Reviewing The Steel Case Vintage Tudor Oyster Prince Replica Watch Ref. 7909

In 1952 the mens Tudor Oyster Prince replica watch was launched , accompanied by an advertising campaign that was striking and original for the time.

By using workmen the campaign was intended to not only portray Tudor watches as more attainable but more affordable and accessible too. Furthermore, the participation of thirty Tudor Oyster Prince watches in the British scientific expedition to Greenland organized in 1952 by the Royal Navy is in this respect a significant episode. The illustrations showed a man wearing a Swiss-made fake Tudor wristwatch at work in extreme circumstances – the hard labors of constructing roads or working in a mine as well as engaged in sports such as motorcycling, playing golf or riding horses.

Not limited, as they were back then to the customary images and descriptions of the product, it also highlighted the qualities of strength, reliability and accuracy, not only by very detailed text but also through illustrations.

In the 1960s, after the momentum of its technical successes and the stronger image as a result of its involvement with the Arctic expedition Tudor joined a project to develop a professional diving watch that might be officially adopted by the armed forces. The result was the Tudor Prince Submariner (ref. 7928) which was produced for the U.S. Navy between 1964 and 1966. This was the first model to feature crown guards and had the same Tropic 19 plexi crystal as the Rolex Submariner (ref. 5512-5513). The Tudor Prince Submariner was followed in the early 1970s (until 1984) by the (very popular) “Marine Nationale” model, which was officially adopted by the French Navy.

This first Tudor Submariner was mostly Rolex made (oyster case and bracelet) except that it had the Tudor 390 cal movement made by by Fleurier. Fitted with a bi-directional bezel they were initially 100m divers, but 200m versions were produced in the late 1950′s.The very first Tudor submariner (7922 reference) was launched In 1954, also called the “big crown” because of its large 8mm diameter crown, similar to its big brother the Rolex 6538.

Tudor watches were for a long time rather like more affordable copies of Rolex watches using cases and bracelets virtually identical and featuring Rolex signed parts. Indeed the only major difference was the use of non Rolex movements. These days though the Rolex DNA is still very much a part of Tudor copy watches they have developed into a brand with a much stronger identity of their own.