{"id":80019,"date":"2017-11-17T00:14:42","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T16:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revolution.watch\/?p=53647"},"modified":"2024-04-17T07:40:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T23:40:51","slug":"the-tudor-milsub-part-i-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revolutionwatch.com\/the-tudor-milsub-part-i-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tudor MilSub: Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"
So where do we start with the Tudor MilSubs? Well, the most important place is the caseback \u2014\u00a0that\u2019s the key to the Tudors. The British MOD asked Rolex to produce watches that met very detailed specifications and Rolex responded with the military-only versions of Submariner refs. 5513, 5517 and the double reference 5513\/17. These watches had to have a specified hand shape (for visibility), 60-minute bezel markers (for accuracy), fixed lug bars (for security) and a circled T on the dial to denote the use of tritium lume on the hands and hour markers.<\/p>\n
The casebacks were also fully engraved, but from the front the watches were clearly different to a civilian Rolex Submariner 5513. The military departments that decided to issue their troops Tudor Submariners were a lot less specific in their requirements and were happy to issue their troops standard Tudor Submariners, but they tended to engrave the casebacks to keep track or show ownership of the watches. And so the fun begins…<\/div><\/div><\/div>
Up until a few years ago, the majority of collectors were only really aware of the French Tudor MilSubs \u2014 the watches issued by the French National Navy the Marine Nationale (MN) to its divers, vessels and diving school. The most famous of the French MilSubs are the Snowflake Submariners with the \u201cMN\u201d engraving on the caseback \u2014 always MN followed by the short form version of the year issued; for example a watch issued in 1976 would be engraved \u201cMN 76\u201d. This format was first used used in 1974, but the story began a long time before that.<\/p>\n
The French Navy actually played a key role in the development of the Submariner and was Tudor\u2019s \u201cin the field\u201d research and development partner. It gave detailed feedback on what worked well and what could be improved, which was invaluable to Tudor and shaped not just what was produced for the Navy but also the commercial output of the brand globally.<\/p>\n