To Polish or Not to Polish Pt 2........

A while back I discussed the issue of polishing vintage Rolex and Tudor watches and some of the mixed opinions that exist (read it here)! We saw in the post the work of an amazing French case finisher who did outstanding work on Jeff Dr Strong's Tudor 7924 Big Crown Sub. I now have some amazing pictures of the other polisher mentioned in the previous post, a guy based in the UK.

Paul R, an avid Tudor fan, sent his Tudor 7016 for a case refinish. the results, as I'm sure you'll agree are stunning.

Before:

After:

Photos by Paul R

Ranger.......

I'm still working on an article on the elusive Ranger for tudorcollector.com.

Here's how a Ranger Date should look!!!

Photo by Ross P

Tudor Chrono Layout Guide........

I've always loved the Tudor chronograph watches, they're great looking watches and would justify a collection theme in themselves; the 792X0 series alone have got seemingly unlimited dial variations with and without the Tiger moniker.

I came across this scan and although I've seen so so many of these catalogues I still love reading these booklet overviews of the functions of such classic Rolex Tudor watches.

I'll be adding a lot more things like this to Tudorcollector.com over the weeks as I work on the new site. Stay tuned....

UDT Issue Tudor Snowflake.....

I was recently contacted by the owner of a very special Tudor Submariner that was issued to the United States Navy Underwater Demolition Team (UDT).  History of UDT

This watch was issued to a member of UDT-13 during the Vietnam War - Lieutenant Mike Slattery. I have seen a few Tudor Submariner Date watches that purport to be issued to US navy personnel, but this is by far the best in terms of provenance!

Click here for the full and very informative story of the watch, written by the current owner:

Lesser Seen Tudors Pt. 1.......

We all love the Snowflakes, the MNs, the MonteCarlos, 7924s and other classic Tudors; that's probably why your reading this in the first place! But the Tudor branch of Rolex created some other really interesting watches that, over time, seem to have 'dropped off the radar'. Every now again I'll be sharing a picture or a story behind some of these forgotten heroes!

First up, the Chrono-Time! Rolex introduced the Oysterquartz as a watch with an integrated bracelet and, whilst still technically an Oyster watch, a new case design. Tudor, being the ever more experimental cousin, produced a range of their own new case and integrated bracelet watches - the Tudor Oysterquartz, the Ranger 2 and the Chrono-Time; all sharing a similar theme of the new case design.

The Chrono-Time was however, like the Rolex ref 1530, not actually a quartz watch but featured the ETA auto movement. The watches had Rolex crowns, the often seen engraved caseback and measured 38mm. There was also a lady version the Princess Chronotime in a smaller case size.

I have seen examples in navy and maroon as per this example below, which belongs to Tudor collector Ian B.

Photo by Ian B

Big Block........

The 791X0 range of Tudor chronographs is one of my personal favourite watches; they really are a big hunk of steel on the wrist! Up until the introduction of the Rolex Deepsea Seadweller, this was the largest Oyster case that Rolex had marketed.

The watch was powered by the workhorse Valjoux 7750 movement and came in three variants.

79160 - Fixed black tachymetre bezel

79170 - Rotating black '1-12' bezel

79180 - Fixed stainless steel tachymetre bezel

I love the classic look of these watches on the wrist! Here's an early Mk 1 version 79170 with the painted line around the date window and the applied baton markers with beveled ends.

Photo by Ross P

SM Beveziers and a MN81.......

A Tudor Submariner reference 94010, issued to SM Beveziers in 1981.

Unlike the British issue MiliSubs that were issued to individuals, the MN Subs were issued to boats and submarines. This example was issued to Sous Marine Beveziers, a French Agosta class patrol submarine that launched in 1977. It carried a crew of 58, including 7 officers.

One of the trickier aspects of finding desirable examples of these watches is the issue of provenance. There are very few attributes of the MNs that differentiate them from civilian versions, so either extracts from the MN watchmakers' records or the original decommissioning papers are an essential part of the package. This example is complete with decom papers from 2003.

There are two dial/hand variations on the 94101 - snowflake and mercedes hands; the MNs with Merc hands are a little rarer and are referred to as having the Mk2 dial. It's an elegant combination with the triangle quarter markers. The hour markers on this example have developed a lovely deep patina!

The watch retains its 'matted' case sides.

And comes on its original NATO strap.

These watches really are very special and have a special place in the Tudor collecting world!