2000s Tudor Prince Date Hydronaut Blue Dial 41mm 89190P
Ref: 89190P
Specification
Lugs : 20mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : None
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold with its original Tudor Box. It comes paired with its 20mm brushed and polished Jubilee stainless steel bracelet secured by a signed folding clasp and flip lock; it will fit up to a 7.1-inch wrist. The watch is from Circa. Late 2000s, it is sold in worn condition; however, overall, as you can see, the watch is in excellent condition. The watch comes with our 12-Months Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/19le2_NZPLIqBuki2mCoL0ETL19rDtLTc?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 23:13 - https://youtu.be/_GNA2qNUNwE
The Watch
Here we have a rare classic 2000s Tudor Prince Date Hydronaut Blue Dial 89190P.
The sporty Hydronaut, with its aggressive profile, was introduced in 1998 and ran until 2012 when the Tudor Black Bay replaced it. A 41mm brushed and polished stainless steel case. Its sporty aesthetic has chamfered flanks leading to thick drilled lugs, and a lug-to-lug length of 47mm and a case thickness of 11mm give the watch an impressive wrist presence. On the right side is a signed screw-down crown protected by crown guards that are part of the case for strength. The unidirectional bezel has deep knurling for grip, a silver dive insert, and raised batons in between, with black markings; the first 15 minutes are highlighted. A bevel-edged sapphire crystal sits above a deep blue dial. An outer minute track surrounds applied thick baton indexes filled with lume and an inverted triangle at 12 mark the hours; at 3 o’clock, we have a date window below a cyclops magnification on the crystal. Broad arrow and sword hands filled with lume are complemented by a sweeping second-hand tipped-in lume. At 12 o’clock, we have the Tudor motif “Prince Date" underneath; at 6 o’clock, “200m, 660ft Hydronaut” completes this rugged sports dive watch. On the reverse, a coin-edged screw-down case back, “Tudor Prince Geneva” engraved, inside an Automatic ETA Cal. 2824-2, 25 jewels, beating at 28,800 beats per hour, this workhorse movement has hand winding, hacking seconds and quick-set date for your convenience. It comes paired with its 20mm brushed and polished Jubilee stainless steel bracelet secured by a signed folding clasp and flip lock; it will fit up to a 7.1-inch wrist. The watch comes with its Tudor presentation box.
Personal Note
This amazing Tudor Prince Date Hydronaut sold before it had a chance to make it to the website some months ago, so when it was offered back against a different watch, I jumped at the opportunity. The Black Bay is a great watch, but we often forget that Tudor made some other incredible watches like this Hydronaut with its deep blue dial and contrasting steel bezel, and that it is cased in 41mm with the most interesting case profile. These rarely come up, especially in a condition like this one, so I would not hesitate to add it to your collection today, whilst you can!
The Brand
The Tudor trademark was first registered in 1926 by the Swiss watchmaking company “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex watches. Wilsdorf took it over himself in 1936. Just after the Second World War, Hans Wilsdorf, Founder of Rolex, knew that the time had come to expand and give the Tudor brand a proper identity of its own. The Tudor Rose started to appear on their dials from this time. Thus, on 6 March 1946, he created the “Montres TUDOR S.A.” company, specialising in models for both men and women. Rolex guaranteed the technical, aesthetic and functional characteristics, along with the distribution and after-sales service. In 1948, we saw the first Tudor-specific advertisement. 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 its 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, and the divers of the French Navy appreciated this. 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 their 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 uses their in-house movements developed initially in 2015 in collaboration with Breitling.