Being the watch idiot savant that I am, I use an app (“On My Wrist” should anyone be interested!) to record the regularity with which I wear each of my watches in my increasingly inappropriately excessive collection. The app tells me this morning that my Tudor Pelagos Blue Dial 25600tb has today become my equal most worn watch (sharing that honour with my beloved Cartier Santos) and I felt compelled to honour that moment with a review!

I would struggle to speak highly enough of the Pelagos. Whether one opts for the blue or black dial version or the left-handed ‘LHD’ you will find yourself owning a genuinely spectacular dive watch that can hold its own against many of its better regarded brothers. And yes, I do include Rolex Submariners in this assessment (and as an owner of 5 Submariners I can say this from a position of relative objectivity). As much as the Glidelock clasp on the modern day Submariner is fantastic, there is a cogent argument that the folding clasp and extension system of the Pelagos is just as good (and possibly better). The Pelagos has a 70 hour power reserve (and no current Submariner does). It is waterproof to 500m (the Submariner a mere 300m). And whilst of course one can add aftermarket rubber straps to the Submariner, the Pelagos owner has the choice of switching to his or her OEM rubber at any time.

For me, even though the contention that the Pelagos can hold its own against all and any dive watches is well made out, it matters not : judged in isolation the Pelagos is simply magical. Whether wearing as a desk diver or an actual diver it oozes class, it sits on the wrist with proud comfort and the unidirectional bezel makes that irresistible noise that is hard to, well, resist. There is a reason the Tudor Pelagos Blue Dial 25600tb is my (equal) most worn watch : it is that good.