Introduced at Baselworld in 2017, the Tudor Black Bay Chrono reference 79350 marked one of the most important expansions of the Black Bay family. Until then, the collection had been defined primarily by its dive-watch heritage, but the arrival of a chronograph demonstrated Tudor’s intention to develop the line into a broader expression of the brand’s sporting history. The result combined familiar Black Bay signatures, including the snowflake hands, oversized crown and vintage-inspired case, with a fixed tachymeter bezel and twin-register chronograph display.

The reference was also significant for what lay inside. Rather than adapting one of its existing three-hand calibres, Tudor entered into an industrial partnership with Breitling, using the architecture of the Breitling B01 as the foundation for its calibre MT5813. Tudor added its own regulating system and finishing, producing an integrated automatic chronograph with a column wheel, vertical clutch, silicon balance spring and 70-hour power reserve. The collaboration gave the Black Bay Chrono a level of technical sophistication rarely encountered at its price point and established the mechanical foundation for Tudor chronographs that followed. Bold, robust and initially controversial, the 79350 has since become an important first-generation reference in the modern history of the Black Bay.