Tudor
In February 1926, the house of “Veuve de Philippe Hüther”, a watch dealer and maker, registered a trademark for Hans Wilsdorf – “The Tudor”. In 1932, TUDOR watches for the Australian market were delivered exclusively to the Willis company, which was entrusted with distributing them to the best jewellery shops in the country.The first few Tudor watches had a simple TUDOR signature on the dial, with the horizontal bar of the T lengthened above the other letters. On some rare pieces, the name Rolex also appeared, effectively guaranteeing the technical and aesthetic quality of TUDOR watches until the brand attained autonomy in this field.
On 15 October 1936, the house of “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” transferred the brand “The Tudor” to Hans Wilsdorf. In this same period, the rose of the Tudor dynasty appeared on the dials. Just after the Second World War, on 6 March 1946, Wilsdorf created the “Montres TUDOR S.A. ” company, yet again with Rolex guaranteeing the technical, aesthetic and functional characteristics, along with the distribution and after-sales services. In 1952 the TUDOR Oyster Prince was launched that shared two unique aspects that were exclusive to Rolex : the waterproof Oyster case and the original self winding Perpetual ‘rotor’ mechanism. This was followed by the TUDOR Oyster Prince Submariner dive in 1955 and the Advisor alarm watch and ultra-slim TUDOR Oyster Thin in 1957.
From chronographs to diving watches with the famous nicknamed “snowflake” hands TUDOR has finally stepped out of Rolex’s shadow. Even today TUDOR is looked upon as a brand with Rolex’s credibility yet at modest prices.
