For the 2025 United States Grand Prix in Austin, Tudor has gone full Texan (that is to say, flashy). As sponsor of the Visa Cash App Racing Bulls team, the brand has made two very special watches for its drivers, Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar. And when I say special, I mean it… only two exist.
These one-offs take the already impressive Black Bay Chrono Carbon 25 and give it a wild new twist – a tortoiseshell dial that ties in perfectly with the team’s US GP look. Because for this weekend, the Racing Bulls haven’t just rolled out a new livery; they’ve gone full tortoiseshell too, with a spotted brown-and-gold pattern splashed across the car and team kit. It’s weird. It’s bold. And honestly, I love it.
The design isn’t random, either. It’s a nod to musician Shaboozey, who helped dream up the car’s look. Earlier this year, he launched a signature tortoiseshell prepaid debit card with Visa, and the pattern became his visual signature. “I grew up in Virginia, and when I was going around to different thrift stores – there was like a huge vintage community – a lot of us would collect different race-car merchandise from like the early ’90s, late ’80s, even early ’70s,” he told Billboard. “So it was really cool to see how they influenced my sound and my music, and my style. Everything started from racing a little bit, to be honest.”
Now, that influence has come full circle. The tortoise shell Racing Bulls car, which looks like it’s been pulled straight from the ’70s, might one day become a collector’s item in its own right. “The tortoiseshell was so awesome,” Shaboozey said.
And the watches? They’re the perfect extension of that collaboration – very playful yet technically serious. Built from carbon fibre and titanium, the Black Bay Chrono Carbon 25 is a beast of a watch: 42mm across, 14.3mm thick, with a waterproof rating of 200m and a chronometer-certified calibre MT5813 ticking inside. It’s powered by Tudor’s in-house movement, a self-winding chronograph with a column wheel and a 70-hour power reserve.
Normally, this watch comes with a crisp white dial, but for the Austin weekend, Tudor swapped that out for a tortoiseshell pattern that gleams somewhere between burnt amber, gold, and caramel, depending on the light. Tudor hasn’t said what material it’s made from, but it gives me serious Tiger’s Eye Rolex vibes. Except this one’s even rarer. Only two were made, and they’re both already spoken for.
The bezel is rendered entirely in carbon fibre and carries tachymetric markings carved directly into the material. The pushers are titanium, finished in black PVD, while the caseback (also titanium) keeps the overall weight down.
So, it’s all business underneath, but that dial gives it the perfect amount of fun and vintage style.
Reactions online have been… mixed. Some people, like me, absolutely love it. It’s fun, it’s different, and it feels perfectly in tune with the Austin weekend’s chaotic energy. Others have compared it, less kindly, to psychedelic furniture or paisley carpets from the 1970s. One comment even called it the horological version of the “Silence of the Lambs Rorschach test.”
Still, that’s sort of the point. The Black Bay Chrono Carbon 25 with a tortoiseshell dial isn’t meant to be subtle. For me, this is Tudor at its most interesting: daring enough to play around, but grounded in real watchmaking. Plus, it’s not for sale, which makes it all the more desirable.
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