The smart man Daytona
In 1995 Tudor launched the Prince chronograph. Up until this point the cases of the Tudor chronos had been quite deep and flat sided - a true ‘presence’ on the wrist. Before the fourth series had been the Big Block watches, but the new watches witnessed a complete redesign of the case. Gone were the flat sides and sharp edges and instead a softer case was utilised that was very similar to its stable mate the Rolex Daytona.
This new sleek aesthetic was further enhanced by the introduction of a sapphire crystal, which accentuated the lower profile of the watch on the wrist. The previous plastic bezels were problematic in that they were delicate and could crack quite easily.
In the new series of watches the 79260 had an aluminium tachymeter insert in the bezel. There were three watches available, the reference number referring to the bezel type. They were: 79260 with a black aluminium fixed tachymeter bezel; 79270 with a black aluminium rotating 12-hour bezel and the 79280 with polished steel fixed tachymeter bezel.
As per their predecessors, the Big Blocks, the new 79280 series watches were initially available on steel Oyster bracelets,but Tudor’s interpretation of the Jubilee bracelet eventually became the default bracelet as the Oyster faded out.
It wasn’t just the Oyster bracelet that was phased out – the word Oyster disappeared from the dial and was replaced with “PRINCE”.
During the first couple of transitional years, the use of Rolex branded winding crowns and casebacks were also phased out in favour of Tudor versions.
The Prince Dates were available with dials in a kaleidoscope of colours, many of which came with matching leather straps – I think of them as Tudor Beaches, much like the limited Rolex Daytona beach edition from 2000!
The dial options were supplemented with versions that had painted arabic hour markers instead of the applied baton markers. Tudor’s tie-in with brand ambassador Tiger Woods led to the golfer’s name being used on some dials, which are known by collectors as Tudor Tigers.
Established in 1839, it is named after two of its Polish founders, Antoni Patek and Adrien Philippe. Since 1932, the company has been owned by the Stern family in Switzerland and remains the last family-owned independent watch manufacturer in Geneva.
The company traces its origins to the mid-19th century, when Polish watchmaker Antoni Patek along with his Czech-born Polish partner Franciszek Czapek formed Patek, Czapek & Cie in Geneva on 1 May 1839 and started manufacturing pocket watches.
The La Flamme is a testament to the high level of case making, bracelet making, and gem setting by the house. The beautifully executed case and bracelet were made by Atelier Réunis (the site of the Patek Philippe Museum today). The mother-of-pearl and diamond set dial of this example was made by Stern Creations. Note the detail of the unusual engraved hands. No corner was cut on the production of the La Flamme and the retail price of this example at 27,800 CHF emphasizes the point. Today, these watches sell for a fraction of their retail and represent one the best value buys of so-called ‘modern vintage’ Patek Philippe ladies watches.
