Thickness Complaints - A Brief Thought

[Etschell]

It seems to me that every time a Tudor BlackBay is brought up in a post or released a lot of people ask "How thick is it?" Which is always followed by massive complaints that the in house BB is simply too thick. So what gives?

First, we first have to start with the reality. Tudor set themselves up for this one as the original ETA BB was a skinny 12.7 MM (by dive watch standards for those manufactured by Rolex or Tudor).

When the in house version came out and due to a bigger movement the thickness shot up to just under 15 MM at 14.8 MM, or by 15%! Now you do get a longer power reserve in trade-off. Some argue there should be no trade off at all. I do no necessarily disagree but I did not design the watch. The complaints and statements of "if it wasn't so thick" have not stopped since. Valid points.

But is the thickness issue really a valid enough point to be the subject of nearly every Tudor BB post on the forum?

The SubC is 12.7 MM thick, I don't think this includes the cyclops.
The SD4k and SD43 is 15 MM thick, I don't this includes the cyclops.

I have never really heard that the Seadweller Ceramic is too thick here which is quite interesting. How could that be? Perhaps the extra depth rating that no one will ever use is the saving grace for the Seadweller. Or because the Seadweller was historically always around the same thickness.

What is interesting is the 16800 Sub was 14.8 MM thick. Older submariner models were similarly thick. It was only the 16610 that slimmed down the Submariner by a whole 2 MM that took lasting effect (at least through today). Why Rolex did so is anyone's guess but perhaps it is as simple as most Submariners are worn by people who sit at a desk and wear dress shirts 5 days out of the week. Perhaps they too were complaining that 15 MM was too thick.

So how thick is 2 MM? In case anyone is wondering 2 MM is the thickness of a SubC bracelet link or 8% of 1 inch.

I guess the question really is, if 15 MM is not too thick for a modern Seadweller why is it too thick for another modern dive watch? Perhaps it isn't. Or perhaps Tudor should have known better when upping the thickness by going in house....