Saturday, July 5, 2014

AUTHENTIC VINTAGE TUDOR PRINCE DATE HYDRONAUT GENTS DIVER WRISTWATCH











BRAND: AUTHENTIC TUDOR PRINCE DATE HYDRONAUT GENTS DIVER WRISTWATCH
MADE IN: SWISS
CIRCA: 2005
MODEL: PRINCE DATE HYDRONAUT - MODEL 85190P S/N 769816
CRYSTAL: SAPPHIRE CRYSTAL
MOVEMENT: ROLEX TUDOR PRINCE 35 JEWELS AUTOMATIC MOVEMENT
DIAL COLOR: WHITE
FUNCTION: HOUR, MINUTE, CENTER SECOND, QUICKSET DATE AT 3:00
HANDS: LUMINOUS SILVER TONE
MARKERS: WHITE LUMINOUS RAISED BATON MARKERS
CASING : SOLID STAINLESS STEEL
LUGS: 20mm
MEASUREMENT: 39mm DIAMETER INCLUDING CROWN and 42mm LUG TO LUG
BEZEL: GREY DIVER BEZEL UNI TURN n CLICK
BACK CASE INSCRIPTION: TUDOR PRINCE GENEVA~TUDOR LOGO
CROWN: ORIGINAL TUDOR SS CROWN
STRAP: ORIGINAL STAINLESS STEEL BRACELET WITH ORIGINAL TUDOR SHIELD SINGLE CLAP FOLD
STRAP SIZE: 7.5"

EXCELLENT CONDITION, KEEPING TIME AND RECENTLY SERVICED. COMES WITH ORIGINAL TUDOR RED BOX. NO PAPER BUT GUARANTEED AUTHENTIC
PRICE: PERSONAL COLLECTION - RECOMMENDED RETAIL PRICE PREOWNED USD2,350
BRIEF HISTORY OF ROLEX AND TUDOR WATCHES

The Rolex brand was created by a visionary named Hans Wilsdorf, who was born in Bavaria in the year 1881. Just before the turn of the century young Hans moved to Geneva, and at the age of nineteen discovered the industry of watchmaking. At that time the wristwatch was considered vulgar and uncouth; gentlemen of the day carried pocketwatches. Wristwatches were worn only by women, and the tiny delicate movements were unreliable and imprecise. Leading watchmakers were convinced that the challenges involved in creating an accurate timekeeping device in such a small package were insurmountable. Hans Wilsdorf disagreed. He saw much room for improvement in an industry dominated by traditional thinking.

In 1905 Wilsdorf relocated to London and founded Wilsdorf & Davis in association with his brother-in-law Alfred, a company which manufactured watch cases and distributed wristwatches. Wilsdorf always maintained a very high standard for the quality of his products, so he was continually seeking ways to improve the design of his cases and movements. In cooperation with the firm of Aegler in Bienne, Switzerland, he developed and improved the small-caliber lever escapement movement, and was confident enough to stake a loan of five times the total capital of Wilsdorf & Davis in the first order. From then on, Wilsdorf made and sold watches; his own cases with movements imported from Switzerland. After the turn of the century as wristwatches started to enter the mainstream (as soldiers wore watches on their wrists and the general perception changed from the earlier notion that wristwatches were strictly feminine), Wilsdorf quickly saw how he could take advantage of their emerging popularity by offering a variety of case designs: formal, sporty, casual, etc. He also realized the importance of brand recognition. Until then the custom had been for the retailer�s name to appear on both the dial and the movement, but Wilsdorf wanted to distinguish his watches from those of his competitors, which he considered inferior since they did not submit their products to the exacting tests which he insisted be performed on all of his own. Hence in 1908 he coined the name Rolex, which would henceforth appear on all parts of the watch, including dial, movement, case, and bracelet. No one knows for sure where he got the name; there are many theories on the subject. But everyone agrees that Rolex is a name anyone in Europe or the world at large could easily pronounce, and is short enough to fit comfortably on the dial of any wristwatch.

History was first made by Rolex in 1910 when a movement was sent to the School of Horology at Bienne, and was awarded a chronometer bulletin. This was the first time a wristwatch had ever received the chronometer rating, and suddenly Hans Wilsdorf's brand earned the respect of horologists the world over. Four years later a Rolex movement was awarded a Class A Certificate by the Royal Observatory at Kew, again the first small caliber watch movement to receive the award. Thereupon Wilsdorf decided that all Rolex timepieces should be submitted to similar tests carried out by impartial institutes. No Rolex watch would ever again be sold without its Official Timing Certificate. After World War I, Wilsdorf moved his operation to Geneva to avoid the exorbitant import taxes in England, and renamed his company Montres Rolex S.A., and later simply Rolex S.A. The Aegler company of Bienne provided watch movements to many companies, but only Rolex demanded that each and every movement undergo a weeklong battery of meticulous tests before they would be accepted. Any irregularity whatsoever meant the movement was returned to the workshops. It was due to these stringent methods of quality control that Rolex was able to achieve such high standards in accuracy and make such advancements in the world of horology.

Wilsdorf had long ago realized that for a watch to be accurate over the long term, its case would need not only to withstand the attack of dust and water, but would need to be self winding to protect the mainspring from stress caused by overwinding. The first problem was overcome in 1926 with the creation of the Rolex "Oyster", in which the winding crown was screwed down onto the case using a twin lock system. This brilliant watch was totally protected from the environment since the case was air tight as well as waterproof. In a well publicized event the following year, the Oyster was celebrated after being worn on the wrist by Mercedes Gleitze when she swam the English Channel. The watch made world headlines for keeping perfect time after being immersed in salt water for 15 hours. The Oyster was displayed in jewelry shop windows inside aquariums; keeping time while fish swam through the bracelet.

The first self-winding movement was invented by Abram-Louis Perrelet in the mid 1800's, and later perfected by Abram-Louis Breguet, but was never widely adopted because the mechanism was too delicate for daily use. In 1923 a British watchmaker named John Harwood patented a self-winding watch movement based on a "hammer winding system", which had a semi-circular weight that pivoted at the center of the movement and swung through a 300 degree arc. The swinging weight was actuated by the movement of the wearer. Wilsdorf discarded this system as too impractical. For one thing, Harwood's watch was unable to be set except by turning the bezel, and it used an unreliable friction plate to prevent overwinding. According to Wilsdorf, a truly self-winding watch should be completely automatic, silent, able to revolve in both directions, smooth in action and completely free of buffer springs. These obstacles were surmounted in 1931 when Emile Borer, the technical head of Rolex, invented the "Rotor", whose winding mass could turn both clockwise and counter-clockwise and pivot freely on its axis. The new movement was dubbed the Rolex Oyster Perpetual, and immediately became the world standard, imitated by every watchmaker since.

This watch was completely overhauled/serviced in July 2006. Fully serviced, this nice Rolex Tudor Military watch is running strong and keeping perfect time. It also comes with its original Rolex bracelet. This timepiece is a keeper and will attract tons of attentions. The perfect condition dial is ORANGE in color with large bold Luminous BATON Markers and a pair nice luminous mercedes hands. The date number is black. The dial is marked, “TUDOR OYSTER PRINCE TIGER HYDRONAUT SWISS MADE
The smooth polished bezel has nice satin finishes surface. The lugs are solid and brushed with no sign of wear.


The screw down winding crown is Rolex marked and is in perfect condition.

The stainless steel case has satin finishes on both sides of the watch. No scratch or dents are noted on the case.

The crystal is in perfect condition with a cyclop to magnify the date.

Inside the back case has Rolex markings and it is in excellent condition. There are some inscription which is off view. Other than this, it has a perfect score.

This super cool timepiece is powered by Rolex precision movement. It is a high grade 17 Jewels precision manual wind mechanism. The movement was stripped pieces by pieces, cleaned, oiled and timed 2 months ago by specialist. It is in excellent running order and keeps perfect time.

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