New TUDOR Pelagos FXD - Alinghi Red Bull Racing Edition

TUDOR has announced two new additions to its Pelagos collection, created in celebration of its partnership with Alinghi Red Bull Racing. These watches feature carbon composite cases to match the hulls of Alinghi Red Bull’s AC75 racing yachts, a new material for TUDOR’s commercial collections. Alongside a time-only model, this release also introduces the first ever Pelagos chronograph, a fitting complication for a racing watch.

Beginning in 2022, TUDOR’s partnership with Alinghi Red Bull Racing marks their first venture into the world of competitive yacht racing. The Swiss team will represent the Société Nautique de Genève in the 37^th America’s Cup in Barcelona in 2024. The race is the most competitive in yachting history, requiring a daring spirit combined with cutting-edge technology. TUDOR designed the Pelagos FXD Alinghi Red Bull Racing edition to embody both qualities.

The TUDOR Pelagos is the ultimate modern divers’ watch. Utilitarian at their core, these watches feature impressive water-resistance, helium escape valves, and large luminescent hour markers. The collection’s signature material is titanium, which allows the timepieces to remain light and wearable, while providing all the sturdiness appropriate to a serious tool watch. There are four primary variations within the collection: the Pelagos; the Pelagos 39; the Pelagos LHD; and the Pelagos FXD.

With its bevelled edges and pointed crown guard, the Pelagos executes simplicity to perfection. It is offered with a blue or black dial and matching ceramic bezel. At 42mm in diameter, it provides clear legibility and ease of operation even underwater and while wearing diving equipment. The Pelagos 39 stays true to the pragmatism of this design, with a few adjustments to enhance its wearability. The case is smaller and thinner, with a sunray finish on the bezel which creates a play of light in contrast with the matt black dial. While the Pelagos is in its element under the sea, the Pelagos 39 is at home anywhere.

The TUDOR Pelagos LHD or ‘Left Hand Drive’ places the crown on the left side of the case, evoking the TUDOR watches commissioned by the French Navy in the 1970s for their left-handed divers. This legacy continues with the Pelagos FXD, which was created in consultation with the Marine Nationale. ‘FXD’ refers to the fixed strap bars which add to the robustness of this model. As with the rest of the collection, these are some of the most complete mechanical divers’ watches currently available, designed to support their wearers’ endeavours in the harshest conditions, above or below the waves.

The Alinghi Red Bull Racing edition takes the Pelagos FXD as its starting point. Instead of titanium, the case is crafted from carbon composite, the same material used for the hulls and masts of the AC75 racing yachts which will compete for the 37th America’s Cup. However, in a nod to the rest of the collection, the screw down crown and the pushers on the chronograph model are titanium, and the bi-directional bezel is titanium with a carbon insert. The case back is stainless steel, and features an engraving of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing logo.

The team’s colours are carried throughout the design, from the blue fabric strap with red stitching, to the blue dial and red details on the chronograph sub-dials. The time-only model is 42mm in diameter and powered by the Manufacture Calibre MT5602 (COSC), the same as the standard Pelagos FXD. The chronograph is a little larger at 43mm, and uses the Manufacture Calibre MT5813 (COSC) familiar from the Black Bay Chrono. Alongside its chronograph features this model also displays the date at 6 o’clock, making it an incredibly complete tool for any yacht racing event. Both watches offer 200m of water-resistance, and all the functionality for which the TUDOR Pelagos line is rightly renowned.

The TUDOR Pelagos FXD Alinghi Red Bull Racing edition is a fitting tribute to the adventurous spirit of competitive yacht racing. The long-term partnership between TUDOR and the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team is an exciting new direction for the brand, and the Pelagos is the perfect choice of watch to symbolise this new collaboration. This lineage includes some of the most practical divers’ watches available today, and it is fitting that its latest evolution should accompany TUDOR’s first foray into competitive yacht racing.

If you would like to discuss the TUDOR Pelagos or explore the rest of our TUDOR collection, we would invite you to contact Prestons Wilmslow or Prestons Guildford by telephone, via our online contact form, or by visiting us in-store. One of our specialists will be happy to guide you through any enquiry you may have.