Brand Focus: Tudor

By Kayleigh Hutchins

15 Jun 2016

There’s always a lot of pressure when you’re the younger sibling. You’re constantly fighting to keep up with your elders, and step out of their shadow to establish your own identity. This has been Tudor’s lot in life since it was founded by Hans Wilsdorf in 1946. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it was this very same man who, forty years earlier, founded another company you may have heard of: Rolex.

Initially, Wilsdorf’s idea was to create a brand that had the same dedication to performance and quality as the already successful Rolex, but which offered watches at a lower price point. He had registered the name as early as 1926, when he had been experimenting with ideas for other watch lines. But by 1946, with the world recovering from six years of austerity during World War Two, it seemed like the perfect time to launch a line of watches that were not only reliable but also affordable.

Hans Wilsdorf

Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of both the Tudor and Rolex brands

Wilsdorf knew that he already had a winning formula with Rolex, and so at first, he kept strong ties between the established brand and its fledgling counterpart. Tudor watches featured Rolex cases and bracelets, while using bought-in Valjoux movements, rather than more expensive in-house calibres, to keep the price tag down.

The first adverts dedicated specifically to Tudor appeared in 1948, and by emphasising the brand’s link to Rolex, it gave the budding young brand a sense of legitimacy. Its first really commercially popular series, the Oyster Prince, borrowed heavily from Rolex design, and in 1954, the brand released the Tudor Submariner. A utilitarian watch that closely resembled Rolex’s classic diver, it would become a firm favourite among watch collectors both then and now.

Tudor snowflake hand

The 'snowflake' hour hand has become an iconic symbol of the Tudor brand

Thanks to these robust and popular pieces, the brand developed its own dedicated following throughout the 1950s and ‘60s. This allowed it to begin to break away from Rolex and explore more unique and exciting designs. The introduction of the snowflake hour hand signalled the onset of the quirky aesthetic that the company would go on to develop, moving further away from its more sedate sibling.

The 1970s saw the dawn of the Tudor chronograph, and unlike the Rolex Daytona, Tudor’s racing watches also included a date display on the dial—a feature that proved incredibly popular. While many high end watchmakers were struggling to find their footing during the quartz crisis of this period, Tudor became more confident in its own identity, continuing to make mechanical watches that featured playful, bold designs—like the exotic dial of the 1974 Monte-Carlo. The ‘Big Block’ chronographs, first released in 1976, were the first Tudor chronographs with a self-winding movement, and have developed an almost cult-like following to this day.

Tudor watches

Tudor has broken away from Rolex to establish its own strong brand identity

Post-2000, Tudor has defined a personality entirely of its own, releasing inventive and contemporary models such as the Heritage Black Bay and the Pelagos. In 2015, Tudor unveiled its first in-house calibre, the MT5612, bringing with it all of the prestige of manufacture status. It might have needed a bit of bolstering as it took its first few steps, but Tudor now stands proudly on its own two distinctive feet.