Hodinkee ‘Friends & Family’ 79030 Tudor Black Bay 58

You’re probably asking yourself now, ‘What is Hairspring doing talking about a Black Bay 58?’ Look a little closer at that dial. If one needed convincing that Tudor are operating today in the role that Rolex did 50 years ago, we need no further evidence. This is the Hodinkee ‘Friends & Family’ Black Bay 58, one of many logo-dial, or collaborative, editions that Tudor have done with brands or organizations they respect. And Tudor’s willingness to create these tiny runs of watches that will be collected in future decades is, if nothing else, fun. Its the 58 you know and love, just inked (not literally).

The really telling thing about each of these ‘special’ Tudors is that the collaborator and design has to be approved by the entire Rolex board. It is a nod from the entire crown, or coronet, more formally. And in much the same way that Rolex Forums created a community of logo dial collectors well over a decade ago (my personal favorite remains the Honda dial Day-Date), there are now dedicated pages and collectors seeking these strange and lovely creations. You’ll find dials made for various military units (which are usually the most collected), Ed Sheeran’s Divide Tour, the State of Qatar, Rowing Blazers, Apple (sort of), the hockey team Genève-Servette, and smaller collector organizations like Orologi & Passioni or, indeed, Hodinkee. And that list isn’t even close to exhaustive. This, the Hodinkee 58, was made in 100 examples, though I believe there was also an earlier Hodinkee run in the 41 case which is likely to have been smaller in production.

The obvious criticism here is the secondary market values, where collectors go crazy for these things. Putting on my academic hat for a moment, I like anything that makes the watch world more interesting and varied. It’s excellent that future generations are going to have a lot to learn in trying to understand these things and the organizations that made them. Taking that academic hat off again, you are spending tens of thousands in USD for a tiny logo. But, and I can say this with a straight face, watch lovers have spent their war chests in far worse ways. And they are some of the more interesting things leaving Wilsdorf doors these days. Rolex rarely gets ‘stuck in’. Tudor’s doing that now, and I quite like it.

There’s pretty much no visible wear here, sticker still on back. The description doesn’t state who this one belonged to, that’s likely to protect them as Rolex remember these things. It’s heavily frowned upon by the Rolex powers that be if more than a few of these get dumped to the market after the collaboration and it won’t happen again. So a rare viewing here of a modern 58. It comes from Perpetual in London.