I was glued to the television on Tuesday, 23 April this year for the final Milan derby of the season. Inter Milan, top of the Serie A table, had an imperious 14-point lead over their city archrivals AC Milan, who sat in second place. A win at San Siro/Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, the very stadium the two teams share, would clinch the league for Inter.
Inter were not expected to come to this point this season. After last year’s disappointing third place finish, the usually high expectations at Inter Milan were somewhat tempered for the 2023/2024 season. New Head Coach Simone Inzaghi did lead them to the Champions League final last year (which they lost by a single goal to Manchester City), but he has yet to win the league in his entire coaching career.
However, after a strong start — including an emphatic 5-1 thumping of AC Milan last September — there were stirrings of hope in the blue-and-black half of Milan. The match was a heated affair, with Inter determined to clinch the trophy, and AC Milan doing their utmost to ensure their pesky neighbours don’t win the title off the Milan derby. But Inter drew first blood when Francesco Acerbi, the 36 year-old defender brought in by Inzaghi in 2022 as a stop-gap measure to address Inter’s lack of depth in defence, reacted first to a loose ball from a Federico Dimarco corner to tap in the opening goal. Their second goal came less than five minutes into the second half, when a pinpoint long ball by defender Alessandro Bastoni found Marcus Thuram, who drilled it into the bottom corner. Bastoni’s precision and long-range delivery has been central to Inter’s success this season, and it was fitting that it was the 25-year-old’s assist that helped seal the title. AC Milan would get one back with a header by Englishman Fikayo Tomori 10 minutes from time, but it was too little, too late. Inter would win 2-1 and, with it, the Serie A title. At the final whistle, a jubilant Lautoro Martinez (Inter Milan’s captain) and Federico Dimarco climbed onto the top of the goal frame at San Siro and gestured triumphantly to their fans, an image that will resonate in Italian football for years.
“Winning the league with five matches left in the Milan derby — that is something that will remain with us,” Inzaghi said in the post-match interview. It was an understatement — their achievement was huge.
Their triumph marked the 20th Scudetto (referring to the ‘small shield’ given to Italian champions) of Inter’s storied 116-year history. In Serie A, teams earn a star on their jersey for every 10 titles won. With this, Inter earns their second star.
Inter Milan is one of those highly loveable football teams — they play beautiful football as a matter of principle, and won the hearts of football purists the world over when they ended Juventus’ nine-year chokehold on the Serie A, when the Turin giants won consecutive titles from 2011 to 2020.
Their resilience, their quality, and their penchant for beautiful football made Inter Milan’s partnership with Tudor a match made in footballing heaven. The Genevan watchmaker has unveiled a limited-edition Black Bay 58 “Inter” (Reference 79030N) to commemorate Inter’s second star, featuring a special dial, matching strap, and an engraved caseback.
The most immediately striking feature of the timepiece is its beautiful ombré “Inter blue” dial with applied hour markers in a triumphant gold. The Inter Milan logo sits at 6 o’clock, with two golden stars crowning it. The colours are indeed evocative and hold a strong emotional resonance for fans — blue for Inter, gold for this historic triumph.
The Black Bay 58 is a highly popular expression, making it an ideal choice for this commemorative edition. Its name pays homage to the year 1958, when Tudor introduced its first divers’ watch, the reference 7924, known as the Big Crown, which was waterproof to 200m. Reflecting the design of this iconic historic watch, the Black Bay 58 features a 39mm diameter case, maintaining the classic proportions typical of the 1950s. The winding crown tube is in satin-brushed steel in keeping with the style of the case and winding crown, which bears the Tudor rose logo in relief.
As with other Black Bay 58s, the commemorative timepiece is powered by the Manufacture Calibre MT5402, which features hour, minute, and second functions. The movement is engineered for robustness and precision. Its variable inertia balance wheel is secured by a sturdy traversing bridge with two-point anchoring. The movement is also known for its silicon hairspring, and an intricate architecture that gives it a 70-hour power reserve.
The association with Inter is further enhanced in the optional jacquard fabric strap, which comes in a black and ‘Inter Blue’ stripe. Otherwise, it comes in the standard three-link bracelet of the Black Bay 58. It is the ultimate watch for any Inter fan, made more significant with this season’s achievement.
The Inter — AC Milan game was one of the most memorable of the season. The stakes were high, the teams are world class, the football was beautiful — it’s games like this that make the sport the world’s most beloved.
And out of that blazing furnace in Milan, Inter rose triumphant. It is fitting that Tudor came forward with a new Big Crown for the new kings of Italy.
