Style Edit: Inside Tudor’s partnership with America’s Cup winners Alinghi Red Bull Racing – the Swiss watchmaker unveils new Pelagos FXD watches ahead of the 2024 yachting competition

Sep 1 , 2023

Style Edit: Swiss watchmaker Tudor has added two new timepieces in the Pelagos FXD line to mark its partnership with America’s Cup team Alinghi Red Bull Racing. Photo: Handout

Inspired by yacht racing the new models – one a chronograph and the other a time-only watch – use stainless steel, titanium and carbon composite, just like Alinghi’s AC75 hydrofoil yacht

Both the Pelagos FXD and the FXD Chrono sport classic Tudor features like square hour markers, ‘snowflake’ hands and a single-piece fabric strap

Tudor has long been associated with sports that encourage people to test themselves to the limit, from cycling and motorsport to surfing and yachting. The much-loved Swiss luxury watchmaker’s association with the last of those, perhaps the most glamorous of all sports, moved to another level in 2022 with the announcement of Tudor’s long-term partnership with Alinghi Red Bull Racing.

Tudor Pelagos FXD Alinghi Red Bull Racing Edition. Photo: Handout

The legendary yacht racing team was set up to challenge for the America’s Cup, won it at its first attempt in 2003, and then successfully defended it in 2007. Recognising a kindred spirit in an organisation that pushes technical boundaries in doing everything it can to pursue perfection, Tudor signed up as the team’s main partner, just as Alinghi Red Bull bids to claim back yachting’s ultimate title at the 37th America’s Cup in 2024.

That partnership has now taken on physical form. Celebrating the association between the two organisations, Tudor has unveiled two new versions of a watch that’s intimately intertwined with the joys of the ocean: its classic divers’ watch, the Pelagos. The new pieces are part of the slimline Pelagos FXD line – one a chronograph and the other a time-only watch – and they both take their inspiration from yacht racing.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing of Switzerland, with Arnaud Psarofaghis and Nicolas Charbonnier at the helm, during practice in Barcelona, in January this year. Photo: Handout

More specifically, that inspiration comes from the super-advanced racing machines made by Tudor’s partner, with the watches sporting a combination of materials that match those in Alinghi’s AC75 (America’s Cup 75-foot) hydrofoil racing yacht. They include a hi-tech carbon composite for the case and bezel insert, a material not used by Tudor before, that hits the sweet spot between lightness and robustness; titanium for the 120-notch rotatable bezel, crown and pushers; and stainless steel for the case back and movement container.

The FXD cases come with fixed strap bars – in the case of the Pelagos FXD Chrono, the first time Tudor has combined such a case with a chronograph. Measuring 43mm, the cases come with a matt finish and an Alinghi Red Bull Racing logo engraved on the case back, and are water resistant to 200 metres.

The smart blue colour scheme of the new watches’ dials matches that of the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Team, offset by a red-tipped second hand. There’s further evidence of the AC75’s aesthetic influence on the FXD Chrono, with red accents around the two counters that mimic the red stripes on the boat’s hull.

As is customary on Tudor’s dive watches, they come with square hour markers and so-called “snowflake” hands that offer maximum legibility. The blue hue continues on another characteristic Tudor feature – the single-piece fabric strap, here a 22mm jacquard woven ribbon with red accents.

Alinghi Red Bull Racing sailor Florian Trub speaks during the Jet Set launch event at the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Base in Barcelona in June. Photo: Handout

At the heart of the two watches are a pair of in-house movements: the Calibre MT5602 powers the Pelagos FXD, while the Calibre MT5813 runs the Pelagos FXD Chrono. Both display hour, minute and seconds, with the latter adding twin chronograph counters at 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock, and a date indication at 6 o’clock. Both come with impressive power reserves of 70 hours.