Strap Guide: Tudor Black Bay 58 GMT

Strap Guide written by @wildwristwatch

Introduction

The Black Bay 58 GMT, the culmination of everything that Tudor has been doing since its revival of sorts in 2012. While everyone was expecting its bigger brother to release a Coke in its GMT Master II line up, it was Tudor that released this iconic colourway that in someways suits Tudor’s vintage aesthetic even more than it would have in the modern Rolex package. While I personally am a big fan of the Black Bay 58’s black and burgundy interpretation of the coke, the combination with a far more saturated 24 hour printed indices makes strap combinations slightly challenging because there already is a lot of colour going on. But with Delugs wide range of offerings, a myriad of strap combinations are certainly still possible, especially if you find tones that complement the warmer vibe of the Black Bay 58 GMT’s bezel and dial. So without further ado, lets get into it.

White Rubber CTS Strap

Rubber is a no brainer on a tool watch like the Black Bay 58 GMT especially with its 200m water resistance. While the most straight forward colour combination would have been black, white has been a fast favourite of mine because of how it freshens everything up and makes the watch far more fun. With its colour neutral tone, it balances the warm vibes of the Black Bay 58 GMT perfectly and adds a touch of modernity to the vintage aesthetic of the watch. It certainly doesn’t hurt that we are still in summer.

Cream CTS Rubber

If white isn’t for you because of the stark contrast that it offers, Delugs’ relative new cream CTS might just do the trick. It gives you the same hardiness of rubber as the white CTS but in a more toned down colour way. The particular shade of the Cream CTS has the slightest tinge of orange in it that complements the saturated indices of the bezel really well. It will give the watch a cohesive understated look on the wrist while still being unique in its own way.

Desert Camo Delcro

If we were to browse the community’s strap combinations on vintage Cokes, a common sight would NATO or fabric straps. Delugs also has you covered in this regard with the most comfortable fabric strap that I have ever tried. While many of the colours will work with the Black Bay 58 GMT, my favourite combination is the Desert Camo again because of the way the faded orange tones work with the 24 hour indices. The camo pattern keeps things more interesting than a standard colour would, and adds a nice military vibe to the watch. As a bonus, you also the get the perfect fit and comfort of the elasticity that comes with a Delcro.

Cream Rubberised Leather (Togo) Signature

Not everyone is a fan of leather straps on dive watches, but with the Black Bay 58 GMT, we happily avoid that problem since it isn’t exactly a dive watch. Still, given the shared DNA with the rest of the dive watches in the collection, you might want strap that can handle at least some level of contact with water. With this, I present the best of both worlds in the Cream Rubberised Leather (Togo). The rubberized leather comes with a leather texture, but is actually made of rubber which makes it hardier than the regular leather strap offerings. The cream colour has an aged feel to it, which makes it a really good companion to the heavy vintage stylings on the Black Bay 58 GMT.

Maroon Crazy Horse Side-Stitch

To round things up, it would be remiss if I did not take the opportunity to match a strap colour to the beautiful shade or burgundy on the bezel and so my final strap option is the Maroon Crazy Horse. The maroon on the Crazy Horse is almost a tone on tone match for the day half of the GMT bezel which makes it an easy fit. Beyond that though, the texture of Crazy Horse leather that welcomes patina makes it an ideal fit for the vintage design of the Black Bay 58 GMT. While you will miss out any level of water resistance with this option, the visual brilliance of this combination is well worth it in my opinion.

Conclusion

So there you have it, a varied range of straps that will freshen up your Black Bay 58 GMT if you get bored of the bracelet. Hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to DM me if you need any more information on strap pairing options, or anything else.