Pelagos
History of the line
Presented in the same year as the Black Bay, 2012, but with the opposite philosophy, the Pelagos was created as the most professional dive watch in the Tudor range: reference 25500TN, a 42 mm satin-finished titanium case (lighter than steel), a black ceramic bezel resistant to scratches and fading, a helium escape valve for saturation diving, and a patented self-adjusting clasp that compensates for the compression of the wetsuit under pressure at depth. "Snowflake" hands and square indices nonetheless maintain a visual link with Tudor's historic divers, despite entirely modern engineering.
In 2015 the line switched to the in-house MT5612 calibre (70-hour power reserve). 2019 brought the Pelagos LHD ("Left-Hand Drive"), with the crown at 9 o'clock: a tribute to a one-off prototype originally made for a left-handed Marine Nationale diver.
The most significant chapter for the brand's history came in 2021 with the Pelagos FXD, developed directly with the training programme of the French Marine Nationale's combat divers — the same institution that from the 1950s to the 1970s had already been issued Tudor Submariners. Fixed lugs designed for a single-piece strap, no adjustable clasp, a monobloc case: an explicit, contemporary continuation of the old "TUDOR M.N." military dive watches. The range then expanded with FXD GMT "Zulu Time" versions certified as chronometers for military use and with the Pelagos 39 (2023), a smaller case for smaller wrists.
Technical specifications
Notable references
The Pelagos FXD stemmed from a concrete request from the French Marine Nationale's combat divers, who noticed in field tests that adjustable clasps could give way under stress: the solution — fixed lugs and a single-piece strap — deliberately recalls the way, decades earlier, the same servicemen used Tudor Submariners without the bracelet, replacing it with military straps.