Tudor Tudor Classic Watches

Tudor, which has earned the repute of being one of the most coveted watches in the world, has an interesting history going way back to 1926. A Swiss watch manufacturing firm, by the name of Veuve de Philippe Hüther, registered the trademark ‘The Tudor’ on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf, who founded Rolex. Wilsdorf brought out the very first Tudor watches in the Australian market in 1932.

The initial watch models were either rectangular or barrel-shaped, and were slanting on the sides. The dial displayed the signature Tudor on it in a somewhat unique way – the horizontal bar of the letter ‘T’ was elongated and stretched over the other letters of the brand name. A few watches also had the name Rolex on their dials.

In 1936, Wilsdorf took over exclusive rights of the brand ‘The Tudor’ from Veuve de Philippe Hüther. Interestingly, Wilsdorf gave the name Tudor to his watches in honor of the prevailing Tudor dynasty in England at the time. As such, the watches brought out during that period bore the symbolic rose of the Tudor dynasty on their dials. In 1946, Wilsdorf decided to expand the Tudor market and assign a unique identity to the brand. With that intent, the Montres Tudor S.A. company was created, which manufactured watches for both men and women. After launching the brand name Tudor in the market, it was time to rework on the company logo.

From 1947 onwards, the shield which used to appear on all the early models slowly started disappearing from the logo. Now only Tudor and the rose symbol could be seen on the dial. In an attempt to gradually expand the Tudor market, advertising for the brand started a year after in 1948. The first advertisements vividly displayed the close connection of Tudor with its parent company, Rolex, in text as well as in its logo. Focus was given on promoting through ads the aesthetics of Tudor watches, the careful precision in crafting, and the unique waterproof quality of the watch.

In the early 1950s, the Tudor brand decided to move a step further in advertising its product – now emphasizing more on the strength and durability of the watch, and its ability to withstand tough working conditions. This was considered a somewhat unique method of advertising for that era. Ad campaigns illustrating laborers such as coal miners or stonecutters wearing Tudor on their wrists while working for long periods, started coming out, displaying the reliability of Tudor watches.

Moving forward with highlighting the waterproof quality of its watches, Tudor launched its first divers watch, the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner in 1954. Designed exclusively for divers, even navy men at the sea, the watch fulfilled all the desired requisites of precision, durability, endurance, and of course waterproofness. The first model witnessed several revisions, after undergoing a number of experiments over the coming years, to become the best suitable match for professionals.

The year 1957 witnessed an interesting development in the history of Tudor Classic collection watches. The brand launched the Tudor Advisor alarm watch, the first and the only one of its kind in the history of Tudor. The watch came with a unique alarm function, which had been unheard of until that time. In the same year, the company brought forth its first ever extra-thin watch model into the market. Its thickness was no more than 6 mm, and it was considered to be the thinnest waterproof wristwatch in the history of watchmaking. Tudor came out with very few pieces of the same, and not for very long too.

The 1960s saw Tudor targeting its women audience with its exquisitely designed watches for women, which reflected a perfect blend of style with grace. The Tudor Royal dating back to this period is a classic example of this segment of the Tudor Classic collection. By 1969, the rose symbol of the Tudor dynasty, a standard on all Tudor watches’ logo until now, slowly started being replaced by the shield – symbolizing sturdiness and dependability – which had started showing in Tudor watches of late.

The Oysterdate chronograph came in 1970, the first-of-its-kind mechanical manually-wound watch by Tudor. The dial was uniquely designed, representing a daring wager. The Tudor watch soon hit it off among the target audience and received a good market response. The trend of chronographs continued up to the year 2000, with numerous variations of the Tudor Oysterdate being introduced into the market from time to time.

Having launched varied watch models to suit the unique needs of its customers, Tudor has ever since maintained one thing is standard in its creations –the promise of high quality at moderate costs to the user. This has made the brand one of the most sought-after in the global watch market.