Hands-On Tsao Baltimore Legacy 36 Watch Review

With the recent release of the extremely limited Tiffany Blue Patek Philippe Nautilus 5711, watch collectors have rushed to buy watches with baby blue dials. Though the aforementioned Nautilus’ Tiffany Blue Dial has much stronger hints of green than pretty much every other baby blue dial watch on the market, that hasn’t stopped these pieces from gaining an almost immediate popularity and interest. The best example of a watch riding the hype of the Nautilus is the steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual with turquoise blue dial. The 41mm variation of this Oyster Perpetual retails for just $6,150 USD, but is now selling on the secondary market for around $33,000 USD. This means that even the entry level Rolex Oyster Perpetual is unobtainable for most collectors if they are looking for a turquoise or baby blue dial.

That brings me to Tsao Baltimore. Tsao is a company I have followed in the microbrand watch community since their founding in 2017. The small Baltimore-based company started by Alan Tsao pays tribute to their Baltimore roots (more on that later) while also releasing some high quality watches at affordable prices.

Whether it was purposeful or just plain kismet (and based on the timing I think it was the latter), Tsao is primed to fill the void of those that want that Tiffany-esque color dial without spending millions of dollars (or even tens of thousands of dollars). When Tsao released their Legacy 36 with Arctic Blue dial, I contacted Alan because I knew I had to review this watch. He was kind enough to send all three case variations for me to review, and they do not disappoint.

Tsao sent me all three Legacy 36 models with their Arctic blue dial. At 36mm, the Legacy 36 is a smaller take on their Legacy line which is offered at 40mm and also has a super compressor (which the Legacy 36 does not have). The three variations all have the Arctic blue dial, but one comes in stainless steel, one in two-tone, and one in rose gold.

To be honest, all the case variations work well with the dial color, though the stainless steel model is probably my favorite (it being closest to that stainless steel watch many of us covet). I found myself liking the rose gold model, however, a lot more than I expected to. And the two-tone model is understated, with just a rose gold bezel and crown.

Like most of Tsao’s previous models, the Legacy 36 has a sandwich dial, meaning the dial is made up of two separate layers. The bottom layer is just a disc of Swiss Super Luminova C3 with the visible dial mounted on top. This is a technique made famous by Swiss watch brand Panerai and allows the watch to glow like a torch. The crown also has a lumed T, which is a nice touch for the watch (you can never have enough lume, right)?

As I discussed earlier, Tsao watches stay true to their Maryland heritage. And this heritage is evident in the most important part of the Legacy 36 - the engine that powers it. The Legacy 36 is powered by an Miyota 9015 automatic movement. The custom rotor however, is powered by the MD-1 which is made and assembled by Maryland Watch Works in Maryland. From what I could glean from Maryland Watch Work’s website, Maryland Watch Works also creates fully American made watch movements based on the tried and true ETA 2824 Swiss movement. It’s nice to see an American watch brand add American made parts to their watches. Hopefully we will see more of this in the future. Additionally, the rotor is decorated with the Maryland state flag, another nod to the brand’s homebase.

At 36mm, some might think the watch is too small. However, it actually wears pretty well on my 6.75 inch wrist. The bracelet is extremely comfortable as the watch uses an extremely compact butterfly deployant clasp. Some deployants can be large and dig into the bottom of your wrist. Fortunately, the Legacy 36 does not have this problem. The bracelet is adjustable with a pin and collar system which, to be honest, is not my favorite. I find the typical screw system the easiest, but I know a lot of watches in the price-point prefer this method. Once you get the hang of how to remove the links, the task becomes pretty routine. I would just suggest purchasing a watch bracelet link removal tool. You can purchase a whole set of what you’d need from Amazon for around $11 USD.

How Much Does The Tsao Legacy 36 Arctic Cost?

All three models (steel, two-tone and rose gold) of the Legacy 36 are currently on sale for the affordable price $550 USD (from their retail price of $600 USD. The watch represents a welcome addition to the baby blue dial category. You can pick up a Tsao Baltimore Legacy 36 Arctic at their website.