Tudor, known for its affordable, robust, and reliable timepieces, has created a stir recently with some interesting and unexpected additions to its collections. Now the Swiss company has made a strong move into the leading edge of technical mechanical watchmaking with the launch of the Black Bay Ceramic. This good-looking diving watch is stealth on the wrist with its black ceramic case and bezel insert – it even has an all-black finish for its new movement.

Confirming the superior quality of this watch, its Manufacture calibre MT5602-1U with silicon hairspring has a Master Chronometer certification from METAS, the Federal Institute of Metrology, the prestigious Swiss official standards authority. This means the Black Bay Ceramic has met the independent body’s demanding standards of chronometry. This includes precision – notably, the ability to function with in a five second range of variation each day; waterproofness – to 200m; and power reserve of 70 hours, called ‘weekend proof’; plus resistance to magnetic fields – to a whopping MRI-exceeding 15,000 gauss. Significantly, this the first Tudor watch to obtain the certification.

Its refined aesthetic is a fusion of modern high-tech details with nuanced references to its heritage. Like its Black Bay family, the Ceramic sports the typical angular ‘snowflake’ hands that featured on Tudor watches in the 1960s, and its neo-vintage good looks belie over six decades of manufacturing innovation. The matt black monobloc ceramic case features sand-blasted surfaces with bevelled edges that are subtly mirror polished to reflect the light, while the inset rotatable bezel is in black ceramic with a sunray satin finish. With its black-on-black dial the only colour comes from the hands and the applied hour markers with off-white phosphorescent material.

The timepiece comes with a hybrid leather and rubber strap with the snowflake motif on the underside, plus a fabric strap in, of course, black, with a cream band. Rolex sibling Tudor has come up trumps with the Black Bay Ceramic, which represents value for money with its tech spec and quality of finish. It’s a black to the future moment.

£3,550; tudorwatch.com