Tudor Submariner

A man in a blue t-shirt sits in front of a bank of computer monitors. The tint of the screens matches his shirt and casts his lean, tanned face in an eerie glow. Though the hour is early—1:05 AM—he’s wide awake, deep in the belly of a ship.

Far below him, a remotely-controlled submersible roams the ocean floor. The images that the sub’s camera beams back up to him show a seafloor pockmarked with craters and littered with debris. Any thoughts the man might have had of sleep are pushed from his mind when the camera pans over a barnacle-encrusted mass.

He sits up in his chair, eyes fixed on the screen. Gradually, the mass takes shape, identical to a boiler on a ship he had seen in a photo taken in 1911. To the man, the shape on the screen is unmistakable, and as the submersible follows a trail of debris, his heart quickens, until finally it reveals the hull of the ship herself. 

The man was Robert Ballard, and he had just discovered the wreck of the Titanic.

As monumental as that discovery was, it was serendipitous. Though finding the Titanic had been Ballard’s dream for years, the mission had another purpose entirely. Twenty years before, two U.S. Navy nuclear submarines—the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher—sunk in the North Atlantic; concerned that the wrecks were leaking radioactive material, the Navy contracted Ballard to investigate them using his deep sea submersible, Argo.

Ballard saw the mission as an opportunity to fulfill his lifelong dream of locating the wreck of the doomed liner. He asked Ronald Thunman, then the deputy chief of naval operations for submarine warfare, if it would be possible to use Naval funding to find the ship. Thunman acquiesced, but only if the two submarines were located first.

So Ballard set sail for the North Atlantic in search of the missing subs. At first he sailed on the French vessel Le Suroît, which used side scan sonar to locate the wrecks. However, the going was slow, scanning miles of seafloor in a method Ballard likened to “mowing the lawn.” But when he transferred to the Knorr he was able to follow debris trails directly to them, and used that same method to locate the Titanic.

In the 1980s, around the time of Ballard’s discovery, Tudor launched the Reference 79090 Submariner.

Following the Tudor “Snowflake,” the Reference 79090 would be the last generation of Tudor Sub. The Reference is marked by slight differences that distinguish it from its predecessors, like triangular indices, and the hands were changed once more to the “Mercedes” hands that adorned the first generation of Subs.

Featuring all the hallmark elements of the icon that spawned it, this 79090 does its ancestors proud with a crisp case, sharp lugs, and matte black dial with lightly patinated luminescent elements. It’s one honest Sub that you can wear every day, in every environment, as you sail off in search of a discovery of your own.

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Condition

Since our pieces are vintage or pre-owned, please expect wear & patina from usage and age. Please read each item description and examine all product images.

Warranty

We back each Analog:Shift vintage timepiece with a one-year mechanical warranty from the date of purchase.

International Buyers

Please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.

All of our watches include complementary insured shipping within the 50 states.

Most of our products are on hand and will ship directly from our headquarters in New York City. In some cases, watches will be shipped directly from one of our authorized partners.

We generally ship our products via FedEx, fully insured, within 5 business days of purchase. An adult signature is required for receipt of all packages for insurance purposes. Expedited shipping is available at an additional cost. We are also happy to hand deliver your purchase in Manhattan or you may pick it up at our showroom.

Returns must be sent overnight or by priority international delivery, fully insured and paid for by the customer. A restocking fee may apply. Watches must be returned in the same condition as initially shipped.

We welcome international buyers, please contact us prior to purchase for additional details on shipping and payment options.