Up for sale is this lovely and uncommon circa early 1950s Tudor ref. 7809 stainless steel "Small Rose" Oyster-Prince featuring a gorgeous original eggshell dial that has acquired a café au lait patina through the years. Knowing what we now know about Hans Wilsdorf's conception of Tudor as Rolex's junior brand, this classic model is from the first few years after the re-launch of the marque and has the bespoke Tudor full rotor caliber 390, the same engine found in the classic Tudor Submariners of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Non-Sub Tudors only used the 390 for a few years before moving on to the more inexpensive ETA calibers.

And making this 7809 even a bit more rare is the larger full 35mm 2-piece Oyster case with stepped bezel. Most Tudors of this and later eras are 34mm and 3-piece. These earliest Tudors are patterned after the "Hillary" Rolex Explorers and were sent on promotional expeditions of their own and while not yet commanding a big premium they are without a doubt nearly as significant in Rolex history. This fine watch is in Excellent+ overall original vintage condition.

The asking price for this very early Tudor Oyster-Prince is $1150 USD OBRO, including fully insured FedEx worldwide shipping. Bank Wire is always appreciated but Paypal is OK on this watch with split fees (+2% to the buyer). Payment must be made in US DOLLARS. Watch will ship upon full clearance of the funds, as well as any necessary bank vetting.

CASE & BACK: Slightly oversize 35mm wide (not including crown) x 40mm long x 12mm tall 2-piece case with stepped smooth bezel shows little if any polish with the lugs quite thick and sharp and the single-side lug holes not distorted. The original satin finish of the top lugs has been smoothed out back to shiny from years of wear and there are some small nicks. Mirrored sides also have some light scratches and nicks. There is also a very small watchmaker’s or retailer’s reference number scratched into the underside of the top left lug. Conservatively and by my strict standards, I rate the case as in Excellent+ and perhaps unpolished vintage condition. The outer caseback has numerous superficial scratches and also shows wear to the 7809 model number stamp--Very Good to Excellent cosmetic condition overall. This caseback predates the later "Oyster Case by Rolex" nomenclature and in fact has the serial number on the inside, something usually only seen on special order models. "7809" is one of the earliest full-rotor Tudor references and a 5-digit 55,xxx serial # probably indicates fist generation cal. 390 prodution circa 1952. Aside from the full serial number, the inner caseback is stamped with all correct early "Tudor" nomenclature of the period. Neither the inner case or inner back show any significant corrosion.

DIAL & HANDS: Beautiful Excellent+ original factory printed luminous eggshell dial with Small Rose logo and a lovely milky-coffee patina with original Radium hands and just a few small marks near the center post visible under a loupe. Luminous-filled pointed bar markers at the quarter hours and dagger-style markers with luminous dots for the rest. Original Radium luminous fill and dots are all present adjacent to the very finely calibrated minute track. Silver dauphine hour and minute hands are still quite bright with only a pinprick's loss of luminous fill to the hour hand, Excellent+, and the classy blued steel sweep seconds hand is also Excellent+. Simply a lovely dial and hands layout on this early Tudor that makes an unmistakable vintage statement on the wrist!

CROWN: Possibly the only replaced part on this watch is the Rolex Twinlock crown with underline--I would expect to see a "+" style crown for this era although I'm not 100% certain. But it screws down tightly, sits flush to the case and pulls out to the winding and non-hack time setting positions as it should.

CRYSTAL: Nice domed acrylic crystal is very clear and non-crazed without chips and only very minor scratches--Near Mint.

MOVEMENT: Tudor copper-plated "Auto-Prince" caliber 390 17-jewel automatic movement, an exclusive alteration of the FEF 350 with full rotor auto-wind mechanism added. This caliber enabled Rolex to properly launch Tudor as the less expensive alternative to the main brand while still maintaining the highest quality demanded by Hans Wilsdorf after less than successful experiments with bumper autos. Note that a patent is mentioned on the weighted rotor. While I don't know the service history of the watch, this great movement, which is highly desirable in its own right, is keeping very good time with a strong power reseve and I guarantee that to be the case at the time of shipment.

BAND: This classic Tudor comes on a slightly used black leather Hadley-Roma 19mm strap with generic steel buckle with just a bit of wear to the underside--Excellent condition.

As I have opened this Tudor to take photos of the movement & inner back and screwed it back down with just my hand wrench, as well as never having it pressure tested myself, I make NO guarantees for the water resistance of this watch.

This great 100% genuine Vintage Tudor Oyster-Prince is offered with a 3-day inspection period from the date of receipt and may be returned for a full refund (less any shipping costs incurred by the buyer). This refund is unconditional and once I get the watch back in exactly the same condition as it was sent to you, your money will be refunded. Of course, once the 3 days are over the sale will be considered FINAL.

Thanks for looking,
T.
tomvox1@hotmail.com