The Tudor Pelagos Ultra Is a Dive Watch With Pedigree
When Tudor was founded in 1926 as a modestly more affordable alternative to Rolex—they remain sibling brands to this day—the relationship offered hugely helpful synergies in research and development. But it also left the fledgling watchmaker with an ambiguous identity. During its first quarter century, it produced only a trickle of watches, mostly simple yet functional dress models. Tudor had yet to discover its own raison d’être.
It was waiting to be discovered beneath the waves.
The sea change came in 1954, when Tudor created its first dedicated dive watch, the Oyster Prince Submariner, a ruggedly engineered piece with an impressive (at the time) depth rating of 100 meters. The launch was particularly (ahem) timely. After World War II—thanks in no small part to the underwater experience gained in active service—scuba diving was entering its heyday as an amateur pursuit. The boom offered a whole new market of dive-watch customers for Tudor. But it wasn’t only the weekend warriors who gave Tudor its cachet in the ocean.
Just two years after the Oyster Prince, Tudor began a long relationship with the frogmen (yes, they’re actually called les hommes grenouilles in French) of France’s navy, the Marine Nationale. By the mid-1960s, standard production pieces were also issued to serving members of the U. S. Navy, including the SEALs. Many other elite forces followed suit, and professional service propelled Tudor into a 60-year pursuit of ever-better performance.
That journey culminates this year in the new Pelagos Ultra. With a titanium case and bracelet and a 1,000-meter depth rating—which doubles that of its predecessor from 2012—it’s a tough, utilitarian piece of work. The 43mm diameter may sound imposing, but it sits quite comfortably on the wrist and allows for maximum legibility—a big concern when it comes to a proper dive watch. Inside beats a calibre MT5612-U movement certified by the independent Swiss chronometry lab METAS, which tests watches to a variance of just five seconds a day (half the amount allowed by Switzerland’s other testing lab, COSC). This accuracy means that the Pelagos Ultra, like its much-loved stablemate the Black Bay, can officially call itself a Master Chronometer.
Thanks to its ongoing devotion to subaquatic pursuits, Tudor lies at the sweet spot of affordability, performance, and durability. The Pelagos Ultra may well be a tad overengineered for the rigors of normal daily life. But it’s good to know that, in extremis, it’s more than up to whatever your day may throw at it.
This article appeared in the September 2025 issue of EsquireSubscribe
Pelagos Ultra watch ($6,100) by Tudor.Set design: Linden Elstran.
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