TUDOR SUBMARINER SNOWFLAKE
Let’s dive right into the most obvious – the dial. The transformation of the dial on this Tudor Submariner Snowflake has nothing to do with water damage. Water and/or moist will create a different sort of deterioration to the dials paint. For instance, Tritium compound and water don’t really mix. This combination will make the Tritium turn green. As you can see the Tritium on the dial has an even and beautiful dark yellow patina, same goes for the hands. All Tritium on our 9411 Tudor Submariner is original and also responds the correct way to UV light. Also, with salt water for instance, the entire matte black dial would really be destroyed, I’ve seen enough water damaged watches and none of those dials had this effect that the Tudor Submariner displays.
At the moment there are several Tudor Subs being offered with similar dials and imho the condition of these dials has everything to do with the lesser quality of the paint and varnish of them. Today it’s no secret that Rolex, and thus Tudor, dealt with some paint and lacquer issues for the dials of their Sports model line (making for wonderful Tropical and exciting dials nowadays) and it’s the same with these Tudors. The varnish and black paint weren’t UV resistant (enough) and after years and years of being exposed to UV and warmth (it get’s extremely hot inside a watch case during summers) this happened – the dial turned Zombie! Now, a lot of these dials were changed out during a full service, but to me this effect to the original dial is very cool and gives the watch a really unique look – Each dial ages differently and not one of these Subs with the original dial looks the same. When I saw this type of dial for the first time years ago, it reminded me of the movie Planet Terror by Robert Rodriquez and Quentin Terrentino. In this movie Zombies take over civilization and when they turn from human to the brain eating living dead, the skin of the zombies would start to bubble and turn colour – kind of like this Submariners dial.
The crown and tube on this Tudor are also still the original ones from the 1970’s. The case-back still clearly reads ‘Original Oyster Case by Rolex Geneva’ and the lugs on the case are thick and still show the lines of the facets. With vintage Tudors, their cases and it’s year of production are harder to date than with Rolex watches, simply because there is far less information going around. But thanks to detailed production-lists on www.tudorcollector.com and www.db1983.com We are pretty sure this Tudor Snowflake was manufactured in 1973.
The entire movement of this Tudor Toolwatch has been fuly serviced. During the service we’ve left the Sub’s case bezel and case-back unpolished. This 70’s Diver will be sold with a 12 month warranty.
reference: 9411/0
case number: 79XXXX
year of production: 1973
case diameter: 40mm
movement: automatic, caliber 2784
box and papers: no
SOLD