100 years ago, Hans Wilsdorf had a vision — to create a watch brand that intersects precision timekeeping with reliability. Amidst the “Roaring Twenties”, the world was transformative, daring, and exploring Earth’s most daunting frontiers. In a similar stride of boldness, Wilsdorf registered the brand name, “The Tudor”, on February 17, 1926. Ever since, the brand has stood witness to the tribulations and triumphs of mankind and its many endeavours. Designed to audaciously break convention, push boundaries, and “attain the highest standards of dependability”, TUDOR’s legacy celebrates its centenary.
As TUDOR enters its centenary, its legacy reads as a record of endurance. The brand has stood alongside explorers, divers, military personnel, workers, athletes, and collectors. Its watches were made to be worn, tested, and trusted. Now, with the revival of the TUDOR Monarch, the brand reembarks on its original mission, carrying its classic design codes into a sharper and bolder future.
The ‘TUDOR’
The name ‘TUDOR’ draws from British history’s House of TUDOR – identified by a rose emblem. By the 1930s, it was officially recognized as the TUDOR Rose, later set within a shield. While the rose signified grace, the shield stood for strength. This duality captured Wilsdorf’s vision for a brand pillared by regality and resilience. TUDOR watches were designed for everyday life as well as demanding conditions. By 1946, Montres TUDOR S.A. was established as a separate company. The postwar years created a rising demand for watches that were reliable, attainable, and durable.
The Legendary Oyster Case
A legacy inseparable from the Oyster, in 1952, TUDOR launched the Oyster Prince. Wilsdorf personally endorsed the model and stated that the TUDOR Prince deserved to share two paramount advantages and innovative feats: the waterproof Oyster case and the self-winding Perpetual rotor mechanism. This was the moment, and the message became even clearer through the British North Greenland Expedition. In 1952, 26 TUDOR Oyster Prince watches joined the Royal Navy-organized scientific expedition to Greenland, where they were used as instruments in severe polar conditions.
Legacy of Diver’s Watches
TUDOR’s dominance stretched beyond the land and into the darkest of abysses. In 1954, TUDOR dawned one of its most important chapters with the unveiling of the Oyster Prince Submariner Ref. 7922. As the brand’s first diver watch, it delivered unmatched waterproofness and mechanical security with a screw-down caseback with 100-metre water resistance. While so, large luminous markers/hands, and a rotating bezel proved highly reliable amidst dark currents.
In the coming years, TUDOR’s relationship with the French Navy began when the Toulon-based G.E.R.S. received Oyster Prince Submariner references 7922 and 7923 for evaluation. The watches performed well enough that the unit described their water resistance as “perfect” and their functioning as “completely correct.”
Definitive Features
Introduced in 1969 on reference 7016, the design combined square indexes with angular hands. Collectors later nicknamed the handset “Snowflake” because of its distinctive shape. The purpose was practical. The broader luminous surfaces allowed more material to be applied to the hands and dial, improving illumination for French Navy divers. Over time, this functional feature became one of TUDOR’s strongest visual signatures. Today, Snowflake hands are central to the Black Bay, Pelagos, FXD, and many other contemporary models.
TUDOR Monarch (How it celebrates 100 years)
Celebrating their 100th anniversary, TUDOR revives the Monarch – a title from the 1990s redesigned, yet retaining its original architectural blueprint. As TUDOR is revered for its utility, the Monarch keeps that robustness, but adds a more refined, angular, integrated design language. Less about nostalgia, more about continuity. Built with a 39-millimetre stainless steel faceted case with polished and satin finishes, measures 11.9 millimeters thick, giving it perfectly functional proportions.
The dial echoes TUDOR’s past with an “Error-Proof-style” dial, with Roman numerals from 10 to 2 and Arabic numerals from 4 to 8. Its dark champagne tone and papyrus-like texture give it a classical feel, while the mixed numeral layout gives the watch a more unusual personality. Inside is the Manufacture Calibre MT5662-2U, a self-winding movement with hours, minutes, and small seconds. It is both COSC and METAS certified, with a 65-hour power reserve.
A Century, Still in Motion
TUDOR’s centenary is a measure of how consistently the brand has returned to the same core idea: build watches that can be trusted. From the first TUDOR-signed watches of the 1930s to the Oyster Prince, from the Submariner to the Snowflake hand, from the Black Bay revival to the new Monarch, the brand’s strength has come from clarity. Its best watches came from Wilsdorf’s original 1926 formula: dependability, function, and design with a purpose. One hundred years later, TUDOR is still defined by that original daring spirit.
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