- 9/7/12
- 23,746
- 20,900
- 113
A little bit of history first, for those who don't know:
The first Tudor Submariner was developed at the same time as the first Rolex Submariner, but for marketing reasons the Rolex Submariner was the first to be launched - because Rolex were the 'first' brand and Tudor was the newcomer within Wilsdorf’s businesses. The first Rolex Submariners were introduced in 1953 and a few months later in 1954, the Tudor Submariner followed. This model was given the reference number 7922 and it was almost identical to the Rolex Submariner.
The Tudor Submariner 79000 series of reference (79090, 79190) was the 3rd and last generation of Tudor’s classic Submariner collection. They were introduced in the 1980’s and ran until 1999. The movement was ETA’s 2824-2.
This is more of a re-restoration, as somebody had already done some work on the watch. It was probably initially purchased as an incomplete watch in bad shape. When I received it the case had been polished, but not very well - the lugs were rounded, the chamfers were inexistant and there were grooves running down the sides of the case from using the wrong techniques.
The hands had been relumed white, which didn't match the dial. As you can see there is a champagne date wheel, when it would have been white from the factory - it's a genuine Tudor date wheel so maybe this was the only one available at the time - vintage parts can be very hard to find.
The crystal was badly scratched, the crown was aftermarket, the bezel ring didn't turn (Phong insert) and both the dial and hands were dirty.
It's now all genuine Tudor with the exception of the bezel insert and the end links, which are there as a stop gap until the owner can source gen parts in good condition.
I refinished the case, only removing what was necessary to flatten the lugs and restore the chamfers.
The crystal was polished, I stripped and cleaned the bezel assembly and used a new tension ring.
The hands were stripped of the white lume, cleaned and relumed to match the dial which was also cleaned up, retaining the original tritium lume.
An Athaya pearl, lumed to match the dial and hands replaces the awful Phong pearl. A Rolex 703 crown and tube were fitted, as well as a restored 93250 bracelet
This really is a stunning watch and I think the champagne date wheel helps to bring out the blue of the dial, even if it's not entirely original.
Here, next to it's black dial version, which is all rep except for the dial and the movement, which are both genuine.
Thanks for looking !
The first Tudor Submariner was developed at the same time as the first Rolex Submariner, but for marketing reasons the Rolex Submariner was the first to be launched - because Rolex were the 'first' brand and Tudor was the newcomer within Wilsdorf’s businesses. The first Rolex Submariners were introduced in 1953 and a few months later in 1954, the Tudor Submariner followed. This model was given the reference number 7922 and it was almost identical to the Rolex Submariner.
The Tudor Submariner 79000 series of reference (79090, 79190) was the 3rd and last generation of Tudor’s classic Submariner collection. They were introduced in the 1980’s and ran until 1999. The movement was ETA’s 2824-2.
This is more of a re-restoration, as somebody had already done some work on the watch. It was probably initially purchased as an incomplete watch in bad shape. When I received it the case had been polished, but not very well - the lugs were rounded, the chamfers were inexistant and there were grooves running down the sides of the case from using the wrong techniques.
The hands had been relumed white, which didn't match the dial. As you can see there is a champagne date wheel, when it would have been white from the factory - it's a genuine Tudor date wheel so maybe this was the only one available at the time - vintage parts can be very hard to find.
The crystal was badly scratched, the crown was aftermarket, the bezel ring didn't turn (Phong insert) and both the dial and hands were dirty.
It's now all genuine Tudor with the exception of the bezel insert and the end links, which are there as a stop gap until the owner can source gen parts in good condition.
I refinished the case, only removing what was necessary to flatten the lugs and restore the chamfers.
The crystal was polished, I stripped and cleaned the bezel assembly and used a new tension ring.
The hands were stripped of the white lume, cleaned and relumed to match the dial which was also cleaned up, retaining the original tritium lume.
An Athaya pearl, lumed to match the dial and hands replaces the awful Phong pearl. A Rolex 703 crown and tube were fitted, as well as a restored 93250 bracelet
This really is a stunning watch and I think the champagne date wheel helps to bring out the blue of the dial, even if it's not entirely original.
Here, next to it's black dial version, which is all rep except for the dial and the movement, which are both genuine.
Thanks for looking !
