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Tudor Oyster 'Albino Explorer' Dial, c. mid 1950s

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Tudor (maker)
Date
c. mid 1950s
Country of origin
Switzerland
Object type
Wristwatch
Dimensions
Case 34 mm
Stock no.
40991439
Credit line
Dealer listing, Analog/Shift (40991439)
Catalogue title (original)
Tudor Oyster 'Albino Explorer' Dial (English)

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Record summary

Catalogued by Analog/Shift (dealer), New York (stock number 40991439), this is a wristwatch by Tudor, made in Switzerland, dated c. mid 1950s. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Wristwatches collection. Recorded dimensions: Case 34 mm. The record is illustrated with 6 photographs.

Assembled from the source record's structured fields. Dates and attributions are given as the source states them; where a field is missing the Atlas leaves it blank rather than estimating.

Catalogue description

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

It is no secret that the popularity of the Tudor brand is reaching stratospheric levels as of late. After decades of neglect by collectors, Rolex's sibling brand has caught on in an epic fashion. Vintage Tudor timepieces have similarly ‘caught on’ and many nearly-forgotten wristwatches have been pulled from sock drawers and brought back into the well-deserved limelight. While the greatest attention is being paid to the sports models such as the ‘snowflake’ Submariner and Monte Carlo Chronographs, there are also a number of superb casual and formal dress pieces being ‘found’ and brought back to life. This particular Tudor, an Oyster Prince Reference 7904, is an understated ‘do anything, take anywhere’ gem that works perfectly as an everyday watch. Housed in a 34mm stainless steel Oyster case with ‘holey lugs,’ a Rolex-signed screw-down crown, a smooth polished steel bezel, and an acrylic crystal, it features a white Radium dial with applied gold-foil ‘Arabic’ and ‘dart’ indices, the beloved Tudor 'rose' logo at 12:00, and a matching ‘alpha’ handset. Powered by an automatic Swiss movement from and fitted to a stainless steel 'rivet' Oyster bracelet, this beautiful piece from circa the mid-1950s looks as handsome today as it did in the decade of explosive economic growth and prosperity that followed the Second World War in America. You can’t go wrong with such a well designed, handsome piece — especially in this condition. Nab this affordable piece of the Rolex pie before anyone’s the wiser!

Historical context

Modern Mechanical Horology (1945 – 1969)

Tool watches for divers, pilots and astronauts; electric watches anticipate the electronic age.

The classic era of the mechanical wristwatch: dive watches, chronographs for motor racing and space flight, GMT watches for jet travel, slim dress watches, automatic calendars, and the rise of Japanese manufacturers alongside Swiss, American, German and Soviet industries.

Read the period in the timelineMore wristwatches from this periodEarlier: Golden Age of Mechanical Watchmaking

Atlas type guide

Dive and water-resistant watches

Keeping water and dust out of a wristwatch was a long-standing challenge. Rolex's screw-down Oyster case (1926) and Omega's Marine (1932) were landmarks; in the early 1950s Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms and Rolex's Submariner defined the professional dive watch with rotating bezels for timing dives, luminous dials and high water resistance. The ISO 6425 standard (1982) later codified what a 'diver's watch' must do.

Dive watches became icons of post-war design and exploration, and their evolution — helium escape valves, ceramic bezels, saturation-diving depth ratings — records the history of underwater work.

What to look for

  • Unidirectional or bidirectional rotating bezel with minute markings.
  • Screw-down crown and case back; depth rating printed on the dial.
  • Luminous hands and markers (radium before c. 1960, tritium c. 1960–1998, then Super-LumiNova).
  • Reference numbers on the case between the lugs or inside the back.

Dating clues

  • Screw-down Oyster cases: from 1926.
  • Professional dive watches: from 1953.
  • Tritium 'T' marks on dials: c. 1960–1998.

General guidance written by the Atlas editors about this kind of object. It is not a statement about this particular piece; for that, rely on the source record above and on physical examination.

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