Watchlords

A small sprinkling of liquidity jelly beans has me thinking Tudor. What's a good used model that comes in at $2500 or less. Do these watches get redialed and polished to death? I want to be Smellody's disciple

Probably any fairly casual/dress piece made anytime between 1960 and 2000. 1980s-1990s Tudor clones of the Datejust and Day-Date, all powered by one or another version of the ETA 2824 should be fairly easy to come by. Plus, these rarely get redialed. Redials are more of a plague in watches made from the very beginning of the brand until 1980, give or take a few years. Of course, you can run into examples with service dials, which - same as in Rolexes - tend not to be identical with the original dial, but then again, I suppose that as well is the problem more common in 1960s-1970s watches.

As to polishing to death, I don't think Tudors are very different in that respect from any other brand. Polishing the case is the standard servicing procedure for many brands, and they often do that with quite a disregard for the original looks of the case. The thing is, that the service centres don't think the way collectors do. For them, there is no nicely aged lume- to them, it's dead lume that has to be replaced. There is no patina- there is a tarnished dial that needs to be replaced. There is no "original unpolished condition"- there are scratches that need to be removed. Going by that philosophy, they restore a watch, and probably like to think of it as a watch they made look good again. What collectors - me included - think of a watch after such a "restoration" is something like "holy fucking shite, them fucking butchers made it look like a fucking disaster."

Twenty five hundred puts most of their watches in play, including newer models used. The only ones that are really higher are some of the vintage Submariners or precious metal. Here's one I bought for less than 1200 a couple years ago on Ebay (circa 1999 Hydronaut). It came with a bracelet but I wear it on a strap. This has become one of my favorites and I would considered another Hydronaut in a different dial color if I find a nice deal. Smellody recently sold a Hydronaut to Conjurer.

For $2500 you can get a lot of Tudor watch!

Let's start with:

Sport or less sport?

If sport,

Chronograph or diver or ________?

Vintage or new(er)?

If going for something vintage and sporty, the less polished (closer) to original the better.

Lots of value in early Black Bays (red and blue), Hydronauts, and chronograph (if you can stand the name TIGER).

Answer these questions and I will provide sound advice. . .

Trust me, I'm a scientist. .

Sport
Diver
More vintage than new

smellody wrote:For $2500 you can get a lot of Tudor watch!

Let's start with:

Sport or less sport?

If sport,

Chronograph or diver or ________?

Vintage or new(er)?

If going for something vintage and sporty, the less polished (closer) to original the better.

Lots of value in early Black Bays (red and blue), Hydronauts, and chronograph (if you can stand the name TIGER).

Answer these questions and I will provide sound advice. . .

Trust me, I'm a scientist. .

...and a lumberjack.

Pre-Loved should fit your budget.
Sporty, Retro not Vintage

^^^ that's hot.

I think, if you are lucky... you could find a 7xxxx series sub. Just be patient. 76100, 79090, 75190 etc. Vintage.

I paid sub $2k for my 76100, but it looks like they have gone up.

Also, unless they work for you, be aware of 36mm tudor subs. They are a great deal... just a little smaller. Feel free to send me links to assess pieces.

Doc. Lumberjack

Okay, thanks Smells et al, I'll look around soon.

tiktok wrote:Sport
Diver
More vintage than new

Hydronaut by miles.

smellody wrote:Lots of value in early Black Bays (red and blue), Hydronauts, and chronograph (if you can stand the name TIGER).

Does the Tiger come with Vicodin, Ambien, Dilaudid, Xanax, and a little bit o' reefer?

AJC wrote:

smellody wrote:Lots of value in early Black Bays (red and blue), Hydronauts, and chronograph (if you can stand the name TIGER).

Does the Tiger come with Vicodin, Ambien, Dilaudid, Xanax, and a little bit o' reefer?

And some lily white chick?

codguy wrote:

AJC wrote:

smellody wrote:Lots of value in early Black Bays (red and blue), Hydronauts, and chronograph (if you can stand the name TIGER).

Does the Tiger come with Vicodin, Ambien, Dilaudid, Xanax, and a little bit o' reefer?

And some lily white chick?

Or 7.