Near NOS 1969 Tudor Prince Day/Date Jumbo 38mm 7017/0
Ref: 7017/0
Specification
Lugs : 20mm
Condition : Pre-Owned
Box & Papers : None
Case Material : Stainless Steel
Warranty : 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty
Points of Mention
This watch is sold “Watch Only” and therefore without its Tudor box or paperwork. The watch comes paired with a 20mm vintage-style leather strap. The watch is from Circa. 1969 and is sold in worn, but as close to New Old Stock as you will find, as you can see from the photographs, some marks from wear and storage will be seen. The watch comes with our 12-Months NON-Waterproof Warranty.
For more photos see here - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zGXD65sRzHeV2VNvplCuaT27_8W_9ctj?usp=drive_link
4K YouTube video, skip to 22:38 - https://youtu.be/ZdkP8CGWlkw
The Watch
Here we have a Near NOS 1969 Tudor Prince Day/Date Jumbo 7017/0 with a 38mm Rolex Oyster case that curves over your wrist with tapered drilled lugs. First introduced in 1969 this was the first time we saw the Tudor shield which replaced the Tudor Rose, the Prince Day/Date is also known as the President-watch and nicknamed “Jumbo” due to its large case diameter for the time, it was one of the largest in their Prince line of watches. Polished and brushed surfaces transition with crisp well-defined lines, a fine bevelled edge leads the eyes towards a lug-to-lug length of 47mm and a thickness of 11.5mm ensures a comfortable fit on your wrist. On the right side, a Rolex signed screw-down crown. A polished bezel holds a domed plexiglass crystal above a sunburst grey dial. An outer minute track with Tritium pips precisely executed surrounds applied chamfer-edged baton indexes marking the hours, at 12 o’clock a day crescent with a date window at 3 o’clock complete with a cyclops magnification, slender baton hands with a lume infill are complemented by a tapered sweeping seconds hand. Tudor Oyster Prince Date + Day is precisely printed with an applied Tudor shield at 12 o’clock and “Rotor Self-Winding” printed at 6 o’clock completes this attractive versatile timepiece. On the reverse, a coin-edged screw-down case back signed “Case by Rolex Original Oyster”, inside an automatic AS Cal. 1895, 25 jewels, beating at 21,600 beats per hour, a quality Adolf Schild movement used by Girard Perregaux and Blancpain. The watch comes fitted on its 20mm vintage-style leather strap.
Personal Note
It's far from every day that an example like this near new old stock 1969 Tudor Prince Day/Date Jumbo in 38mm comes up for sale, the unpolished case features the sharpest lugs I have seen and the silver dial has aged beautifully featuring its original handset and tritium which have developed a lovely warm tone! If this is a model you have been after it will be hard to find a better one, so snap it up whilst you can as examples like this often go into serious collections for a very long time.
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 guarantees the technical, aesthetic and functional characteristics, along with the 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 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.