Tudor has supported the missions of U.S. Navy divers for decades. Paying homage to the brand's timepieces, the new Pelagos FXD is being released. As the ultimate modern-day "MiliSub," this highly practical model features a fixed strap bar, a titanium case, a high-performance manufacture caliber, and a unidirectional rotating bezel capable of measuring elapsed time.
Automatic movement (Cal. MT5602). 25 jewels. 28,800 vph. Power reserve approximately 70 hours. Ti case (diameter 42.0 mm, thickness 12.75 mm). Water resistant to 20 bar. Price: 540,100 yen (tax included).
Tudor's diver's watch, valued by the US Navy
In the mid-50s, Tudor diver's watches were inspected by the U.S. Navy and evaluated by several military teams. Officially adopted in 1958, they were purchased to be issued to divers serving in various military units. The newly announced Pelagos FXD embodies the spirit of the timepieces carried on missions during this era. The name FXD, derived from its extremely sturdy construction with a fixed strap bar attached to the case, is another detail characteristic of a mission watch. While its style evokes the classic "MilSub" (short for Military Submariner), this model is also a modern diver's watch incorporating cutting-edge technology.
The appearance is reminiscent of the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner (Ref. 7016) from the late 60s. The strap bar integrated into the case is a US military specification element, but it also incorporates details seen in Tudor products from other eras, such as the pointed crown guards seen on early Tudor Submariners.
Tudor watches have been a staple in all underwater roles, including underwater sabotage units, Seabees (the U.S. Navy's construction and engineering corps, tasked with building and defending bases and roads in war zones. Their logo features a bee, a play on words, referring to their hardworking nature), and instructors at the Naval Submarine School. At the school, they taught trainees the fundamentals of scuba diving, and they partnered with underwater submarine mechanics at submarine bases both within and outside the U.S. military. Furthermore, Tudor watches have played a part in the development of groundbreaking underwater technologies beneath the surface of the oceans around the world.
Tudor has supported the US Navy as a supplier of mission watches for decades. The first edition of the Underwater Demolition Team Handbook, published in 1965, includes the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner (Ref. 7928) in a section on diving watches. This manual was an essential reference for new operatives learning underwater demolition procedures.
In 1973, the U.S. Navy's Diving Manual listed the Tudor Oyster Prince Submariner (References 7016 and 7021) as the Navy's official diving watch. The following year, in 1974, the National Stock Number System was introduced to manage and track the U.S. Department of Defense's supply system. Starting in 1978, under the code 6645-01-068-1088, supply officers could purchase and issue Tudor Oyster Prince Submariners (References 9411 or later 76100) to eligible sailors or operatives in need of a reliable, Navy-approved diving watch. This code remained in the supplies catalog until 2004.
While military-issued watches are typically stamped with unique reference numbers, this was not the case with Tudor watches issued to the U.S. Navy. There was no uniform military marking system; these watches were either unmarked or stamped solely for unit inventory purposes. Complicating the situation are the many different coding variants; although it is officially recorded that numerous Tudor watches, across multiple model numbers, were delivered to the U.S. Navy over several decades, many of these watches remain unmarked. This makes the provenance of Tudor military-issued watches difficult to determine, a challenge that continues to plague watch scholars today.
The watch is entirely black, and features the square-tipped "snowflake" hands introduced in 1969 and square hour markers to maximize luminous intensity in the dark. Other features include a sandblasted ceramic insert and unidirectional rotating bezel with luminous paint, and the entire case is satin-brushed, with a matte finish that limits light reflections.
Robust, durable, reliable, and precise, this movement features a variable-inertia balance maintained by a traversing bridge fixed at two points. It also features an anti-magnetic silicon balance spring, and the MT5602 is Swiss Official Chronometer Certified. While this certification requires a movement to deviate between -4 and +6 seconds per day, Tudor has gone even further, achieving a precision of -2 to +4 seconds per day when assembled into a wristwatch.
