Tudor Submariner*** 94010 MN79***1979
TUDOR Vintage SNOWFLAKE SUBMARINER M.N. 79 Ref. 94010, 1979
Serial # 63095 (5 digit serial)
Circa: 1979
DESCRIPTION: Vintage Tudor Submariner Snowflake Ref. 94010 ‘Marine Nationale’ from 1979 in great condition
MOVEMENT: ETA 2776, Self-winding mechanical, 25 jewels.
DIAL: Naturally aged patina blue dial with ‘Shield’ insignia, with luminous square, triangular and rectangular indexes. Oyster Prince, Submariner, 200m / 660ft indicated on the dial. Luminous material appears to have lost its lume over time.
‘Snowflake’ hours hand, diamond seconds hand and baton minutes hand, still luminous, indicating that they are probably service replacements, which is typical for M.N. regularly serviced watches.
CASE: 40mm, natural vintage wear on the three-body polished and brushed stainless steel case. Screwed-down crowna and case back that is engraved M.N. 79 & ORIGINAL OYSTER CASE BY ROLEX GENEVA, blue graduated bidirectional revolving black bezel for the decompression times (luminous dot still luminous), triplock winding-crown protected by the rounded crown guard. Glass in acrylic.
Inner Case back ref. 9411
STRAP: Blue nylon NATO strap
MANUFACTURER: Tudor by Rolex, Geneva
NOTES:
Tudor began being manufactured under Rolex in 1946. The Tudor Submariner saw a long production run from approximately 1960 till approximately mid 1980’s with its later ‘Snowflake’ designs. This design was very distinctive while in the typical Submariner 40mm case as its dial/hand configuration had square (not round), rectangular and a larger 12 o’clock triangle hour indices that were more pronounced than the Rolex dials. Especially standing out and giving the nickname ‘Snowflake’ to these Submariners, was the diamond shape seconds hand (unlike the typical lollipop style on Rolex) and the very unique hour shaped hand with 2 sided angled triangular shapes at the end (looks like a tipped square).
Early on, the French Navy equipped its divers (plongeurs de bord) with Tudor Submariners. The first Tudors were purchased by the M.N. (Marine Nationale) in the late 60's with the Submariner Snowlfake 7016. This model seemed to meet army specifications for Commando Marines. Rolex never had the same commercial success with the Tudor Submariner as it did with its own 5512/5513 models and they were retailed at a fraction of the price. This allowed the French Marine Nationale to negotiate pricing on bulk purchase for its divers.
The divers or servicemen employed by the M.N. were often given the opportunity to buy the decommissioned watches after use during service, typically after about 20 years of use.
These watches were regularly serviced and came with decommission papers unique to every watch. This particular reference 94010, often used by the Marine Nationale, was produced approximately from 1976 until 1983 and somewhere between 1979 and 1980 the cases reverted to 5 digit serial numbers and kept the ‘Snowflake’ design.
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