Michael Satterfield
I have attended a number of watch brand events over the years, the majority of which have been held in major cities, New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas, but here in College Station a very special event was held by our local Tudor Authorized Dealer, David Gardner’s Jewelers. The intimate gathering drew not only long-time customers and local watch fans but Adam Bossi, Vice President at Rolex and Tudor Brand Manager was on hand to share about the vision for the Tudor brand.
On display and available for purchase was the latest collection of Tudor watches, for me the next Tudor I plan to buy is the Ranger on the olive NATO strap. But the Black Bay Chronograph S&G is also an incredible option that has the look and feel of a JPS Daytona, but without the Paul Newman markup. If you haven’t looked at Tudor’s current lineup, it is worth a second look, the Black Bay Chronograph, Pelagos Diver, and the classic 39mm 1926 cover all the bases, but I would still have the Ranger with great history and clean field watch design.
For my part, the wheels, my 1970 Beach SV-16 race car was on display sporting a Tudor Livery alongside motorcycles from Ducati and Janus, guests filled the parking lot with Shelbys, McLarens, and Porsches. Motorsports is always connected to the world of watches, keeping lap times and recording records has almost always been tied to one watch brand or another. Inside the event, a custom helmet painted by Sean Starr, reproducing the original helmet worn by the Tudor Watch Racing Team in 1969 was on display with a collection of vintage racing items and historic images from Tudors time in motorsports.
The event was unique in that guests could not just see the latest collection, while sipping on signature cocktails and hobnobbing, but they could purchase their watch, have the bracelet resized, and in most cases wear their watch home that night. The Range is still on my list, and perhaps after I get all of my SEMA projects wrapped up I will add it to my Christmas wish list.
