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Tudor Oyster Prince Steel, 1950s

DocumentedDocumented from a dealer's listing; attribution and date as stated by the dealer.
Maker / attribution
Tudor (maker)
Date
1950s
Country of origin
Switzerland
Object type
Wristwatch
Materials / technique
steel
Stock no.
Product 1047121537
Credit line
Dealer listing, Analog/Shift (product 1047121537)
Catalogue title (original)
Tudor Oyster Prince Steel (English)

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Record summary

Catalogued by Analog/Shift (dealer), New York (stock number Product 1047121537), this is a wristwatch by Tudor, made in Switzerland, dated 1950s. The Atlas places it in the Modern Mechanical Horology period (1945 – 1969) of its Wristwatches collection. Materials and techniques recorded by the source: steel. 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

We often come across oddities while exploring the world of vintage timepieces, but more often that not those oddities turn out to be fakes, reproductions, or some manner of Frankensteined monster. But every once in awhile we strike gold. Or in this case, steel! This is a very cool vintage Oyster Prince, which dates to the 1950s. It features a gorgeous white dial with applied markers and the early Tudor Rose logo. By itself, this is a handsome and infinitely wearable dress piece. But the cherry on top is its incredibly unusual engine-turned steel bezel, which reminds us of early American Railway pocket watches, like THIS ONE . Ultimately, this is a super cool and affordable early Oyster Prince, fitted with an self winding movement, and ready to turn some heads!

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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