Credits: Article and images by Nick Gould @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/10/27/the-tudor-black-bay-p01-and-the-story-of-the-1967-prototype-that-inspired-it-2/
An unfortunate leak occurred one day before Baselworld 2019 began, which slightly spoiled the surprise Tudor had in store for the wider watch community: the Rolex-owned brand had been teasing the reveal of something new at the fair through its Instagram account, with a quartet of posts providing hints.
When the curtains were finally drawn at the Tudor booth, a watch that been considered a myth by many was revealed to be 100 percent real!
Tudor Black Bay P01
In 1967 Tudor, who had been supplying the U.S. Navy with diver’s watches since the late 1950s, produced a prototype watch for the American branch of armed services featuring a unique system for locking the bezel and a case with its crown at the 4 o’clock position, giving it a very distinctive look.
Ultimately, though, the U.S. Navy decided on another wristwatch, and the prototype pieces went into the Tudor vault. In 1968 a patent was awarded to parent company Rolex for the bezel locking mechanism.
Thirty years on, a “Rolex version” – that is hotly disputed
The story takes a weird turn, as more than 30 years later a Rolex watch surfaced at auction called the U.S. Marine featuring the same locking mechanism for the bezel and a Rolex Caliber 1570 automatic movement.
The story was that it was a prototype made for the U.S. Marines by Rolex. The glaring error making the watch suspect was the words “U.S. Marine” on the dial and not “U.S. Marines,” which is the regulation way of spelling that branch of the United States Armed Forces.
Hotly disputed Rolex U.S. Marine prototype, which surfaced at auction in 2001 (photo courtesy Antiquorum)
Nonetheless, the U.S. Marine with its “backstory” made its way to Antiquorum, where it sold for $82,000 in the December 2001 auction in New York. It sold again in 2004 for $124,000 at the Antiquorum auction in Geneva.
It has been widely acknowledged among vintage Rolex experts that the U.S. Marine watch was a fake.
In addition to the U.S. Marine, various Tudor watches with the same design features have appeared at auction and online, albeit with different dials from the one now shown by Tudor and were deemed counterfeit as well.
With the reveal of the Tudor prototype, and the official information that more than one prototype was made, it does make one wonder if there are a couple of genuine pieces out there after all.
Tudor Black Bay P01
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Credits: Article and images by Nick Gould @ Quill & Pad. See the original article here - https://quillandpad.com/2024/10/27/the-tudor-black-bay-p01-and-the-story-of-the-1967-prototype-that-inspired-it-2/
