Tudor Prince-Oyster Date 34 Automatic Ref.7914 c1955

Tudor

Created by Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf, Tudor owes much of its initial success to its affiliation with Rolex. Tudor watches were originally intended as a more affordable alternative, offering the same quality and craftsmanship, but at a lower price point. Today, Tudor is flourishing as a popular watch brand in its own right.

Description

In 1952, Tudor released its first self-winding model, the Prince, which used a Rolex self-winding mechanism. Here we have a wonderful, fully original example of the Tudor Prince Oyster Date, Model reference 7914 from c1955 with a beautiful, original, unrestored and untouched off-white dial. This is a classic and an excellent 1970s example of some of the outstanding work Tudor created. This watch shows some next to no signs of ageing, which is one of the reasons we have to decided to leave this watch alone.

The Dial

This dial is beautifully symmetrical, well balanced and proportioned. The dial itself, in off-white, contrasts wonderfully with the stainless steel case. This remarkable dial carries ‘arrowhead’ hour indices that are mixed with standard Arabic numerals at ‘3 – 6 – 9 – 12’, all of which are swept by the original ‘dauphine’ hands, completed with a roulette date wheel at 3. The roulette date wheel shows the even numbers in red and the odd numbers in black. Each of these beautiful aspects make this watch very easy to read when on the wrist.

This dial is correctly signed with ‘Tudor Prince-Oyster Date 34’ at the very top below 12 with ‘Rotor Self Winding’ just above 6 and ‘Swiss Made’ just below 6’.

As this dial is in original, unrestored condition, this has been left untouched by our restoration team due to its superb condition. Usually, we restore the dials of the watches we sell, however we decided in this case to leave it alone, due to its unusually good condition and to retain its originality and charm for those who prefer this. It also helps to contrast with almost all of the other watch dials you see on our website, which have been restored. The hands, likewise, have also been left in their original untouched condition.

Please note, studio lights, professional-grade digital cameras, and macro lenses can be very unkind to an unrestored vintage watch dial. Also the dial here measures less than 1.25 inches across, so the image you’re seeing may be between 5 – 25 times larger than the watch itself. Therefore please keep in mind you are seeing many tiny flaws which cannot be seen, or will be very hard to see with the naked eye, even under close examination. Suffice to say, on the wrist, in natural light, this dial looks much better and carries a great deal more charm than the photographs portray.

The Movement

The Original Tudor calibre ETA 2784, 17 Jewel automatic movement is of exceptional quality and is original to this watch. The watch movement has been fully overhauled and serviced by our watchmaker who reports it to be in excellent condition and we are therefore happy to offer this watch with our 12 months warranty*.

The movement has been fully overhauled and serviced by our watchmaker. This means it has been fully dismantled to all its component parts, before ultrasonic cleaning, microscope inspection and replacement of parts with new originals where required. Then careful reassembly and oiling ready for final testing and calibration. The watch is now running perfectly having been calibrated and timed at +12 seconds per day, which is truly outstanding for any watch of this age. It is therefore ready for many more years of reliable service.

These movements are very accurate and very reliable, making it completely practical and appropriate for regular everyday use. Our watchmaker has indicated this particular movement is in top condition and with regular servicing every 2 to 3 years, we would fully expect this watch to run very happily for many more decades to come! We are therefore very pleased to offer a 12-month warranty on this watch movement* and servicing in the future, as required.

This wonderful movement is correctly signed with ‘Tudor’, ’Swiss Patented’ and ‘Auto-Prince’ along with ‘Swiss Made’ and ’17 Rubies’ (Jewels).

*Please note – our 12 months’ warranty is only applicable if the full list price is paid.

The Case

The steel watch case measures an oversized 35mm, excluding the correct unsigned winding crown, this makes this a good size watch for the 1970s. The heavy Tudor Prince case has a highly sought after engine turned bezel, with strong straight lugs. It is in excellent condition, having received a very gentle and sympathetic clean and polish, although the watch has obviously been very well cared for, as there are no dings, scratches or marks visible to the naked eye. The case-back is of full thickness and has never been engraved.

The interior of this case back is correctly signed ‘Montres Tudor S.A’, ‘Geneve Switzerland Patented’ and ‘Stainless Steel’.

As ever, our standard advice applies: Vintage watches should be kept clean and dry at all times.

The Strap & Buckle

This watch has a high quality black leather strap fitted and this watch has also been fitted with a matching plain stainless steel buckle. However, if a different colour or style of strap is preferred, please let us know and we will do our best to oblige free of charge. We carry tan, conker, dark brown and black in stock in plain padded leather, crocodile skin or lizard skin. We can also obtain most types and colours from our partners at ‘Watch Obsession’ within 48hrs. Please take a look at their huge range of straps if you wish here.

Box and Papers

Although there are no original papers with this watch, the reference numbers, markings, signatures and hallmarks are all correct, dating this watch to c1955.

Detailed particulars will be included with our purchase receipt for your interest and security. A separate insurance valuation for the replacement value of this watch will be provided at the time of sale along with our unique ‘Lifetime Authenticity Guarantee’ which states: “If this watch proves to be anything less than 100% genuine, authentic and original, a full refund will be given at any time”.

This watch comes complete with a double watch leather pouch.

Payment and Delivery

If you would like to pay by bank transfer, we will be pleased to assist you with this and pass on a 3% saving to you. Paying by bank transfer for a 3% saving will not affect your 12 months warranty. Similarly, if you wish to pay by International SWIFT or Bank Wire Transfer we will provide you with our BIC / Swift number and our IBAN number.

Please check the import duties and any taxes your government may apply, these are different for each country and, unfortunately, out of our control.

We understand there may be some ‘loopholes’ that may help you avoid these charges; however, attempting to use these could impact our ongoing ability to serve our growing international customer base.

For those who happen to visit London on occasion, we are, of course, more than happy to store your watch until we can meet you in our offices in Kensington, London, and hand your watch directly to you there.

As with all our watches, this watch will be sold under our 14 days no-quibble sale or return policy.

In Conclusion

This is a superb, highly collectable and totally usable vintage watch from horology’s most famous name, which will provide an excellent financial investment as well as be something to treasure and enjoy! It will make the perfect gift as well as a practical, accurate and reliable timepiece to use on a regular basis, as you so wish.

A word on our prices – We always try our hardest to acquire the very highest quality watches we can find, before restoring them to the highest possible standards. We then offer these at the fairest prices we can, taking into account our pre and post-sales care and service. This approach means we will never be the cheapest, but nor will we be the most expensive. Indeed there are some well-known stores in West London which are highly successful charging between two to three times the price you see here. We, therefore, consider our prices to be fair, given the quality of watches we have to offer.

Please note, we also welcome part exchanges. If you have a watch or a small collection for sale, please contact us as we will be happy to discuss this.

We will also be happy to Service your watch, Repair your watch or Restore your watch, all at ‘sensible’ prices. Please see here.

If you have any questions please call us on 020 7727 7095 or if calling from overseas on +44 207 727 7095.

Please take a look at our other fine vintage steel watches.

Thank you