Tudor Duo Tones Prince Oysterdate 74033

Brief history of Tudor 

“For some years now I have been considering the idea of making a watch that our agents could sell at a more modest price than our Rolex watches, and yet one that would attain the standards of dependability for which Rolex is famous. I decided to form a separate company, with the object of making and marketing this new watch. It is called the Tudor Watch Company.” This announcement was made on 6 March 1946 by Hans Wilsdorf. It marked the birth of  the TUDOR watches.
For nearly a century, Rolex watches have been the benchmark for high-grade timepieces, setting the bar through their precision timekeeping, durability, and prestige. When Rolex launched the Tudor brand in 1946, they strongly intended that the public perception of its quality had to equal that of Rolex. To achieve this lofty aim, until the mid-1990's, Tudor watches featured Rolex cases and crowns, and, until 1971, Rolex bracelets.

Tudor Prince Oysterdate

The Prince Oysterdate was patterned after the Rolex Datejust, the company's most famous model. In its early days, the Tudor Prince Oysterdate earned its name as essentially a more affordable version of Rolex Oyster Datejust. Possessing the same features and conception, it was not only cheaper but also slightly less bulky and more streamlined than its Rolex sibling.

Crafted to perfection for the man with refined taste in personal accessories, this Tudor Prince Oyster Date Wristwatch is a magnificent timepiece. The body is made of stainless steel with touches of 18K yellow gold. This Prince Oysterdate watch is in a 36mm Rolex made case, with a Rolex crown and tube and sapphire crystal.

Featuring an elegant and understated, white Roman numeral dial with markings of Tudor's logo, luminous hour dots, outer minute/seconds divisions, gold luminous wide baton hands and an aperture for the date with a magnified view. The 18K fluted yellow gold bezel has the identical look of its Rolex counterpart. 

The gold crown is the original Rolex crown with screw and lock feature. The Rolex made case provided a good 100 meters water resistant feature for this watch.

From any given angles, this timepiece looks marvelous and classy.....

The backcase used the same locking system as a Rolex Oyster. It has a proud declaration statement engraved saying that the case is made by its big brother Rolex Geneva SA. 

What's different from the look alike Datejust is the movement. This watch does not use the Rolex in-housed movement but an ETA 2824-2 movement. ETA 2824-2 is a 25 Jewels automatic movement with a beat rate of 28,800 bph and a power reserve of 38 hours. It also features a quick set date function.

The Tudor ETA 2824-2 is a highly decorated and very finely finished movement.

Tudor's stainless steel bracelet looks great with the single line of gold links and it stays on the wrist with a  Tudor signed fold over clasp. The 18K gold links are actually gold plated and is not solid gold. The downside is that the plated gold links on the bracelet are prone to deterioration where the gold plaque wears off over time.

The Tudor Oyster Prince collection, reflecting the successful marriage of precision and reliability, style and technique and high-quality production.

For Tudor, 2009 marked a decisive turning point. This was the year the brand underwent a major repositioning, with a strong enhancement of its products’ identity and its communications strategy. Tudor decided to part away from Rolex and Rolex's shadow. Tudor basically redesigned all its series and declared itself as an independent brand. Today Tudor is no longer a cheaper Rolex alternative. I could never really understand the marketing's and the management's point of increasing price ridiculously with a brand repositioning. Therefore, watches from Rolex's Tudor brand might become increasingly more collectible.