The Tudor Black Bay One
Tudor Heritage Black Bay One ref. 7923/001 / Credit: Tudor
Not yet of historical significance, but certainly on its way, the Tudor Heritage Black Bay One is not only a piece unique (which means unique piece in French), but notably sold for over 100 times its appraisal value when it hit the auction block back in 2015 at Only Watch. The Tudor ref. 7923/001 fetched a price of 375,000 CHF after receiving an appraisal value of only 3,500 CHF. The watch comes from the Heritage Black Bay collection, which is inspired by vintage Tudor divers from the 1950s-70s. Although largely the same as regular Black Bays, its exorbitant bid price was driven by the fact that it is the first and only official piece unique to be released by Tudor or its parent company, Rolex.
Akin to the first Tudor Heritage Black Bays, the ref. 79220s, the Black Bay One features the rose as the Tudor logo, which was switched out on the more recently released 79230s for the shield. And, also like the 79220s, the Black Bay One features a modified ETA 2824 movement, which may surprise some given the price this piece went for. However, when the additional notoriety gained for the Heritage Black Bay 79220s after the 79230s were released with in-house movements is taken into account, it starts to make more sense.
Ultimately, the Black Bay One demonstrates the importance of storytelling in product marketing, being the first official piece unique by the Rolex group will definitely earn it a spot in watchmaking history history.