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This is one of the most complicated timepieces that Tudor has ever crafted, it is one of the very few mechanic watches with an alarm clock that currently exists and, most of all, it is the timepiece that features this type of complication that boasts the best quality/price ratio on the market. The Tudor Advisor is, in a nutshell, a mixture of rare elements.
A bit of history – the Tudor Advisor wasn’t born out of a white piece of paper despite the fact that this timepiece – together with the Tudor Heritage Chrono, a watch that boasts an illustrious ancestor – is one of the least recent items that the Swiss manufacturer has released on the market.
The Tudor Advisor is among the very first creations within the Heritage line and, like all the other Heritage timepieces, it has a clear historic reference, namely a 1957 model that measured 34mm and sported a mechanic alarm clock. That specific size has been increased to reach today’s 42mm, it has multiplied into different bracelets and dial versions since its rebirth and today it is a timepiece that, from an aesthetic point of view, is more elaborated than its predecessor.
Tudor has developed the Alarm function module in-house.
This timepiece’s caliber is an hybrid, that means that the alarm module has been developed in-house based on an existing module that was sourced externally. The button located at 8 o’clock is used to activate the alarm clock, the aperture located at 9 o’clock has an ON indicator that shows that the alarm function is actually active while the power reserve of the alarm clock is visible through a red “comma” located within a small dial located at 3 o’clock.
Like on all the (rare) mechanic alarm clocks the case sports the classic double crown on the right hand side of the case-middle: the original one has been moved to 4 o’clock while the crown that is used to set the alarm clock is located at 2 o’clock (Advisor) and it moves the central red-coloured hand on the dial. This particular setting is one of the manners that help us to clearly identify an alarm clock watch amongst a thousand of timepieces. A “pointer date” indicator located at 6 o’clock shows the day of the month.
Stainless Steel and Grade 5 Titanium.
Details – the 42mm case is made of a mixture of stainless steel and Grade 5 titanium, the latter is used both on the case-back and on the case-middle to improve the sound quality and its propagation.
This year Tudor unveiled its Tudor Advisor Cognac, a dial with warm hues that adds up to the two original dials, the black dial and silver dial that were released a few years ago.
This Cognac “Chocolate Dial” is simply stunning.
The Cognac version is to the Advisor what the Bronze version is to the Black Bay, it represents the model that breaks the apparent strictness of the original dials, the sober and elegant colours of the two original versions. The contrast between the cognac colour, the red hues of the hand and the winding indicator and the applied indexes is incredibly majestic.
I see, try on and compare watches on a daily basis but it is incredible how I can still be amazed by how a “simple” colour variation can so easily change the personality of a timepiece. The same-colour alligator leather strap version is simply stunning.
Not a cheap watch but this is the most complicated Tudor to date.
Retailing at a price of 5,600 euro the Advisor is the most complicated and expensive Tudor timepiece available on the market and the Tudor Advisor Cognac is a successful occasion to remind us all that one of Tudor’s collections includes one of the only available mechanic alarm clocks, one of those models that were very popular in the 60s and that were equipped with a funny and romantic complication. Nowadays this feature has been almost entirely replaced by digital watches or smartphones and this timepiece throws us back to a time when all those functions were exclusively mechanic and it was your very own timepiece that reminded you that you had to wear it the following day.
(Photo credit: Horbiter®’s proprietary photo-shooting)
Gaetano C @Horbiter®
