Tudor brand has been living in the shadow of Rolex for many years. Many people think Tudor is a brand of Rolex, and many people think Tudor brand was founded by the founder of Rolex, Mr Hans Wilsdorf. But this is not the case. Therefore, before talking about Tudor's many B models (mathematical expression: B x N), it is necessary to explain the true origin of Tudor brand with the simplest words.

in p>1926, a trademark named "The Tudor" was registered, and it was not registered by Mr. Hans Wilsdorf, but by a watch dealer named "Veuve de Philippe Hüther" (who was also a watchmaker, but perhaps the level and output were not very good). After this company, whose main business is watch dealers, registered this brand, Mr. Wilsdorf obtained the exclusive right to use their home. Therefore, the first person to register Tudor trademark is not Mr. Hans Wilsdorf.

the first batch of Tudor products were sold to Australia, and the brand Logo at that time was the spelling of "Tudor", but the top horizontal line of "T" was very long, covering the four letters "UDOR" which were also capitalized at the back, but the font size was much smaller. I don't know whether the business is sluggish or other reasons. In 1936, 1 years after the brand was registered, the dealer officially transferred the Tudor brand to Mr. Hans Wilsdorf. Since then, Tudor has become what we call a Rolex brand today. And the Logo spelling the letter "TUDOR" ends here, in exchange for a rose pattern that we are all familiar with. And it's wrapped in a shield.

the top horizontal of the old Tudor logo: "T" is very long, covering the four letters "UDOR" which are also capitalized at the back, but the font size is much smaller

But it can't be said that Mr. Wilsdorf just picked up a bargain. In fact, "The Tudor" is just a trademark, not a real watchmaking company. So on March 6th, 1946, a company named Montres TUDOR S.A, which was really founded by the founder of Rolex, Mr Hans Wilsdorf, was established in Geneva. At this point, Tudor's trademark registered by dealers became a watchmaking enterprise and began to be a low-priced supplement to the Rolex brand. So Tudor and Rolex came together in such a complicated way.

The rose pattern surrounded by Tudor shield

At this point, the relationship between Tudor and Rolex founders and the evolution process are briefly explained. So if we want to talk about BB series (Tudor Heritage Black Bay series), we should start with Tudor's diving watch. Generally speaking, the history of brand making diving watches is divided into two stages, the first stage is from 1954 to 1968, and the second stage is from 1969 to 1999. Many classic watches in these two periods of history have laid the groundwork for the BB series we see today. As for what is it? I'm also burying a foreshadowing here. You won't know until you read it carefully.

In p>1954, a Tudor diving watch also called Submariner was born. The model is 7922. In Tudor's official manual, it also has a full name called: Oyster Prince Submariner. If you are familiar with Rolex, you will understand that Oyster, oyster waterproof structure, Prince is often used by Tudor, little prince-does it mean that Rolex is big prince? The shape of this 7922 looks really too Rolex. If a very small picture is used to guess the watch, I believe many people will think that this is a Rolex black water ghost.

the waterproof depth is 1m, the black one-way rotating outer ring, and most importantly, the use of Mercedes-Benz needle is exactly the same as that of Rolex. Basically, the movement is simply equipped with some. The year after the birth of 7922, 7923 appeared. 7922 and 7923 can be said to be a natural couple, but they are not exactly the same. The biggest difference is that this watch is very thin. Why? Because it actually uses a manually wound movement, which originated from ETA 1182, it is quite thoughtful that the lock handle structure of the diving watch actually uses manual operation.

In addition, the Mercedes-Benz needle disappeared, and it was changed into an ordinary pointed straight line. Other parts have not changed much. The key point here is that a few years later, in 1958, a diving watch named Oyster Prince Submariner Big Crown was born, model 7924. Why do you say it? Because Big Crown! It has a huge handle with a diameter of 8mm! It's so big that even if it's completely locked, there will still be a small protrusion. At this point, do you understand why it is the key?

Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner7922, 7923

Tudor 7924

Because the big head element of this Big Crown was re-carved by BB!

then in 1959, the Square Crown Guards 7928 with handlebars in shoulder pad and the Tropical 7928 in 1964 upgraded the Tudor diving watch again. However, these two did not bring any inspiration to the BB series, and they can only be said to be the product of the normal evolution of the watch case. The only thing to say is that the name "classical" was added to it by collectors later, but it didn't exist then. The main reason for adding it is the discoloration of the dial scale caused by the lack of advanced spraying materials in the past. As you all know, collectors love the discoloration caused by this quality problem-this is beside the point, so let's not talk about it.