Rolex or Tudor? The difference between the sister brands

Rolex and Tudor were both founded by Hans Wilsdorf. Tudor was conceived as a cheaper brand with the same case and bracelet as Rolex but with bought-in movements, and older Tudor watches are therefore marked Rolex on the case and crown. The difference lies in the movement, the price and the details: Tudor has the rose or the shield on the dial and hands of its own such as the snowflake hands, and since the 2010s movements of its own as well.

Facts

Two brands, one founder

Rolex was founded by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis in London and moved to Geneva after the First World War. Wilsdorf bet on the wristwatch when most people still wore pocket watches, and the waterproof Oyster case of 1926 and the automatic rotor of 1931 became the brand’s foundation; see the Oyster Perpetual.

Wilsdorf also wanted to be able to offer retailers a watch with the same durability at a lower price, and he registered the name Tudor in 1926. The idea was simple: Tudor would use Rolex cases and bracelets, which were the expensive and difficult part, but bought-in movements from other Swiss manufacturers. That is why older Tudor watches are marked Rolex on the case and the crown.

Submariner versus Tudor Submariner

The kinship is clearest in the diver’s watches. The Rolex Submariner came in 1953 and the Tudor Submariner in 1954, with the same Oyster case, the same rotating bezel and almost the same dial. The difference lay in the movement and the price. The Tudor Submariner was supplied to the navies of several countries, among them the French, which used the watch for decades.

Towards the end of the 1960s Tudor’s diver’s watch received angular hands known as snowflake hands, and they became the brand’s hallmark. About Rolex’s diver’s watches and how they have changed over the decades there is a guide of its own, the Rolex Submariner.

The movement: bought in or its own

Rolex movements are the brand’s own designs, whereas for most of its history Tudor built on bought-in movements, which were adapted and fitted into Rolex cases. For the buyer that meant the same durability and water resistance but a simpler movement at a lower price.

That has changed. Since the 2010s Tudor has also made movements of its own, and the newer models have cases of their own without Rolex marking. The difference today therefore lies more in design, materials and price. How an automatic movement works is explained in the guide to automatic and quartz watches, and its workings in the diagram further down.

The rose, the shield and the crown

The dial is the quickest way to tell them apart. Rolex has its crown on the dial and on the winding crown, and a magnifying lens over the date window on models with a date. Older Tudor has a rose, sometimes in a shield, and from the end of the 1960s the shield alone became the brand’s symbol, although the rose lived on in some models.

Look also between the lugs and on the case back. Older Tudor watches often have Rolex marking there, since the case came from Rolex, whereas newer Tudor has markings of its own. A watch with Tudor on the dial and Rolex on the case is therefore not necessarily wrong, but often a sign of age.

Black Bay and the new Tudor

For a long time Tudor was seen as Rolex’s cheaper version. That changed when the Black Bay came in 2012. It was based on the diver’s watches of the 1950s and 60s, with snowflake hands and a coloured bezel, but was a model of its own, and it made Tudor a brand of its own in the eyes of the public.

Today the brands have different roles. Rolex is the expensive, classic brand with models that change a little at a time, Tudor the somewhat freer, with historical models and lower prices. Both are owned by the foundation that Hans Wilsdorf established.

What to look for: five differences

Read the name and the symbol on the dial: crown, or rose and shield. Look at the hands: snowflake hands are Tudor’s. Look for the date magnifier, which is a Rolex hallmark. Turn the watch over and look at the marking between the lugs and on the case back. And ask about the movement, which determines much of the price.

More watches from both brands, with photographs and dates, can be found under watches, and how to date a watch by its reference and serial numbers is explained in the guide to dating a wristwatch. Rolex’s place among the classics is shown in the guide to the most iconic watches.

How to recognise it

Exercise

An older diver’s watch has a shield on the dial, angular hands and Rolex marking between the lugs. What is it probably?