Two-tone came back, and the Black Bay S&G is the reason a lot of people stopped apologising for liking it. Yellow gold bezel, gold-capped crown, gold centre links, and the same 41mm Black Bay case underneath.
It is also the Tudor with the strongest practical reason to own a strap, and it has nothing to do with looks. Tudor publishes exactly how much gold is on this watch and where — and once you know the numbers, the bracelet starts to look like something you should be protecting rather than wearing every day.
Strap size and fit guide (the selector matters more than usual here)
Your Tudor Black Bay S&G (Ref. M79733N) has a 41mm case and a 22mm lug width.
On Helvetus product pages, select "Heritage Black Bay". That is the option cut for this generation of the 41mm Black Bay case, and it is the same selection the blue and burgundy 79230 references use.
One warning that matters right now: not every watch called a "Black Bay 41" takes 22mm. Tudor's newer 41mm Black Bay references do not all share this generation's lug width, so "mine is a 41" is not enough information to order on. If you have a newer reference rather than the 797xx/792xx generation, check your own spec before you buy, or ask — it is a two-minute question that saves a return.
Checklist for this guide: 41mm case, 22mm lugs, select "Heritage Black Bay".
The bit nobody tells you: the gold is a cap, and it is thinnest on the bracelet
This is the most useful thing in this article, so here it is plainly.
Tudor is unusually transparent about the S&G's construction, and the spec sheet says this:
- The bezel is steel covered by a 0.3mm yellow gold cap
- The crown is steel covered by a 0.3mm yellow gold cap
- The bracelet centre links are steel covered by a 0.2mm yellow gold cap — except the first links at 6 and 12 o'clock, which are solid gold
Read that again. The thinnest gold on the entire watch is on the bracelet. Two tenths of a millimetre, on the component that spends its life scraping desks, catching door handles, sliding under cuffs and rubbing against itself in a watch box. Meanwhile the bezel — thicker, and mounted where nothing much touches it — is fine.
And a gold cap is not like a solid gold case. There is no material to polish back. Once it wears through at an edge, it is through.
So the argument for a strap on this reference is not "it looks good on rubber", although it does. It is that a strap takes the most vulnerable gold on the watch off your wrist entirely and puts it in a drawer. Wear the strap on the days the watch is going to get knocked about, keep the bracelet for the days it will not, and the watch that comes out of that arrangement in ten years is worth meaningfully more than the one that never left the bracelet.
That is also the honest case for owning two straps rather than one. If the bracelet is the thing you are protecting, the straps need to cover more than one mood.
A short bit of background
The Black Bay S&G arrived in 2017, when steel-and-gold was still deeply unfashionable, and it did well enough that Tudor has kept it in the line-up ever since. It is the standard 41mm Black Bay recipe — domed dial, domed sapphire, snowflake hands borrowed from the divers Tudor supplied to the French navy in the 1970s, 200m of water resistance — with the yellow gold layered on top.
Inside is the Calibre MT5612, chronometer certified, with around 70 hours of reserve. The case is 14.7mm thick with a lug-to-lug of roughly 50mm, so this is a substantial watch, and the gold-capped bracelet does not make it feel lighter.
Two dials: black or champagne. The bezel disc is matt black with gold graduations on both.
Why the strap changes this watch more than a steel one
On the bracelet, the gold is everywhere — bezel, crown, and a gold line running down the centre of the bracelet all the way to the clasp. Your eye reads the whole object as "a gold watch", and the individual gold elements stop registering as details.
Take the bracelet off and the gold collapses upward. Suddenly it is a steel watch with a gold bezel — the ring at the top becomes a frame around the dial, the crown becomes a deliberate accent, and the proportions of the case come back into view. It is the single biggest visual change a strap makes anywhere in the Black Bay range, and it only exists on the two-tone references.
Which is why the colour you choose matters: you are deciding how much attention that gold ring gets.
The best strap colours for the Black Bay S&G
Black — the one that concentrates the gold. The default and the strongest. Against black rubber the case reads as steel, the dial recedes, and the gold bezel becomes the only bright thing on the watch. It is the version of the S&G that looks expensive rather than showy, and it is the easiest to wear if you bought a two-tone watch but do not necessarily want to announce it. Works on both dials, and it is where I would start regardless of which one you own. Black Tudor Black Bay Rubber Strap
Brown — the factory answer, especially on champagne. Tudor sells the S&G on aged brown leather and on brown fabric, so warm-and-brown is the pairing the brand chose itself. Brown rubber does the same job with none of the maintenance: it agrees with the gold instead of framing it, and on the champagne dial it pulls the whole watch into one warm register that looks properly 1970s in the best way. If black makes the S&G discreet, brown makes it deliberate. Brown Tudor Black Bay Rubber Strap
White — the summer one, and the surprise. Gold and white is a combination almost nobody tries on a dive watch and it is excellent. The white lifts the gold rather than competing with it, the black bezel disc keeps the whole thing anchored, and the watch stops looking like a winter piece. Best on the champagne dial, very good on the black one, and genuinely the strap that gets asked about. If you already own black and brown, this is the third one. White Tudor Black Bay Rubber Strap
Green — the oldest good idea in the book. Green and gold has been a luxury pairing for about as long as luxury has existed, and it works here for a specific reason: green is close enough in depth to the black bezel disc that it does not fight it, but warm enough that the gold reads as intentional rather than loud. On the black-dial S&G it is the most interesting-looking option of the four, and it suits the watch's slightly vintage character better than any cool colour would. Green Tudor Black Bay Rubber Strap
If you would rather go the leather route the way Tudor originally sold it: Brown Leather Strap for Tudor
Or see the full colour range for this case: All Tudor Black Bay Straps
Getting the order right
Colour first, then select "Heritage Black Bay" on the product page. Not "Black Bay 41" — the Black Bay name covers several generations and they are not all the same width.
If you own other Tudors, these cover the neighbouring sizes:
- Tudor Black Bay 41 Blue 79230B Strap Guide — same case, same 22mm, same selection
- Tudor Black Bay Ceramic 79210CNU Strap Guide — 41mm, 22mm
- Tudor Black Bay Bronze 79250BA Strap Guide — 43mm, 23mm
FAQ
What lug width is the Tudor Black Bay S&G? 22mm. Tudor states 22mm across the M79733N references, on a 41mm case.
Which option do I select on Helvetus for the 79733N? "Heritage Black Bay" — the same selection used for the 79230 references, which share this case.
Is the gold on the Black Bay S&G solid? Partly. The bezel and crown are steel with a 0.3mm yellow gold cap, and the bracelet centre links are steel with a 0.2mm cap, except the first links at 6 and 12 o'clock which are solid gold.
Does that mean the gold can wear off? A gold cap is a layer rather than solid material, so it cannot be polished back the way a solid gold case can. That is the practical reason a lot of S&G owners keep the bracelet for occasions and live on a strap the rest of the time.
Which strap suits the champagne dial best? Brown or white. Both work with the warm dial rather than against it. Black is the better choice on the black dial if you want the gold bezel to be the focal point.
Final thoughts
The S&G is the Black Bay that looks like it cost more than it did, and the strap is what decides whether that reads as confident or as loud. It also happens to be the cheapest insurance policy available for the thinnest gold on the watch.
Helvetus straps are cut for this exact case, so you get a clean fit at the lugs and no gaps. Every rubber strap carries a lifetime warranty, shipping is free worldwide with no import costs, and more than 50,000 customers have already made the swap.
