Tudor Signs David Beckham And The ‘All Blacks’ Rugby Team

David Beckham wearing the Tudor Black Bay S & G 

Tudor has been keeping busy lately. The Swiss watch brand on Tuesday announced the signing of two new brand ambassadors. The first is David Beckham, the international soccer star and fashion icon. The second is the biggest name in the world of Rugby, the New Zealand All Blacks.

Beckham and the All Blacks will star in Tudor’s new campaign with the “Born To Dare” signature. The company says the campaign reflects “the history of the brand and what it stands for today. Daring individuals have long chosen Tudor while achieving the extraordinary on land, ice, in the air and underwater. It also refers to the vision of Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Tudor, who manufactured Tudor watches to withstand the most extreme conditions, watches made for the most daring lifestyle."

The All Blacks wearing the Tudor Black Bay Dark

The Tudor “Born To Dare” spirit is expressed in the following statement:

“We are devoted to the classic. But reject the status quo. We keep the best of the past, the best watchmaking practices, the best designs. And push the boundaries of what’s new. Born for a purpose. Field-tested to the extreme. For those who are up for anything. For those who face their fears.”

A closer look of David Beckham wearing the Tudor Black Bay S & G

Beckham, in the same statement, said he became interested in the brand through its sibling brand Rolex, which he collects. “I was attracted to Tudor by the attention to detail I could see in their watches. I then learned about the history of the brand—one of adventure, pioneer diving and daring expeditions. I was instantly hooked.”

Below is a video with Beckham in Tudor's Born To Dare campaign.

Beckham in the campaign wears the Black Bay S&G, a vintage-inspired steel and gold diver’s watch as well as the Black Bay Chrono, a COSC-certified chronograph with column-wheel manufacture caliber, drawing upon Tudor's diving and motorsports heritage.

The All Blacks star player, Beauden Barrett, wearing the Tudor Black Bay Dark

The All Blacks is the most successful national team in the history of professional rugby, known for their winning ways and their “haka” pre-game ritual—based on the traditional war challenge from the Māori people of New Zealand.

Tudor’s sponsorship of the All Blacks includes separate sponsorships for its star player, Beauden Barrett, and the upcoming 2017 DHL New Zealand Lions Series. Every four years, the best rugby players in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, combine to become the British and Irish Lions team and tour one of the Southern Hemisphere rugby nations. In 2017, the tour will be in New Zealand and include three matches with the All Blacks, beginning June 24.

The All Blacks and Barrett are photographed in the campaign wearing the Black Bay Dark, a vintage-inspired all-black steel diver’s watch.

Below is the haka being performed by the All Blacks prior to the final of the Rugby World Cup 2011 against the French team in New Zealand.

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Father’s Day: Six Watches For Passionate, Active Men

Baume & Mercier Hampton

What to give a father that’s new, different and exciting. To help you out here are a listing of six watches for father’s (or husbands) who are active, whether that activity is done in an urban setting or whether it takes places on land, sea and air. All the watches listed are the latest models of classic pieces made by the watch brands. If by chance the most recent model hasn’t made it to retailers yet, the 2014 model should be in stock and would be welcomed as a gift for any man. 


Baume & Mercier Hampton
There are few contemporary watch collections that have become as ionic as the square- or rectangular-shaped case of the Hampton, which is celebrating 20th anniversary this year. Baume & Mercier introduced two new models this year, including the Hampton 10155 (top photo). Simple and sophisticated, the 31 mm x 47 mm rectangular case in satin-finished polished steel contains a Swiss manufacture mechanical automatic caliber visible through the transparent caseback. The curved case measures only 10 mm thick. It’s a timepiece for city dwellers with an off-white dial that displays the hour, minutes and seconds, blued steel tip of the hands, which reinforce the traditional character of the timepiece. The date is shown through a simple window at 6 o'clock, finished off with a black alligator strap and a steel folding security buckle.

Bremont U-22
The new military watch from U.K.-based company is an extension of the U-2 collection, which was originally designed for and inspired by the elite U-2 spy plane squadron flown by the U.S. Air Force. The updated date display reflects the view on an altimeter. There is also a difference with the bi-directional rotating inner bezel, originally designed to measure 60 minutes, and altered in the U-22 to a compass quadrant of a pilot which is often useful in navigation weather mapping. The bronze barrel color was inspired by a number of military watches Bremont has produced in the past based on the anti-reflective coating used on their cockpit canopies. The chronometer uses Bremont’s anti-shock rubberized movement mount. Unlike the original U-2 the U-22 has an exhibition case back showing the automatic movement.

Carl F. Bucherer The Patravi TravelTec II
For the tenth anniversary of the Patravi TravelTec collction, Carl F. Bucherer unveiled a new version of the watch that combines a three-time zone display and chronograph. Chronometer-certified and water resistant to 100 meters, the 47.4 mm case has a side-mounted sapphire glass window (a standard feature of the Patravi TravelTec timepieces) that reveals the built-in complication. The in-house automatic caliber CFB 1901.1 simultaneously displays three time zones in combination with a chronograph. The nine applied hour indices on the dial identify the first time zone. An outer ring on the dial provides the second time zone. The hour digits for the third time zone appear on the bezel. The monopusher enables rapid, user-friendly switching between East and West travel directions. The date display can move forward and also backward when changing the hour setting.

Montblanc Timewalker Urban Speed
The Montblanc Timewalker Urban Speed Date, Montblanc Timewalker Urban Speed UTC, and Montblanc Timewalker Urban Speed chronograph (pictured above), are all designed for the new digitally-enhanced e-strap cerated by the luxury brand. All of the watches are equipped with automatic movements. The 42 or 43-millimetre case include skeletonized horns, a narrow bezel, a large dial with Arabic numerals lancet-shaped hands. The come in “cold grey” micro-blasted steel case or the black DLC (Diamond like carbon) coating. 

Nomos Metro 38 Datum
This timepiece from the Glashütte, Germany-based watchmaker, has received several awards for its sleek, urbane design and functionality. It is one of the most affordable watches on the market with an in-house mechanical movement (DUW 4101). As of 2014, this movement also includes an in-house made escapement. The newest version, released this month, comes without the power reserve, making the dial of the watch even more well-proportioned and clean. It’s also slightly larger than the model introduced in 2014. The new dial of Metro 38 Datum was created by Mark Braun, the Berlin-based designer behind Metro, which has now won five major design awards, including the Red Dot award, the German Design Award, the Good Design Award and iF Product Design Award. 

Zenith El Primero Sport Chronograph
The 45 mm-diameter steel case houses the 400 B automatic chronograph caliber beating at a rate of 36,000 vibrations per hour.  The movement and its Côtes de Genève motif is visible through the sapphire caseback. The dial is available in silver or slate grey (pictured) with a lamé hand finish. The broad faceted hour-markers, rhodium-finished and coated with Super-LumiNova, enable easy readings of the central hours and minutes, swept over by sword-shaped hands. This aesthetic is picked up on the small counter hands. The chronograph sweep-seconds hand, bearing the star emblem, is clad in a deep red echoed by the inscription “36,000 VpH” painted in crimson red in the upper part of the dial. The tachometric scale now appears on the inner bezel ring. 

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