Scrabble the Seconds: The Tudor Prince Oysterdate 79200 Series Turns 30

Watch family trees can be complicated. Case in point: Rolex owns and runs Tudor, which was created by Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf in 1926. However, the brands don’t like to refer to each other as siblings despite their stories being very much entwined.

Perhaps no single timepiece encapsulates the voyage from sister act to legend-in-its-own-right than the Tudor Prince Oysterdate 79200 series, which debuted in 1995 and thus turns 30 this year.

So, while the pundits gather online to speculate about how Tudor might mark this important anniversary, here’s a timeline to illustrate how far this legend has come.

Here’s an analogy for the guitar players out there: Tudor is to Rolex as Epiphone is to Gibson. In other, less niche words: The brand (Tudor/Epiphone) was created to capture customers keen on the higher-end brand (Rolex/Gibson) but at a more accessible price point.

The Tudor name was first registered by the “Veuve de Philippe Hüther” company on behalf of Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf in 1926 and later registered under his own name in 1936. Then, the “Montres Tudor SA” (Tudor Watches), based in Geneva, was created in 1946.
 

The first Tudor Oyster was introduced in 1947, and for most of the 20th century, Tudor used the same cases, bracelets, dials, and designs as Rolex but kept costs down by employing third-party movements.

The siblings’ paths started to diverge as early as 1948 when the advertising campaigns for Tudor emphasized its strength, reliability, and precision through illustrations of coal miners, riveters, and rescue workers wearing a Tudor on their wrists in extreme conditions.
 

Rolex, on the other hand, promoted its ruggedness through ads that evoked exploration or adventure. These images helped establish Tudor’s personality as a watchmaker for the everyman and woman.

The next big step for Tudor was the addition of the Oyster Prince line in 1952.
 

At the time, Hans Wilsdorf leaned on the link between Rolex and Tudor, stating: “I have decided that the Tudor Prince deserves to share with Rolex two advantages I would allow no other watch to use – the famous and unique waterproof Oyster case and the original self-winding Perpetual ’rotor’ mechanism.

“All Tudor Oyster Princes will have these two exceptional features, previously exclusive to Rolex. This indicates, I think, the measure of our faith in the new watch. I am proud to give my endorsement.”

The Tudor Oyster Prince model soon became a favorite of the armed forces and adventurers worldwide. In fact, 26 were included in the British North Greenland expedition of 1952 to 1954. As a result, Tudor’s engineers began to focus on making watches inspired by dangerous professions.

Then, the brand released its first self-winding chronograph, the Tudor Prince Oysterdate “Big Block” in 1976, so called because the size of the self-winding calibre required a very chonky case. More importantly, the “Big Block” was the first automatic chronograph in the Rolex family, beating the Rolex Daytona by 12 years.
 

This version of the Prince reigned for almost 20 years until the Oysterdate 79200 series was introduced in 1995. This edition features a more refined look with a softer, less utilitarian case. A sapphire crystal replaced the old acrylic cover, further creating a lower profile of the watch on the wrist.
 

Over time, the 79200 series has seen many subtle tweaks. For example, the original stainless Oyster bracelets have been swapped out with Tudor’s take on the Jubilee bracelet (leather is also an option), and the word Oyster on the dial has been replaced with “PRINCE.” And, of course, Tudor now uses its own COSC-certified movements.
 

After 30 years, the 79200 remains the ruler of the Prince collection. And we say: Long live the…um, well, Prince.