The History Of Tudor And The Royal Canadian Navy

It’s no secret that in the middle of the 20th century, Tudor had a connection to a number of military organizations around the world. The most recognized and celebrated relationship was with the French Navy, the Marine Nationale (MN), which was recently renewed with the release of the Pelagos FXD - a watch that received direct input from the MN’s combat swimmers, the Commando Hubert. Tudor also received orders from many others, including the US, South African, and Argentinian navies. While collectors have done a great job documenting these relationships and the watches that were issued, there’s one relationship with deep historical significance that has flown under the radar, and that’s with the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN).

Tudor’s relationship with the RCN officially began in the late ‘60s, however, there’s evidence that Tudors were being used by the RCN in the late ‘50s. At first, these watches were reserved solely for higher-ranking officials who were responsible for measuring bottom time. Then in the early to mid-‘70s this all changed and the RCN began supplying Tudors to the diving unit on a ship. So just like a wetsuit, regulator, knife and tank, a diver was given a watch to do their job. 

While the relationship between Tudor and the RCN has long been known, it’s also been shrouded in mystery too, devoid of the first-hand accounts and stories that collectors so desperately crave. With the help of several servicemen and their watches, I’ve been able to document this history and better answer some questions that have confounded collectors for years, in particular about the “Hybrid,” a historically significant and perhaps one of the rarest Tudor Submariners.

The Story of Tudor And The RCN, From The Men Who Were There

A few years back a diver reached out through my website looking to get information on a Tudor that he was issued as an RCN diver in the ‘70s. During our conversation he mentioned, “As a trade diver, some equipment was issued to me personally, like my boots, uniform, dry suit, watch, etc. My unit was given six watches. Four had a blue face and two were black. I had first pick and went with the brand new blue one,” referring to a Tudor “Snowflake,” reference 94010. When he retired from the service he returned all of his equipment, except for the Tudor. He told the RCN that he lost the watch. The RCN tried to charge him so he took the Bulova he was wearing off his wrist and handed it over as payment for the missing watch. When I asked him why he lied, he replied, “I loved that watch. It was tough as hell.” 

One of the interesting points from our conversation was that the watch was his to keep until he left service. The process of personally issuing Tudors to divers didn’t last long, though. I learned that once the ‘80s rolled around the RCN changed their tune and implemented a new system for the distribution of watches. This came from my conversation with Tim Flath, who served 22 years as a Naval Officer (retired as Lieutenant Commander) for the RCN specializing in Navy Diving and Explosive Ordnance Disposal. I first got in touch with Tim after stumbling upon his website - a resource for active and retired divers who wish to stay informed and keep in touch with those who also served. Tim was kind enough to share his experience serving in the RCN along with the watches that he and his unit were issued. “The watches were held on a Distribution Account (DA) at each military unit that held an entitlement based on the number of divers on strength. I had a 12-person dive team so was only entitled to six Tudor watches on my account as the Diving Officer in charge.” He went on to explain, “When you needed the gear, you signed it out, did the dive, then came back in and returned it.” 

This new system of tracking provided better control and oversight of the equipment being used. Given the RCN was a small organization with limited funds, this makes sense. The RCN also kept the budget in line by keeping the same watches on rotation over the years. This program of reissuing watches went on for a couple decades - so Tudors from the ‘60s and ‘70s were being strapped on the wrists of divers well into the ‘80s and ‘90s. At that point the watches were keeping poor time due to a lack of service, essentially rendering them useless. “They were not good watches!” Tim laughed. “Not one of them on my DA kept decent time and we had no budget to maintain them.” This was a common theme among the dozen or so divers I spoke to.

Regardless of how they were keeping time though, these Tudors carried a lot of value and the divers knew that. Because of this, divers frequently lost their watches. While not referring to his particular unit, Tim admitted this was a common occurrence. When this happened, protocol mandated that the diver fill out a lost report which would be followed by an official investigation conducted by the Commanding Officer. If found to be at fault, the diver would be financially responsible. This didn’t happen often though because a watch was pretty easy to lose during a dive. One diver explained, “Diving is hard on gear and impossible to find when the pin breaks and sinks to the bottom of the ocean.” Makes sense, right? Then he went on to say, “So many at the bottom of the ocean, so very, very many.” Sensing sarcasm I wanted to push but as the watch was technically government property I got the impression that’s all I was going to get. My sentiment was confirmed when another diver said, “So you're asking a group of pirates if they kept their Tudor? Yar!!!”

But my favorite response came from a different diver, “They were hard to keep on your wrist. I lost a few fighting sharks, getting hung up on Russian nuclear subs, even rescuing my CO twice in one exercise when the Qu’Appelle went aground.”

After several conversations with different divers it was obvious I wasn’t supposed to know what was true or not, and I was okay with that. For me, these absurd, almost fantastical stories lend the watch a mystique that almost feels as much a part of the watch itself as its unique-shaped hands. Tim, on the other hand, was willing to give me more.

When asked about the watches supplied by the RCN, Tim said, “they were mostly all different. The hour and minute hands were of varying styles, if I recall.” To get a clearer idea of what watches were supplied, I sent Tim a few pictures of the different variations found during this period. Included was a picture of a newer configuration at this time that had mismatched plots and hands. Tim looked at the picture with recollection and confirmed that he actually owned one for a short period of time. In fact, he had two and gifted the other to a fellow diver. The watch was the RCN “Hybrid.”

The RCN “Hybrid”

This particular variation featured the traditional snowflake hands but was paired with round and rectangular hour markers and same-sized hash marks around the dial, akin to a radial dial. Collectors have come to refer to this dial configuration as the “Hybrid” given its mismatched plots and hands. Flip the watch around and you’ll find that Tudor also introduced a different case design for submariners that featured a deeper, more-pronounced groove around the mid-case than previously found on other sports models. As with other variations of the 94010, the “Hybrid” features the same caliber 2776, equipped with a hacking mechanism. The production window of the “Hybrid” is very small. Most examples fall within a serial range of 88xxxx to 89xxxx, with many having consecutive serial numbers.

The importance of the “Hybrid’s” unique design can’t be doubted. You just need to look at Tudor’s Black Bay lineup to see its influence. This has led collectors to use another nickname, “The Black Bay Ancestor.”

Ross Povey came across an advertisement that featured the “Hybrid,” leading to rumors that Tudor also offered this configuration in the catalog. Tudor’s website states that “…watches delivered to these military organizations were neither custom-designed nor specially developed. They were just references listed in the catalog, which these organizations chose.” So was this configuration also available to those not in the RCN? According to Tudor, yes, which is why you shouldn’t assume that all “Hybrids” have ties to the RCN. The serial, amongst other things, can be used as clues, but an RCN “Hybrid” should only carry the ‘RCN’ designation if it has RCN provenance. As you can imagine, this is difficult to prove since this configuration featured a sterile caseback and there’s no ledger or database to confirm its military ties, as with the MN. Maybe one day a ledger will surface. That would be the ideal scenario for the collecting community. But sourcing a “Hybrid” directly from the original owner who served in the RCN is the only way to ensure its legitimacy. 

During my research, one thing that stuck out was that the RCN was the only military organization that received this new configuration of Tudor Submariners. Every other, including the MN, were supplied the same type of submariners. No one seems to know why that is but the fact that the RCN received a batch of watches from Tudor - with a new dial - makes this, in my opinion, one of the most important submariners that came out of Tudor. It also happens to be one of the rarest. Prem Chainani, a Swiss-trained watchmaker based in Canada, who has probably handled more RCN Tudors than anybody else, believes that the total number of “Hybrids” issued to the RCN is approximately 200. What remains today is a different story though. It’s estimated that only a couple dozen examples of the “Hybrid” exist today, with just a handful having military provenance. Unfortunately, most “Hybrids,” including other Tudor submariners, were thrown in an incinerator. More to come on that though. 

The RCN Connection In The ‘80s and ‘90s

The RCN continued issuing the ref. 94010 until the end of the production run in ‘84. There were a few batches towards the end of this reference: 100xxx, 101xxx and 107xxx. These late batches featured the last dial configuration of the 94010 with Mercedes hands and round and triangle hour markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock. While most examples of this batch featured a sterile caseback, some were actually engraved by the RCN, not the diver, which was common at that time. 

The last Tudors supplied to the RCN was the ref. 76100 and 79090. After this batch, the RCN began issuing other brands, like Seiko and Marathon, ending almost five decades of partnership.

The End of an Era

The phasing out of Tudor in favor of Seiko and Marathon, was most likely due to costs, though the transition also came at a time when the RCN was evaluating their use of radiation hazard (RADHAZ) equipment and diving instrumentation. Rumor has it that some of the watchmakers that worked for the RCN died of radium poisoning which led to a recall of Tudor Submariners given its radium/tritium content. It’s believed that thousands of submariners were recalled and thrown in the incinerator, making any RCN Tudor Submariner remarkably rare. 

I’m glad that going down the RCN/Tudor rabbit hole led me to Tim and the other divers. Hearing about their time in the RCN; what daily life was like, and how these timepieces were used is what it’s all about for us collectors. For those that still have them, it’s obvious these watches are more than just old tools from a previous job, they’re symbols that represent a time in which they proudly served their country.

Happy hunting.