TUDOR AND THE FRENCH NAVY

1956 - references 7922/7923

TUDOR's special relationship with the French Navy dates back to the beginning of 1956 when the Toulon-based Underwater Study and Research Group or Groupement d’Étude et de Recherches Sous-Marines (G.E.R.S.) in French received Oyster Prince Submariner watches for evaluation. These were examples of references 7922 and 7923, both water resistant to 100 meters and equipped with automatic and manual movements respectively. The water resistance of these watches was deemed "perfect" and the functioning "completely correct" in a letter by the Commander of the G.E.R.S. of the time.

1958 - REFERENCE 7924

1959 - reference 7928

TUDOR diving watches continued to evolve rapidly during the formative years of diving and in 1959, with the reference 7928, the brand introduced crown guards, two steel shoulders forming part of the case of the watch and which protected the main weak point of the watch from shocks. The French Navy adopted this new watch as soon as the first examples were available, the now famous "Square Crown Guards". Several executions of the reference 7928 followed and all were used by Marine Nationale divers.

1969 - reference 7016

In 1969, the reference 7016 introduced a new aesthetic in the brand's range that became the signature of TUDOR diving watches. A combination of square indexes, painted with luminous material, and angular hands later nicknamed "Snowflake" by collectors because of the similarity to the form of a snowflake. This new design allowed for more luminous material to be applied to the dials and hands, thus resulting in a longer duration of illumination, a key improvement for the French Navy divers. In 1974, the reference 7016 was also the first TUDOR diving watch to bear the famous “TUDOR M.N.” engravings. Composed of the initials M.N. and the year of issue in numbers, these markings have reached close to iconic status and are sought after relentlessly by collectors of military watches.

1975 - REFERENCE 9401
THE FABRIC STRAP