Tudor Submariner 7928 "Argentine Milsub", 1963

Dealer description — Collectors Corner NY

Possibly the most mysterious of milsubs, there is little known about the issued watches of Argentina. This particular example is from 1963 and sports a gilt chapter ring dial, big dot seconds hand, pointed crown guard case and a wonderfully ghosted long 5 bezel insert. Available now! Now for a long quote from Revolution Watch explaining the curious nature of these issued Tudors: "There are many known examples and all have a pattern of engravings that begin with the numbers six and one and three subsequent numbers i.e. 61xxx and then the letters Ci. The earliest known examples of these are mid- to late-1960s, pointed-crown-guard (PCG) Submariners ref. 7928. The caseback markings on these are all "612xx Ci" with the engraved fonts all having common traits. Additionally, a good number of known examples of these watches are with a reasonably small serial number range. A transitional batch of watches followed that were marked "613xx Ci" beginning with ref. 7928 Submariners and then switching to Snowflake Subs. The Tudor Snowflakes continued to be issued and the caseback numbering moved through 614xx Ci to 615xx Ci. But what exactly do the letters Ci mean? The most popular theory is that it stands for Cuerpo de Infantería, which is a division of the Argentinian police force. In fact, the division is known as the Cuerpo Guardia de Infantería. The Argentinian Navy has a Commando de la Infantería, which deals with amphibious combat, much like Chile's Cuerpo de Infantería, de Marina. I believe it is likely the watches were used by one of the latter two forces as their dive watches. Another recently mooted observation is that the Ci actually stands for código de inventario, meaning inventory code. Research is still ongoing, but they are interesting watches that we are piecing together gradually." Explore more of our vintage Tudor watches .