TUDOR

The Tudor Black Bay Chrono “Carbon 26”

Ahead of this weekend's Miami Grand Prix (GP held on May 3rd), Tudor has announced the Black Bay Chrono "Carbon 26," a follow-up to last year's Carbon 25. While Tudor's ties to motorsport date back to the late 1960s with the Tudor Watches Racing Team, its current partnership with the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls team began in 2024, and they have been quick to make the most of it, with two limited editions in two consecutive seasons. The Carbon 25 marked the first limited-edition release from that relationship, with the Carbon 26 continuing the same approach in 2026.

At its core, the update centers on a revised color scheme reflecting the livery of the VCARB 03 car. The watch retains a 42mm carbon fiber case with a fixed tachymeter bezel, along with a titanium caseback, crown, and pushers with a black PVD finish. The dial remains "racing white," now with yellow accents and carbon fiber subdials.

The carbon fiber case, introduced last year, carries over unchanged. It replaces the steel case used in standard Black Bay Chronographs, while keeping the same 42mm diameter, fixed tachymeter bezel, screw-down crown, chronograph pushers, and overall case profile.

Inside is the Manufacture Chronograph Calibre MT5813, an automatic chronograph with a column wheel, vertical clutch, silicon balance spring, and a 70-hour power reserve. It is COSC-certified, and it also meets Tudor's more rigorous standards of -2/+4 seconds per day.

The Black Bay Chrono "Carbon 26" is priced at $8,625, produced in a limited run of 2,026 pieces, and is available now.

Let's call this what it is—it's essentially just a color refresh, especially considering that last year's real headline was the introduction of a Black Bay Chronograph in carbon fiber. However, while there's a dearth of innovation beyond the dial, I'm more interested in what this signals for Tudor as a brand and its growing involvement—and commitment—to this sport, and to sport more broadly. It's a limited edition in name, but at 2,026 pieces, it's hardly a small one.

In addition to the Carbon 25, last year also saw Tudor release the Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono "Yellow" for the Tour de France and the Tudor Pelagos FXD Chrono "Pink" for the Giro d'Italia, both of which use the MT5813 movement despite being based on the FXD platform. With all of these releases over the course of a year, it points to Tudor standardizing around a single chronograph base while using different sports and platforms to shape how that watch is expressed.

Perhaps the most notable difference this year, though, is the price. At $8,625, the Carbon 26 represents a meaningful jump from last year's $7,575. Whether that's a function of broader pricing trends, material costs, or external factors, it's a noticeable shift. With the watch otherwise unchanged beyond the color, it offers a clean one-to-one comparison—and a fairly stark one.

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