Black Bay Maintenance Question

[mike]

Originally Posted by QCASANOVA

When you say no hardware, do you mean no buckle or no steel hardware at all?

Correct. It does have springbars, but no buckle or keepers.

[TudorBeast]

Originally Posted by mike

Correct. It does have springbars, but no buckle or keepers.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Just when i thought it couldn't worse. $170 you get a fabric strip with some spring bars...?? Ridiculous. Hello crown & buckle.

[mike]

Originally Posted by TudorBeast

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Just when i thought it couldn't worse. $170 you get a fabric strip with some spring bars...?? Ridiculous. Hello crown & buckle.

I didn't even ask what the buckle and keepers might be.

[TudorBeast]

Say you have to replace the strap 10x throughout your owner ship. That's half the cost of the watch itself. Good lord...

[Terpits]

Originally Posted by TudorBeast

Say you have to replace the strap 10x throughout your owner ship. That's half the cost of the watch itself. Good lord...

These fabric straps are fairly tough. If I would have to buy the same strap 10x for the same watch, I think that's a great deal.

[Blackdog]

$170 for the fabric strap is completely outrageous. Even if it included the buckle.
I kept mine unused in the box and bought this zulu instead:
http://www.panatime.com/22bu3rinaban.html
Excellent, heavy material, and available as 5-ring NATO too. And get it wet all you want !

$650 for the distressed leather is also nonsense, I presume that's including the deployant right ? I got this one instead:
http://www.strappedfortime.com/shop/...and-strap/248/
Real distressed leather. And it looks great with the simple buckle included.

Frankly, for around the price Tudor asks for the fabric strap you could buy the two and a set of end links if you like that look (I do).

Or, if you want a serious diving strap just get one of these and you wont need anything else. There nothing more comfortable in or out of the water:
http://isofrane.com/strap_detail.htm
...and you can also buy the wetsuit extension all for about the same price of the Tudor fabric.

[Terpits]

Originally Posted by QCASANOVA

I feel the the same way you do. The Tudor fabric strap is fantastic. It feel is and looks great.....

I saw the fast rider fabric strap (black with red line) and wondered how that would look on the BB. It may take away from the simplicity of the plain black strap with the watch but it may be interesting.

[Nycturbovr6]

I would keep it on the bracelet

[Jake B]

l'm sure that a large part of the reason for the price is simply that Tudor does not care to be in the business of mass producing, selling, and shipping of their straps so that people can use them on all sorts of watches. If they sold that strap for $50, they'd do nothing but deal with all of that, along with the thousands of strap related customer service emails rolling in all the time.

[HERITAGE82]

Originally Posted by Terpits

I saw the fast rider fabric strap (black with red line) and wondered how that would look on the BB. It may take away from the simplicity of the plain black strap with the watch but it may be interesting.

I too saw the strap and thought it could look great. However, the AD said he couldn't order me one. So I am left to wait for one to pop up in the FS section or EBay.

[hsfrank]

[QUOTE=5253Reynolds;I saw a picture of a TT Sub here on the forum that had been on the ocean floor for a year and was eventually sucked up by a dredge. The Sub looked fine.[/QUOTE]

Ow! And it keeps on ticking.LOL

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by Jake B

l'm sure that a large part of the reason for the price is simply that Tudor does not care to be in the business of mass producing, selling, and shipping of their straps so that people can use them on all sorts of watches. If they sold that strap for $50, they'd do nothing but deal with all of that, along with the thousands of strap related customer service emails rolling in all the time.

Precisely. Truer words have never been spoken.

[TudorBeast]

Originally Posted by Jake B

l'm sure that a large part of the reason for the price is simply that Tudor does not care to be in the business of mass producing, selling, and shipping of their straps so that people can use them on all sorts of watches. If they sold that strap for $50, they'd do nothing but deal with all of that, along with the thousands of strap related customer service emails rolling in all the time.

Originally Posted by Blackdog

Precisely. Truer words have never been spoken.

Actually I don't believe that is the full case here. Unlike a true nato strap, these tudor straps have specific locations for the springbars. So it is not as universal as you might think. Watches have different lug to lug measurements and different spring bar holes. I tried fitting a black bay tudor strap on my pelagos and even that was a stretch.

[Terpits]

Originally Posted by TudorBeast

Actually I don't believe that is the full case here. Unlike a true nato strap, these tudor straps have specific locations for the springbars. So it is not as universal as you might think. Watches have different lug to lug measurements and different spring bar holes. I tried fitting a black bay tudor strap on my pelagos and even that was a stretch.

What if they don't use the lug slots and wear it like a regular nato?

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by TudorBeast

Actually I don't believe that is the full case here. Unlike a true nato strap, these tudor straps have specific locations for the springbars. So it is not as universal as you might think. Watches have different lug to lug measurements and different spring bar holes. I tried fitting a black bay tudor strap on my pelagos and even that was a stretch.

No, I'm not saying it is universal at all. Matter of fact it is pretty exclusive in the way it's made and the texture of the fabric. But that doesn't make what Jake B said any less true.

They are not in the business of selling those straps to the general public. If you REALLY want one, they'll only sell it to existing BB owners, and be ready to pay the price. This approach limits the supply needs quite a bit.

It is not unlike selling a bracelet, or a clasp. Those are pretty exclusive items, and will cost you. And they won't sell it to you unless you already own the watch it is intended for. I tried to buy the Pelagos clasp to use with my BB (as it is stainless steel and I presume fully compatible) and it was a no go.

[TudorBeast]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

No, I'm not saying it is universal at all. Matter of fact it is pretty exclusive in the way it's made and the texture of the fabric. But that doesn't make what Jake B said any less true.

They are not in the business of selling those straps to the general public. If you REALLY want one, they'll only sell it to existing BB owners, and be ready to pay the price. This approach limits the supply needs quite a bit.

It is not unlike selling a bracelet, or a clasp. Those are pretty exclusive items, and will cost you. And they won't sell it to you unless you already own the watch it is intended for. I tried to buy the Pelagos clasp to use with my BB (as it is stainless steel and I presume fully compatible) and it was a no go.

Okay, I fully understand what you're saying now, thanks for elaborating

Oh yeah and I too tried putting the Pelagos clasp on the Black Bay, and of course it's not compatible. I mean i can screw it on and everything but the links don't line up so it can't freely move. Not to mention the titanium vs SS brush finish is world of difference.

[Terpits]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

No, I'm not saying it is universal at all. Matter of fact it is pretty exclusive in the way it's made and the texture of the fabric. But that doesn't make what Jake B said any less true.



They are not in the business of selling those straps to the general public. If you REALLY want one, they'll only sell it to existing BB owners, and be ready to pay the price. This approach limits the supply needs quite a bit.



It is not unlike selling a bracelet, or a clasp. Those are pretty exclusive items, and will cost you. And they won't sell it to you unless you already own the watch it is intended for. I tried to buy the Pelagos clasp to use with my BB (as it is stainless steel and I presume fully compatible) and it was a no go.

The adjustments on the Pelagos clasp is unreal. I am baffled why they didn't put this on the BB.

[HERITAGE82]

Originally Posted by mike

I didn't even ask what the buckle and keepers might be.

How do you even remove the keepers to put them on the new band? They look to be solid and sewn into place.

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by TudorBeast

Oh yeah and I too tried putting the Pelagos clasp on the Black Bay, and of course it's not compatible. I mean i can screw it on and everything but the links don't line up so it can't freely move. Not to mention the titanium vs SS brush finish is world of difference.

So it is NOT compatible…. I kinda assumed it would be… Good to know.

Originally Posted by Terpits

The adjustments on the Pelagos clasp is unreal. I am baffled why they didn't put this on the BB.

Well, at least a dedicated clasp with a basic diver's extension would have been nice… Menomale che ISOFRANE c'è (Thanks goodness we have ISOFRANE).