A watch well-known for its value proposition is the Tudor Black Bay. Originally introduced in 2012, the diver’s watch is a modern rendition of the Tudor Submariner from the 1950’s, drawing from the Swiss watchmaker’s rich diving heritage and in turn becoming one of the most popular dive watches of today.
The Tudor Black Bay is largely characterised by its iconic Snowflake hour hand, retro-inspired domed crystal and in-house technologies, retailing between £3,200 and £5,000. All in all, the Black Bay is a fantastic, well-priced watch tempting those with a love of in-house movements, chronometer-certification and Swiss craftsmanship. Funnily enough, it’s also become a popular alternative to even more expensive diver’s watches like the Rolex Submariner.
That said, we know not everyone has £3,000 to spend on a new diver’s watch, no matter how reasonable the Tudor Black Bay may be in comparison to those by its sister company. So instead, we’ve compiled a list of five affordable alternatives to the Tudor Black Bay, all with a retail price of £2,000 or less.
Longines HydroConquest
LONGINES HYDROCONQUEST GMT - Credit Longines
For those wanting a Swiss made diver’s watch with the same levels of durability and toughness as the Tudor Black Bay, you can’t go far wrong with the Longines HydroConquest collection. There’s a pretty vast range of designs to choose from with cases as small as 32mm and as large as 44mm. Each has a solid stainless steel case, a coloured ceramic unidirectional divers bezel and a water resistance of 300 metres. Those powered by Swiss quartz movements are understandably the most affordable, retailing from just £1,100 but for just a couple of hundred more, you can upgrade to an automatic winding movement. 39mm wide reference L3.741.4.56.6 is one of our personal favourites.
Oris Divers Sixty Five
Oris Divers Sixty Five (Cotton Candy) - Credit WatchGecko
If you love the vintage vibe the Tudor Black Bay brings, we reckon you’ll also love the Oris Divers Sixty Five. The design is a reincarnation of a historic Oris timepiece from the 1960’s – hence the collection’s name – bringing back the same bubble curved sapphire crystal glass and retro inspired dial. The 40mm wide time-and-date references are perfect entry-level mechanical diver’s watches offering Swiss made automatic movements, Super-LumiNova decorated hardware, steel cases, unidirectional bezels and 100 metre water resistant ratings. This is the most expensive Tudor Black Bay alternative in today’s list, but it still only retails for £1,875 – and when you think about the spec this watch delivers, it feels like a steal.
Citizen Promaster Diver Super Titanium
Citizen Promaster Diver Super Titanium - Credit Citizen
The next three affordable alternatives to the Tudor Black Bay are all under £500 and hopefully as we’ll show, they’re just as impressive in their own way. The first is the Citizen Promaster Diver Super Titanium watch which arrives with a case and bracelet engineered from Citizen’s patented Super Titanium, a metal known for being super lightweight and durable. Housed within is their Eco Drive technology which fuels the watch entirely by light, meaning no battery changes, ever. It also showcases an aluminium unidirectional bezel, black dial with luminous markers and an ISO-certified water resistance of 200 metres. You get all this for just £399.
Seiko 5 Sports SKX
Seiko 5 Sports SKX - Credit WatchGecko
Most people, when they begin their search for an affordable diver’s watch, will come across Seiko. This Japanese watchmaker has set the standards for entry-level mechanical watch manufacture and their 5 Sports series as a whole is usually my first recommendation for timepiece newbies. A model with an aesthetic unintentionally close to the Tudor Black Bay is the Seiko 5 Sports SKX and again, for just £300, there’s plenty of premium spec to enjoy. The compact 38mm references deliver 100 metre water resistant ratings, Lumibrite on a colourful choice of dials, rotating bezels and Seiko’s in-house Calibre 4R36. There’re also some cool GMT iterations for £420 if the added time zone hopping complication has always taken your fancy.
Timex Harbourside Coast
Possibly the most affordable alternative to the Tudor Black Bay on the market is the Timex Harbourside Coast. This is a watch that retails for just £100 – yes you heard that right – and unsurprisingly for Timex at this point, it has an impressive set of specs to go with it. The 43mm-wide silver-toned case comes equipped with a rotating bezel with an anodized aluminium inlay and a knurled crown nicely protected by crown guards. There’s a 100 metres water resistance, luminescence on the dial and a quartz movement housed inside. I think it’s pretty clear Timex has taken some design inspiration from the Black Bay here, especially when it comes to the model with the red bezel and black dial, but we can’t be mad when it arrives at this price point.
