Hands-On: The Tudor Pelagos Ultra

What started as an apparent side project to the meteoric rise of the Black Bay has become an increasingly varied and interesting line of modern dive watches from Tudor. Of course, I’m talking bout the Pelagos. And whether you pronounce it Pel-uh-gose or Puh-lah-gose, the line has evolved into myriad versions, including some that can’t even be considered dive watches. But this year at Watches and Wonders, Tudor underlined the Pelagos’ diving intention with a brand new high-spec model, the Pelagos Ultra.

Since the Pelagos’ debut at Baselworld 2012, I don’t think there is one single model range of watches that I’ve personally covered more than this family of titanium divers from Tudor. I’ve dove with a Pelagos 500m Blue in Mexico, I shot this huge dive project with Jason Heaton in Tobermory covering the 500m models, I bought a Pelagos 39 as soon as one was available, and I dove a wreck in Florida for the launch of the FXD Black. I figure I’ve likely covered every model iteration that has come out over the past 13 years. 

Since the model was first released, my chum Jason Heaton has given it the superlative of being the “apex predator of dive watches”, and now, after more than a decade, there’s a new beast at the top of the lineup. It has one of Tudor’s latest METAS-certified movements, 1000 meters of water resistance (a first for the Pelagos line), huge luminous markers, hands, and bezel markings, a Hev, the Pelagos’ trick self-adjusting clasp. It’s a Pelagos through and through – just extra. And do you want to know the best part? Compared to the OG Pelagos, the Ultra wears the same and only costs $750 more than the 500m models.

Broadening the scope a bit, it’s worth establishing some context for the Pelagos Ultra in terms of the strategy that Tudor has applied to build a higher-spec diver. The common strategy is to go for truly ludicrous specs (think Omega with the 6000m Planet Ocean Ultra Deep or even Rolex’s own Deepsea Challenge, which is good to an astonishing 11,000m) with a huge concession made to the ergonomics of said new extra-burly diver. I have personally tried both Omega and Rolex’s deep divers, and while both are deeply cool tech and engineering exercises (Rolex had to make a special machine to be able to test the Deepsea Challenge’s water resistance), neither can be worn like a conventional watch. At least, not on my wrist. 

It’s a bit like driving a dump truck through your hometown; it’s cool and attention-grabbing, but you’re going to wish you had opted for something a bit more conventional when it’s time to park, or hit a drive-thru, or drop your kid off at soccer.

And that’s because, like most things in life, there is a spectrum for dive watch design. The more you make it capable of enduring the rigors of the depths, the less applicable the watch becomes for non-diving activities. I’d wager that most of you reading this are not divers at all, and even if you are, I’m comfortable claiming that it’s deeply unlikely that you need more than 200 meters of water resistance from a modern dive watch.

For those who may not be divers, it’s worth underlining a few things. First, recreational diving bottoms out at 40 meters. Not 400, not 4000. If you’re diving deeper than 40 meters, you’re either part of the 1% of tech divers or you’ve made a critical error in your dive plan. To extrapolate further, even if you are diving deeper than 40m, tech diving seldom pushes beyond 75 meters (it’s possible, but we’re talking about the most extreme edge of diving).

So, much like you don’t need a HeV unless you’re a saturation diver, you (and me, and almost all of the 7 B+ people on the planet) don’t need 500 meters, or 1000, or even the 200 meters that is common to most dive watches. It’s overkill. Appealing and fun overkill, yes, but it serves no functional application.

I wanted to get that out of the way, as, from my perspective, the world of high-spec divers is just meant to be fun. It’s meant to connect us dreamers to Cousteau, Barth, Walsh, Earle, Cameron, Ballesta, and Vescovo. It reminds us of the bottom of the ocean and signals an era of watches that was about intent, the ubiquitous, “tool for a job”. But the tool isn’t needed, and the job isn’t really a job in this modern era. For most of us, it’s more of a hobby than a profession.

For flagship divers, you can have the appeal in a couple formats, you can go for the numbers with the likes of Rolex and Omega or you can land somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, with wearable high-spec divers from brands like Sinn and Tudor that apture much of the intense appeal but offer a watch that you could wear everyday, even if you aren’t planning to go diving or leaving for an expedition to the Mariana’s trench.

And while I can appreciate, even exalt, the spirit behind a watch that can go to the bottom of the ocean, I don’t want to wear it on my wrist. Sure, the numbers are much more pedestrian for the Ultra (1000M isn’t especially rare), but so is its on-wrist experience. The Ultra wears like a Pelagos, no special concessions needed – in many ways, the Ultra follows the now-dormant strategy of the Rolex Sea-Dweller, which was originally brought to market in 1967 as a higher-spec take on the Submariner. In 1967, that meant the reference 1665 Sea-Dweller offered 610 meters (2000 ft) of water resistance compared to the 5512/5513’s 200 meters.

Until 2008, when the 116660 Sea-Dweller Deepsea (itself water resistant to a massive 3,900 meters) was launched, the Sea-Dweller represented the option of higher specification. Unlike the delta between a Submariner and a Deepsea, this was offered with only a small concession for ergonomics (thicker cases, bulkier crystals, etc.).

Panning back to Tudor, the Ultra offers a Sea-Dweller-like take on the Pelagos. It largely sticks to the same dimensions while offering a METAS-certified movement, more water resistance, and a more exaggerated visual appeal.

With the better part of an hour at Watches and Wonders to play with both a model on the bracelet and one on the rubber strap, I can attempt to be brief. Unless (like me) you strongly prefer the size of the Pelagos 39, or you really want a blue dial or the LHD (both only offered in the 500m version), the Ultra is likely the one to buy if you’re in the market for a full-fat Pelagos. It’s really, really good.

On my 7-inch wrist, the Ultra wears a lot like the standard 42mm model. I’m not here to tell you this is a small watch, or one that wears smaller than you’d think. The 500m version has been around for a long time, try one on and you’ll be about 95% of the way there. It’s not a small watch, or a watch that wears small, but it does wear very well for its size, and if the 500m version fits your wrist, I doubt you’ll find this any harder to wear. If you want something smaller, the Pelagos 39 remains my personal fave for the range, but that’s not the point of this story.

The Ultra feels like a proper flagship for the idea of the Pelagos. It has the aesthetic appeal of a stop sign, you can read the time as easily on your own wrist as on someone elses (even if they are across the room), it’s titanium case is light and balanced on wrist, the action of the 60-click bezel is lovely, and the fully lumed dial and bezel (in two colors, BGW9 blue and X1 in green) remain a treat. With one pop of my flash, it was clear that the Ultra’s lume is brighter and more even in application than that of my Pealgos 39.

Any Pelagos 500m owner will include the bracelet in any consideration of the model’s core appeals, and the Ultra carries this into the top realm with the same trick self-adjusting fold-over clasp. With T-Fit, the Ultra’s clasp has 4mm of microadjust, 14mm of adjustment in the spring-set adjusting clasp, and some 25mm for the max of the diving extension. As an incredibly fun update over the original, the Ultra adds a luminous indication in the clasp that slides along a scale showing the various extension points and the transition to the full dive extension. Lume on a clasp! I told you these watches were meant to be fun.

As such, this new model, offered in a single spec with the bracelet, a rubber strap, and a rubber wetsuit extension, is essentially a Pelagos extra… but we can go with Ultra.

Inside, and forming one of the other larger updates over the 2012 model (which started with an ETA movement and then went to manucature movements in 2015) we find Tudor’s MT5612-U, a COSC and METAS certified automatic chronometer movement that is rated to 0 to +5 seconds a day, ticks at 4Hz, and has a 65 hour power reserve. While I still don’t mind a simple and reliable ETA movement, the MT5612-U is the sort of movement we’ve come to expect at this price point. If you’re going to go “in-house,” then you might as well get the benefits of extra power reserve and the much more accurate timekeeping.  Given the small bump in price over a standard Pelagos, I’d expect the movement to offer a considerable appeal to those trying to pick between a 500m model and the Ultra.

Speaking of price, the Pelagos Ultra retails for $5950, which is $750 more than the 500m Pelagos. While I’m not going to say that this is a great deal or some sort of genre-changing value, in 2025, that feels like a largely acceptable bump in price for a flagship Pelagos.

For those cross-shopping the Ultra and the 500m, the main aesthetic call outs are the light blue text for the “Pelagos” on the Ultra along with the Ultra following the 39 in forgoing the use of the cut out rehaut (which I lament on any model/spec), opting instead for a more conventional rehaut ring with a minute scale. We also see much less text on the dial as the Ultra opts for three lines rather than the standard model’s five. In many ways, the Ultra looks more like a larger-sized 39 than a direct evolution of the core model. 

In short (after 1000+ words), if you’re in the market for a Pelagos and want the experience of a larger pro-spec diver, the Ultra largely surpasses the standard model with better specs, similar proportions, an improved movement, and a 13.5% bump in price. Assuming you can’t score a meaningful discount on a 500m model, the Ultra feels the move, no?

While the Pelagos remains my darling 39, if I were to consider another model for my own enjoyment, the Ultra has quickly jumped to the top of the list. As much as I love the concept of a big, burly, ocean-floor-challenging diver, I am a slave to my own pragmatism. I want my dive watch to suit all of my life. I need it to work when I’m on dry land, at the office, or on a flight, and that remains the raison d’être of the Pelagos, with the Ultra offering a maximalist take on the original formula. 

For more information about the Pelagos Ultra, visit Tudor online.

​Hodinkee 

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