The Infamous Oyster Case, The 1950's Tudor Oyster Automatic reference 7809

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The Oyster case is one of the most important inventions in recent history for watches. Interestingly, the case can often be associated with tool watches, which makes complete sense. It was created to make watches waterproof and gave them the ability to dive to the depths of the oceans. Vintage Rolex Submariners always come to mind. But the oyster case was also used in watches that have a classic styling to them. The yellow gold, 34mm Tudor Oyster covered today is a great example.
Tudor, known as the sister brand of Rolex, has a very interesting and successful history tied very closely to Rolex. The beginnings of the brand’s relationship with Rolex came in 1936 when Hans Wilsdorf took over Tudor, the name, and their watch production. Rolex wanted to establish a lower-priced alternative that maintained the high-quality watches they produced. Rolex used the rose of the British royal house of Tudor as the logo found on the dials of these watches.
In 1946, very soon after World War II, Wilsdorf founded Montres Tudor S.A., giving Tudor its own independent brand. Fast forward 6 years and Tudor took a feather from Rolex’s book and launched the Tudor Oyster Prince line of watches. From the name, it is clear what pieces of technical innovation they used from Rolex; the Oyster case and self-winding mechanism with perpetual rotor. These innovations lead to the creation of the Oyster Prince Submariner which was Tudor’s first dive watch.
The Oyster case that is so important to the Tudor Oyster goes back to 1926. This was the year that Rolex introduced the iconic case. It helped protect watches from dust, moisture, and pressure and allowed the watches to be used by divers and swimmers alike. This was really the beginning of the iconic tool watches we have today.
The Tudor Oyster today is a reference 7809. Tudor Oysters first appeared in 1946 and used manual wind movements. From their, Tudor released many different variations of of the Tudor Oyster, making it an extremely fun series of watches to collect. In 1952, they released the Oyster Prince, which described the automatic movement they developed to be used in the Oyster Prince line of watches. A very important use of the reference 7809 was during the British North Greenland Expedition.
The reference 7809 today is a 34mm, yellow gold Tudor Oyster. The watch was manufactured in the 1950’s. The watch has a extremely beautiful white dial that has faded over time to a cream hue. The watch has recessed, gold hour markers, sword hour and minute hands, and an arrow-style center seconds hand. The case is in overall good condition, with some light polishing visible.
The watch runs on the caliber 390 automatic movement. This caliber first came about in 1950 and were only manufactured until 1955. The caliber 390 is a 12.5 ligne movement that is 6.25mm thick. It self-winds in both directions, unlike other watch movements of this era that only wound in one direction. It had the highest technology of the era, including a Glucydur balance and kif shock protection system. The automatic rotor also is in the shape of a butterfly, which is why many people nickname caliber the ‘butterfly automatic’. Interestingly, the caliber 390 was manufactured in the same manufacturing plants as the Rolex caliber 1030, their flagship automatic movement at the time. They were also almost identical in design, showing the prowess of the movements in relation to Rolex.
One thing that is so attractive about this piece is the fact that the watch is in a yellow gold case and has some-what of a dressy feel to it. It reminds the wearer of the Rolex reference 6062. It harkens back to the days of Rolex and Tudor where they had an interesting intersection between high complication and sports watch technologies.
Tudor is an incredible brand. Not only for the technologies in their watches, but also the aesthetics of the watches on the wrist. They remind the wearer that there is beauty in technically-advanced watches too.
Enjoy!
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[@natsherm828]

Nice video

[@grant_watchesblank1340]

I haven’t seen this dial on a Tudor oyster before

[@jamest3164]

Dial is beautiful

[@johnbrand4551]

The 50’s look good