Tudor ref 7809 from 1950s

Tudor ref 7809 from 1950s

A rare steel automatic centre seconds wristwatch. The reference 7809 is a rare Tudor model. Interestingly, examples of this reference were used during the British North Greenland Expedition of 1952-1954. The expeditionary team consisted of 30 members, all of whom were sponsored by Rolex with a Tudor Oyster Prince which Hans Wilsdorf (Rolex’s founder) had especially chosen for the mission. On 24th November, 1953, J. D. Walker, Captain of the Royal Engineers, wrote to Rolex to express his gratitude and admiration for his Tudor Ref. 7809 which he said had been highly reliable and accurate throughout the expedition, despite being exposed to extremes of temperature from +70°F to -50° F, heavy daily use and immersion in water. A copy of Walker’s letter to Rolex and illustrations of one of the Ref. 7809 Tudors used during the expedition can be found in Isnardi, A., Tudor Anthology, 2013, pp.232-235. The Tudor cal 390 was often called the butterfly movement.

After, in 1954, it has been used in the submariner Tudor references 7922 , 7924 , 7928. other references with 390 are: 7808 , 7909 , 7949 and 7950.

Just traded my Marchsall Field diver watch for this beauty...