Diving Deep: The 50 Year History Of Tudor’s Snowflake Hands

1969 was a big year for watches. The year brought the lunar landing that cemented the Speedmaster as an icon, ushered in the first automatic chronographs, and was the year that Tudor introduced its now-famous snowflake hands.

Although a somewhat divisive design among watch enthusiasts, Tudor’s snowflake hands have become a signature trait of the brand’s sports watches and have developed die-hard fans throughout their five-decade-long history. To mark the 50th anniversary, let's take a look at the design's origins, military collaboration, and its formative impact on the brand.
 

The new dial design not only differentiated the Tudor models from their parent company but also served as a functional upgrade for their diver audience. Although Tudor officially claims that its largest client, France's Navy was known as the Marine Nationale, simply picked existing references from the catalog, many collectors speculate that the Marine Nationale developed a close collaboration with Tudor to help develop the distinctive dial design.
 

The resulting angular hands and square hour markers not only helped divers quickly differentiate the hands from one another, the increased surface area on the hands and markers allowed for a greater amount of luminescence application, thus resulting in better visibility in murky conditions. 
 

Tudor Submariners were found extensively on divers of the French Navy up to the mid-2000s and were also used by divers from the American, Canadian, and Italian navies, among others.
 

The inaugural "Snowflake" Submariners represented a major step for Tudor as a brand. Not only were they the first appearance of the original hand and hour marker designs, but they were also the first unveiling of Tudor's new shield logo, replacing the rose logo of earlier models. Together, these design differences ushered in a new identity for Tudor and marked its most significant departure from Rolex to date.
 

The signature snowflake hands began as a functional improvement for naval divers but ultimately helped to establish the Tudor as a popular alternative to its parent brand instead of a mere, budget-friendly subsidiary.