The Tudor Heritage Black Bay, reference 79220, was introduced in 2012. It has a stainless steel case of about 41 mm, a rotating bezel, a domed sapphire crystal, a large “tapered” crown and a water-resistance rating of 200 metres. It uses an automatic movement based on the ETA 2824-2, and the dial has the “Snowflake” hands and square markers on a black, red-bezelled or blue-bezelled version. The 79220R red bezel and 79220B blue bezel versions were the first variants.

It revived the look of Tudor’s late-1950s and 1960s divers, especially the Submariner ref. 7924 “Big Crown” and the Snowflake hands from the 1970s, in a modern case. Tudor offered it on a riveted steel bracelet, on a leather strap or on a fabric strap.

The Black Bay was an immediate success and is credited with relaunching Tudor, with the community praising its vintage design at a moderate price. The 79220 generation was replaced by the 79230 with an in-house movement in 2016, and it is no longer in production.