Why does the Tudor Tiger buck the trend?
Russell SheldrakeThere are a few certainties in life. Death, taxes, and watch collectors falling down niche holes. At least I think that’s how the saying goes, as I’ve recently found myself down one of those. Aside from having fallen foul of the second inevitability thanks to HMRC, the title of this article has given away the said niche, and it is the curious run of Tudor chronographs. Produced around the turn of the millennium, their special feature was a double-signed dial, but not with the name of some fancy retailer, but rather the best golfer of all time – Tiger Woods.
But why do I think these co-signed dials buck trends? It has nothing to do with their existence; in fact, the way they came about felt entirely natural when you look back at it. Tiger Woods had just donned his first green jacket in 1997 before he signed his first watch sponsorship deal with the shield that protected the crown, Tudor. This signing might seem a little odd to some looking back at it given that Rolex has always worked with winners, and so why would they not want the youngest ever winner of the Masters wearing a Daytona rather than a Prince Oysterdate?
Nevertheless, Tudor took Tiger for their own, and to mark the occasion, they decided to slap his name – in his signature red – on the dial of the recently redesigned chronograph. The two of them would create a series of co-signed dials between 1997 and 2003 when Tiger would jump ship and begin working with TAG Heuer.
But the trend that I believe these watches fly in the face of is that of double-signed dials automatically adding value to a watch. We’ve all seen them – it could be a retailer like Tiffany or Beyer, or another brand like Cartier. Heck, we even have experience of double-signed dials with the release of our collaboration with TAG Heuer in the Aquaracer Solargraph ‘Sundowner’. But what strikes me as odd in this current market is that you can pick up a Tudor Prince Oysterdate 72000 series for less money if it has the word Tiger printed on the dial than the standard version.
While some will automatically say that, without the extra print, the dial is less cluttered, I would ask, then why not extend that argument to a Tiffany-signed ref. 6264? With the possibility of the Big Block design coming back from Tudor later this year, I thought this would be an interesting topic to take a bit of a dive on, as these feel like the more controversial examples from this neo-vintage era of Tudor.
I’m not going to argue that the ‘exotic’ dial versions of these chronographs should be worth more money. I understand people’s aversions to these brightly coloured dials on what is ostensibly a tool watch -even if the Rolex Daytona Beach collection from the same period maintains a certain level of demand. These colourful dials, found in yellow, green, blue or Tiger’s iconic red, lack a sense of refinement that I think we still want, even on the watches with stamped guilloché. The panda and reverse panda configurations will always remain the most popular, and any messing with that formula will affect popularity.
To come back to my main question, the standard models of these Oyster Prince Chronographs still feel like a great value proposition – and I’m not considering the Hydronaut editions here, simply because there aren’t enough going around to make a fair market assessment. Of course, Woods has his controversies, but after his triumphant return to the game a few years ago and the TMRW Golf League going from strength to strength, his dominance as an athlete is unquestionable. As we’ve seen, a watch that has a connection to a sports person is bound to increase its value, and it’s hard to have a better connection than the athlete’s name on the dial.
So why do these watches still appear to be trading for under market value? I wonder if it is partly due to the fact that the partnership between Tiger and Tudor still remains a relative footnote in the annals of Rolex and Tudor history. When the golfing GOAT is listed on the Rolex roster, there is no upside to them making a big deal about how he used to sport the younger sibling on his wrist. But to me, that makes these Oyster Prince chronographs that much cooler. They are not pushed by the brand, they speak to a era in the industry that feels largely forgotten (either on purpose or not), and their design can be seen as having an effect on the watches we wear (or want to wear) today. So maybe it’s about time we started to delve deeper into the Tudor Tiger collection, and give it the respect it deserves.