Tudor Heritage BlackBay and the Triplock crown

[Blackdog]

People have asked before if the new Blackbay and Pelagos do have a Triplock crown.

The external o-ring gasket on the tube of the Pelagos is visible when thr crown is unscrewed, and I believe it has been confirmed that the design of the Pelagos crown and tube is the same as the modern 703/7030 Rolex Triplock. Like this (these drawings have been posted in this forum before, I borrowed them from an old post):


It was sort of assumed so far that the Blackbay would have a twin-lock type of crown/tube.

I have a Blackbay and was curious too, so I decided to pop the hood open and take a look.


I unlocked the stem and found that, apart from the obvious cosmetic differences of the crown and the aluminum cosmetic ring, the design of the crown and tube is that of the early Triplock that was orginally fitted to the early 5513/1680s. The design is just like the 702/7020 Triplock crown and tube as seen here:


Here’s the crown, with it’s internal gasket.


Here’s the tube with it’s two o-rings inside, and the seating for the round gasket that's inside the crown:



The Twinlock crown design has only one gasket inside the tube, and the crown gasket is flat as it seals right against the top the tube, as seen here:


I didn’t remove the tube, but I think it’s safe to assume that there is a gasket between the tube and the case too.

The colored aluminum ring on the tube seems to have no function in the crown locking and to be purely cosmetic.

So to the question: Does the Blackbay sport a Triplock crown ? IMO the answer is yes, one like the early 702/7020 Triplock crowns in fact.