Tudor Unveils a Collaboration with Marine Nationale with the Pelagos FXD

For the last few months, and an embarrassing leak later, Tudor Watches has been teasing a new watch with Marine Nationale - the Maritime arm of the French Navy. The brand’s heritage with Marine Nationale spans back decades - to the 1950’s and arguably further if you take into account Rolex releasing combat divers under the Tudor banner. For this collaboration, Tudor opted to make the Pelagos even more “Tool-y” with no date, and a fabric strap with a… unique fastening system.

THE BASICS:

Brand: Tudor Watches

Model: Pelagos FXD

Case Material: Titanium

Case Size: 42mm x 12.75mm

Water Resistance: 200 meters

Crystal: Sapphire Crystal

Movement:  In-House Tudor MT5602 manufacture calibre

Movement Specs: Automatic, COSC Certified, 25 Jewels, 70-hour power reserve

Strap Options: Blue Fabric strap and additional blue rubber strap

THE JUICE:

The Tudor Pelagos has always been the brands more purpose driven design watch. The Black Bay and it’s many dizzying iterations has filled the dive watch space similar to how I would describe the Submariner did 10 years ago. The black bay was relatively accessible, and rarely had any supply chain issues making it readily available to the masses.

The Pelagos, of course, is a much more modern take on the tool watch. Back in 2012 when it was launched, it fit a niche of tool watch that featured a utility driven titanium case, with a ceramic bezel and monochromatic blatantly legible design. It was followed by a blue dial version, then the Pelagos LHD - a more fun, albeit less utilitarian watch.

The Tudor Pelagos FXD Marine Nationale differs a little bit from the original Pelagos. For starters, it has fixed strap bars to meet specific criteria for the Marine Nationale - One of those being textile straps with springbars that can’t pull out. This means that the case is machined from one block of Titanium with fixed lugs attached to the back of the case. I find this quite a cool feature, but I can see where many enthusiasts are going to be upset about the watch requiring nato straps.

Additionally, there is quite obviously a lack of date. In the few hours since this watch as launched, I’ve already seen gripe about this, though I find it a much cleaner aesthetic. As convenient as a date window is, the lack of one is no bother.

The third major update is the bezel. The ceramic bezel insert now has a full 60 minute scale, in a countdown configuration. This allows for more precise timing. Additionally, the bezel us bi-directional and 120 clicks, adding to the more specific utility components of the watch.

The dial features Tudor’s traditional square indices, as well as the clean square hour and seconds hands. Also, for those not looking to see a novel on their dial, the dial text has been reduced from 5 lines to 4 - a welcomed step away from the original Pelagos 500m.

Flipping the watch over, you’ll find the anchor and hat Marine Nationale embossed “logo”, along with the “M.N.21” for Marine Nationale 2021. Whatyou won’t see if the Tudor Calibre MT5602. The 4-Hz movement features a 70h power reserve and is built for robust use.

Lastly, and most controversial, is the strap options. Tudor has made a poly-woven texture strap with a Velcro, ahem… “Self Gripping” strap. My guess is, this was one of the requirements from the French Navy, however I can’t help buy be turned off by it. I will reserve judgement for having the watch on the wrist, but I’ve never had a good experience with velcro straps, no matter how utilitarian they are. Tudor, to their credit, has included an additional rubber strap with purchase, which I imagine is going to be utilized by a lot of collectors looking to scoop one of these up.

Overall, for all the hype around releasing this watch, I am not disappointed. I do think this would be a lot more fun had the watch not been accidentally leaked a couple months ago. However, either way, the brand doesn’t seem to be missing a beat with it, and I can’t imagine this watch will have a hard time selling, even if it isn’t a limited edition version of a new Pelagos.

How Much Is The Tudor Pelagos Marine Nationale LXD?

The watch will be available from retailers starting now, and come with a price tag of $3,900 USD - the cheapest launch version of the Pelagos to date.

Read more about the watch on the brands website.