Tudor Black Bay 58 'Inter Milan' and The Brand's 2024 Strategy

On May 18th Tudor gave the Black Bay 58 a blue ombré makeover in collaboration with Italian football team Inter Milan. The watch is limited to 1908 pieces, honoring the team’s inaugural year. In 2024 alone, Tudor has released three watches in partnership with a professional sports organization (BB Chrono Pink, FXD Cycling, and now this); they’ve also made numerous athlete-exclusive models that aren’t available at retail.

Clearly, Tudor is charging full speed ahead with their focus on collaboration and professional sports, a long-standing trend that this latest release only solidifies further.  After taking a look at this limited edition BB58 for Inter Milan, I’d like to touch on Tudor’s release strategy thus far in 2024.

Inter Milan Tudor Black Bay 58

Tudor’s new Inter Milan Black Bay 58 features a new dial and caseback: everything else can be found on the existing Black Bay 58. 

Image Source: Tudor

The blue dial is bright and punchy: a similar hue to the team-exclusive Black Bay Ceramic that Tudor made for Visa Cash App RB Formula One. However, the Inter Milan dial features an ombré gradient, fading from black around the perimeter. Contrasting this dark perimeter is a white minutes track, similar to what we’ve seen on the existing blue and taupe BB58s. In place of the usual 6 o’clock dial text, you’ll find the Inter Milan insignia topped with two stars, all printed in the same hue as the bezel’s gilt accents. In Italian football, every 10th championship earns a permanent star on the team’s jersey: Inter Milan just nabbed their 20th championship (before the season even finished), hence the two stars on the dial. 

Image Source: Hodinkee

The caseback features an engraved Inter Milan logo accompanied by two stars, as well as the watch’s production number out of 1908. 

Tudor’s 2024 Release Strategy (Thus Far)

As I mentioned at the top, Tudor is apparently all-in on sports-themed collaborations, having already released three this year. While it’s easy to lump these non-trade-show releases together, their differences in availability are noteworthy. The first release of the year, the Black Bay Chrono Pink, is an off-catalog item that’s limited to an unknown quantity (there will be very few). The second release, the Pelagos FXD Chrono ‘Cycling Edition’, is a traditional catalog item that will (presumably) be readily-available, likely to the extent of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing FXDs of 2023.

This third release, the Inter Milan Black Bay 58, is limited to a known quantity of 1908 and is available at ‘all TUDOR points of sale throughout Italy,’ per the brand’s announcement. However, the watch’s distribution is not limited to Italy; it can be ordered upon request from any Tudor boutique worldwide. I’m awaiting comment on how many will be allocated to other markets, but I’m assuming it will be a minority.

The way I see it, Tudor’s recent emphasis on sports collaboration is an extension of their years-long emphasis on collaboration at large. Publicly and privately, Tudor has collaborated on watches with the likes of UNDEFEATED, Harrods, Facebook, the French Marine Nationale, Ed Sheeran, Tiger Woods, and wine brand Realm Cellars, not to mention sports organizations like Inter Miami, Visa Cash App RB, Alinghi, etc. Given their expertise in hyper-capable sports watches, it only makes sense that Tudor is leaning into this sports-oriented direction.

These collaborations effectively bring non-watch-nerds into the fold, growing Tudor’s brand awareness and creating a diverse audience that appreciates not only the watches’ craftsmanship, but the brand’s cultural relevance and presence across various industries. Furthermore, we can’t minimize Tudor’s release strategy to their non-trade-show releases. At Watches and Wonders this year, Tudor introduced what I see as two cornerstones in their catalog: the Black Bay 58 GMT and decidedly-modern BB Monochrome. In addition to the often-colorful, sometimes-limited, and increasingly-sports-themed collaborations, Tudor’s Watches and Wonders releases were, in my opinion, true to the heart and soul of the brand.

So, do good things come in threes? Will this be The Shield’s last sports collaboration in 2024? Or will they continue to crank out these releases, perhaps giving the F1 team a watch that’s available to the public? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Header Image Source: Tudor