STYLE Edit: The new Tudor Pelagos FXD, the divers’ watch marking the historic, 65-year collaboration between the Swiss watchmaker and the French navy

Dec 6 , 2021

The Pelagos: dialled for action. Photos: Tudor

With Super-LumiNova hour markers on the dial and signature ‘snowflake’ hands, this timepiece is ultra-easy to read in low light – perfect for deep sea explorers

The watch brand first created watches for the French navy’s scientific unit, the Groupe d’Étude et de Recherches Sous-Marines, before becoming its official supplier in the 1960s

If you’re looking for a timepiece that can withstand the rigours of the deep, best to get one that has been endorsed by the people who know best. And no one understands the challenges of the ocean, or the characteristics of the ideal watch to help navigate them, better than the navy.

The new Tudor Pelagos FXD represents the revival of a collaboration between the acclaimed Swiss watchmaker and French navy that has stretched back six and a half decades. With a satin-brushed titanium case, a bidirectional rotatable bezel, a dial with Super-LumiNova hour markers and the “snowflake” hands that characteristically adorn the maison’s diver’s watches, all powered by manufacture calibre MT5602, it has everything the most intrepid of deep sea explorers could possibly want in a timepiece.

Pelagos FXD with rubber strap and the brand’s trademark “snowflake” hands.

Tudor’s relationship with the French navy dates back to 1956, just two years after it produced its first diver’s watch, when it started supplying timepieces to the navy’s scientific unit, the Groupe d’Étude et de Recherches Sous-Marines (Undersea Study and Research Group). Their accuracy and reliable waterproofing made them a big hit with divers, and Tudor became the navy’s official supplier five years later. The relationship continued for decades, finding its most iconic manifestation in the form of the reference 9401, which was supplied to the navy from the mid-1970s to the 1980s, and is still worn by many of its divers today.

A diver wearing the Tudor Pelagos FXD, showing its all-important legibility.

It’s this watch that acts as inspiration for the Pelagos FXD, which was developed in conjunction with the French navy’s combat divers and boasts features designed specifically with the requirements of these most rugged of undersea users in mind. The 42mm satin-brushed titanium case, machined from a single block and waterproof to 200 metres, for example, comes with fixed strap bars that form part of the main body as an extension of the lugs, increasing the watch’s robustness and reliability; while the case back is engraved with French navy’s logo of an anchor with a sailor’s hat, and the inscription “M. N. 21”, short for Marine Nationale, the navy’s official name.

Then there’s the unique, diver-friendly, 120-notch, bidirectional rotating bezel, featuring a sandblasted ceramic insert with luminescent material. The bezel is numbered backwards from 60 to 0, and is designed to help navy divers with the complex business of navigating underwater.

The case back features an inscription to the Marine Nationale, the French navy’s official name.