Brand Directory: TUDOR S.A

Swiss watchmaking company “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf the founder of Rolex watches first registered in 1926 The Tudor trademark. Wilsdorf took it over himself in 1936. Soon after the second world war, Hans Wilsdorf who founded Rolex knew that it was time for Tudor to have a proper identity of its own. The Tudor Rose started to appear on their dials from this moment.

On 6 March 1946, he created the “Montres TUDOR S.A.” company, creating watches for both men and women. Rolex guaranteed the overall design aesthetic, as well as distribution and after-sales service. In 1948 we saw the first Tudor-specific advertising. A few years later they introduced the TUDOR Oyster Prince in 1952. Hans Wilsdorf allowed Tudor to use their waterproof Oyster case and the original self-winding Perpetual ’rotor’ movement. This was an exclusive arrangement that benefitted both brands.  

Development soon commenced with the introduction of the TUDOR Oyster Prince Submariner, reference 7922 in 1954. This watch was quickly adopted by the French Navy in 1956.

Building on their reputation of robustness in 1961 the Rose was replaced by the shield. Later in 1969, we saw the design changes in Ref. 7016 where for the first time square indexes and angular hands nicknamed “snowflake” allowed for a greater amount of lume to be applied this was appreciated by the divers of the French Navy. Today these innovations can be seen in the Black Bay and Pelagos collections. In 1971 Tudor introduced the Oysterdate chronographs nicknamed “Monte-Carlo” due to it resembling a roulette wheel. Celebrating their 50th anniversary in 1996. In that same year, Tudor decided to shed Rolex signed components such as the cases, crowns and bracelets in favour of Tudor branded ones. Today Tudor use their in-house movements developed initially in 2015 in collaboration with Breitling.