Tudor Submariner 'Mini Sub', c. 1977

Dealer description — Analog/Shift

It is perhaps one of the greatest injustices in horology that women's wristwatches have not historically received the same respect as their larger cased counterparts, resulting in far fewer executions worth collecting. This is truly a shame - but fortunately, Rolex got the memo long before most, and have been producing outstanding ladies watches for over 50 years. And we're talking about the real thing - not those that utilize faux-gold, not-so-precious stones and batteries - Rolex's offerings are mechanical, functional, wearable art. This thinking even extended to sport models under Rolex's sibling brand, Tudor! Like Rolex, Tudor really seems to get their smaller-wristed clientele, offering watches that are simply scaled-down versions of their most popular men’s models. Tudor had its genesis as a subsidiary of Rolex. It's watches were Rolexes in all but name: same Rolex Oyster case, same crowns, and Rolex crystals. The only difference was what beat inside the Oyster cases — Swiss ETA movements rather than movements that Rolex built in-house. Take this particular piece for example, a Sumbariner 'Mini Sub' Reference 9091/0 . It dates to circa 1977 and features a 31mm stainless steel Oyster case with holey lugs , a Rolex signed crown, a rotating dive timing bezel with a beautiful black insert, and a gorgeous black Tritium dial with a matching handset. Powered by a roust and proven ETA automatic winding movement, this piece comes fitted to a correct stainless steel Oyster bracelet with a signed blade clasp. Lovely! This is easily one of the cleanest Mini-Sub's that we have come across - and is the perfect choice for the smaller-wristed individual for whom 39mm is too large, and 28mm is too small.