The History of Tudor Submariner
The first Tudor Submariner
In 1954, Tudor launched their first Submariner. The watch, named Tudor Prince Submariner, with reference 7922, had a water resistance of 100 meters, a self-winding movement, and was built using many of the same parts as its big brother, the Rolex Submariner, which had been released the year before. The purpose of the Tudor Submariner was to create a similarly durable watch as the Rolex Submariner but at a more affordable price. Tudor used a cheaper movement, as in the first 7922, which had a Fleurier 390 movement.
In 1955, Tudor released their only Submariner in their portfolio with a manually wound movement, with the reference 7923. However the 7922 was reintroduced in 1957 and the 7923 was discontinued.
Source: Tudorwatch.com
"Big Crown"
In 1958, the reference 7924 was released. This was also called the "big crown", as it had an 8 mm winding crown, rather than the traditional 5 mm crown. The larger crown and a thicker watch case meant that the watch now had a water resistance of 200 meters, instead of 100 meters, like its predecessor.
Source: Tudorcollector.com
The Last Tudor Submariners
When you say Tudor Submariner, most people probably think of the model with a diameter of 39mm and the iconic crownguards. This is not surprising, as it is more or less the expression the Tudor Submariner had from 1959 until they ceased production of the Submariner in 1999.
However, there have been some variations in how the Submariner has looked since then. For example, the watch known as the "Snowflake" was introduced in 1969. The reason for the new nickname was the large square hour markers and the thick, snowflake-like hour hand.
In 1989, Tudor introduced the 79000 series, which was the last series of Tudor Submariners to be produced. In 1995, the very last Tudor Submariner was launched. This was called the 79190, and it is the only Tudor Submariner produced with a sapphire crystal. It was produced until 1999 when production was cased.
Source: Bulangandsons.eu