Not all collector events are made equal. Back in April, during Watches and Wonders, I got an invite to swing by the Tudor HQ in Geneva for a special dinner. I assumed this would be like most brand dinners, including Tudor examples from the past, a glass of wine, a flying buffet, and a seated dinner. I could not have been more wrong. Rather than hors d’oeuvres and the looming possibility of a mid-dinner dance presentation, I walked into a room absolutely packed with vintage Tudors, along with many of the personalities who had either collected the watches firsthand or helped establish the knowledge surrounding the collection.
A group of singular 34mm Tudor Oyster, including a 1972 Cotton Bowl watch and matching hat.
Honestly, after a long day at the Palexpo for the fair, the collection of watches and ephemera was entirely overwhelming. I did my best to shoot what I could as well as I could. In scenarios where a watch or two was lost to glare, flash, or both, I tried to add an additional photo to cover it. That said, I am 100% sure I didn’t get to everything, and many of the watches you see below could be (or have been) the subject of entire stories.
A Tudor Submariner 9411.
So scroll on for a look at an insane array of Submariners, Rangers, Oysters, Chronographs, and more. Look closely for special dials, special bezels, military-issued examples, rare references, early models, notable school watches, and even a couple of ultra-rare watches with double-signed dials. Towards the end of the run of images, please enjoy a section of images covering watches from the Tudor Archive.
I did what I could to fill out the information for the captions, but as you might have guessed, I didn’t do it alone. I won’t forget a massive thank-you to CC and CP for the invite to the event, the extra context, and the help with the captions below. I hope you enjoy, and if you have a question, please put it in the comments, and I’ll do what I can to find you an answer.
A Tudor Sub 7922, 7923, 7924, 7928 Square Crown guard, 7928 Eagle Beak, 7928 underline PCG, 7928 glossy dial, 7016 Semi PCG.
A Tudor Sub 76100 from the 80’s with a lollipop hour hand.
A collection of Tudor MN Sub with every existing year engraving from MN74 to MN83.
A prototype chronograph, unreleased ref. 7030, owned by René Jeanneret. You can learn more about this prototype reference here via Tudor Collector.
Canadian Subs and Exotic Chronos.
A closer look at the above.
A closer look at the above.
A Tudor Chrono 7032, Submariner 7924 big Crown, Tropical 7928s, Ranger Date 9050.
A closer look at the 7032 shown above.
A bevy of 34mm Oysters, including plated gold versions, next to a “Jumbo” (38mm) Date + Day.
A 5th SF issued Sub 9411 with modern-made olongapo bracelet.
A “Mystery” 9401 with mismatched dial and hands from @detempoliber.
A haul of French Navy Tudor subs from @watchistry.
A closer look at the above.
A couple of military Tudor Subs, including Canadian-issued examples and U.S. Navy provenance, homeplate chronograph 7031, and Ranger.
A closer look at above, including a military Tudor Sub 7928, a Homeplate Chronograph, and a Ranger.
Tudor Chrono 7149.
Tudor Submariner 7928.
Tudor Chrono 9421.
Tudor Submariner 7928.
Tudor Submariner 9401 Ghost.
More No Date Tudor Subs, including a 9401 with a triangle dial (center).
Bottom left, an all-Arabic hour-markers Ranger (very rare).
A 7016 with a “frogman” strap and more Snowflake Subs.
A family heirloom 9430.
U.S. Navy-issued and (well) documented chapter ring Tudor Submariner ref. 7928.
A South African ref. 7016 next to IDF ref. 7928, complete with original unattached bracelet.
A collection of South African MilSubs 7016 and 9401. Not often you’d see eight of these together.
A closer look at the South African MilSubs 7016 and 9401.
A closer look at the South African MilSubs.
A closer look at the South African MilSubs.
A Chapter Ring ref. 7928 Tudor Sub.
Formerly black painted IDF 7928, with the rehaut and lugs retaining the black paint.
Singular 34mm Oysters, including a 50s 18k rose gold example, and two double-signed examples (Tiffany and Serpico Y Laino), and a 7924 Big Crown Sub.
A Chapter Ring 7928 Tudor Submariner.
An IDF and South African Tudor Sub next to one another (along with the original IDF bracelet).
A Tropical ref. 7928 Sub from the first batch delivered to SEAL Team 2 after the commissioning of SEAL Teams in 1962, sitting alongside a Waltham wrist compass.
A bunch of no-date 9401s, including a triplet of 1977 hybrid 9401s, rare and originally assembled with mismatched roundhouse marker and snowflake hands.
French Navy-issued Tudor Subs bonanza from @i_merlin13 including small and big crown 50s sub (7922 & 7924), 7928s SCG, PCG and RCG, a MN74 7016 and a blue 9401.
A Commando Hubert’s 7928 SCG with red triangle bezel, a blue triangle dial 9401 from Commando Jaubert, and an odd-ball big block 9420 with unicorn orange hand (photographed in the pictured catalog but never made in series). Also pictured is a tropical “Jumbo” (38mm) Date + Day (lower right).
A Tudor P01 on the wrist of @pandlwatches.
An extremely rare Serpico Y Laino double-signed ref. 7928.
THE eBay 7923 (which we covered here back in 2017) next to a unicorn double-signed Joyeria Riviera ref. 7922. Just an insane pair of Tudors.
Tudor CEO’s (Eric Pirson) own Tudor big Block “piece école” which he assembled as part of his final exams at the Geneva watchmaking school.
Caseback engraving of Tudor CEO’s (Eric Pirson) own Tudor big Block “piece école” which he assembled as part of his final exams at the Geneva watchmaking school. #alwaysreadthecaseback
A ref. 9401 on an Olongapo bracelet.
Sébastien Lehman’s (Tudor’s Production Director) own Tudor small Block “piece école” which he assembled as part of his final exams at the Geneva watchmaking school.
The caseback of Sébastien Lehman’s own Tudor small Block “piece école” which he assembled as part of his final exams at the Geneva watchmaking school. He is now Tudor’s Production Director.
Unpolished (uber rare) “Eagle Beak” ref. 7928.
A SEAL Team One-issued Tudor 7016 from 1973 (with the paperwork to back it up).
@Paulywollydoodle Grandma’s watch with an ultra-rare heart-shaped hour hand, which sparked his interest in watches and Tudor. You can read more about this watch here via Tudor Collector, but did you note the other brand on the dial?
The Tudor Archives
Alongside the expansive and often fully-surrounded collector table, Tudor had also set up a pair of small rooms with displays of special watches from the archive. Here is a collection of what was on display.
Three generations of Rangers (spanning the 30s through the 70s) on the original Ranger-model name registration document dating back to 1929, effectively making it the oldest Tudor line name still in use today.
Major Homard British North Greenland Expedition-issued Tudor Oyster Prince on original leather strap, lying on its original “watch check” booklet, where the variations of the precision of the watch were logged almost daily from 1952 to 1954. Amazing.
A box with very early (30s/40s) models, including faceted case watches (one of the inspirations for the new Tudor Monarch). Also in this tray is an Oyster-cased Advisor ref. 7926, an error-proof dial 34mm Prince (top right), and a first-gen Monarch (bottom right).
A Tudor MN on an original recycled French parachute strap lying on a French Navy letter dated to 1956 ordering Tudor Subs after evaluation by the GERS (Groupement d’Etudes et de Recherche Sous-Marine).
A Tudor 9401 procured by the French Navy, with the Commando Hubert combat swimmer badge engraved on the caseback. This watch was gifted (used) sometimes in the ’80s by the Commander of the unit to a deserving civilian.
A Tudor MN Sub 9401 on an original French Navy-issued strap.
A box of Tudor Subs including a 7923 (the only manual Submariner), 7922, 7924 big crown, 7928 SCG, 7016 SPCG, 7021, Hybrid (round markers square hands) 9401, blue 76100, prototype 79190.
A closer look at the above.
The original Tudor Sub prototype, with the crown at 4 o’clock, was created for submission to the U.S. Navy.
Some French and U.S. Navy documents and photos.
Former SEAL Team 1 Commander Bill Jebb’s U.S. Navy-issued 7928 on an original Olongapo bracelet that Jebb had made while stationed in Subic Bay.
A box of chronos including manual-wound prototype 7033, blue and black 7149s, 7159, 7169, Big Block 9420 with exotic dial, panda big block 9421, Small Block 79280, Small Block Tiger 79260, and last-gen Small Block 79280.
A closer look at some of the above.
A Tudor 7032 chrono including the manual and the original 70s “peanut” box.