Over the years the Submariner line adopted various features such as the “big crown” and “snowflake hands” that have been reintroduced on Tudor’s diving watches of today. This was increased to 200 metres in 1958. Tudor launched its first diving watch in 1954, the Oyster Prince Submariner, waterproof to 100 metres. The French Navy (Marine Nationale) played a key role in the creation of a Tudor diving watch, becoming the brand’s “in the field” research and development partner, giving detailed feedback on what worked well and what could be improved.

The adoption of the Oyster case and self-winding rotor facilitated Tudor’s move into the production of tool watches. This same year, 26 Tudor Oyster Princes were included in the British scientific expedition to Greenland organised by the Royal Navy and sponsored by The Queen and Winston Churchill. This was followed by the Tudor Prince line in 1952, which was the first to be fitted with the self-winding rotor, also proprietary to Rolex, and which became the foundation of the collection for the years to come. With the launch of the Tudor Oyster collection in the mid-forties, the waterproof Oyster case previously exclusive to Rolex was added to Tudor watches. Tudor watches were originally equipped with off-the-shelf movements while using Rolex quality cases and bracelets, allowing it to provide the reliability and dependability of a Rolex but at a lower price.

The aim of the Tudor brand was to offer a more affordable watch that would preserve the Rolex reputation for quality. In 1936, Wilsdorf took it over himself, and went on to found the company Montres Tudor SA in 1946. The Tudor trademark was registered in 1926 by Swiss watchmaking company “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” on behalf of Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex watches.

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