stopwatch. When it comes to watches however, the chrono has many different uses. It can be used to tell speed of a moving vehicle, count the time for a diver so they know how much air they have left in their tanks, or in this case, it can be used for timing purposes. 

The Chrono Blue is absolutely one of the most visually appealing watches for me, not because of the detail that is on the dial like some watches, but because of the colors used by Tudor. The way that the blue is strongly reflected off the grey dial and the blue aluminum bezel shines with its 12-hour counter in silver. Also, when you add the blue, white and orange fabric strap, you basically have a match made in heaven. 

Now that I’ve explained how it looks and you’ve seen it, let’s talk about the details of the watch.

The heritage blue comes in only one size, 42mm. The movement is an in-house Tudor self-winding movement (for those that care it’s the 2892) with an additional mechanism for the chronograph and will give you 42 hours of power reserve. The watch has a screw-down crown and two screw-down pushers allowing the watch to be water resistant for up to 150m (500ft). The sub-dials include a second counter at the 3 o’clock position and a 45-minute counter at the 9 o’clock position. It also has a date at the 6 o’clock position. 

To me, this is an incredible watch, from the colors to the chronograph function, I really do love everything about the watch. I like Tudor and I like where they are going, it’s a company owned by one of the most popular and demanded watch companies in the world, but they are able to keep their cool and supply the world with amazing watches at an “affordable” price. I wish to one day be able to wear and maybe even own this watch. Maybe I can use the chronograph function to see how fast I can walk from my couch to my fridge.