Tudor Pelagos

A navy watch, then a long silence

Tudor's diving story begins in the 1950s. In 1956 the brand submitted two 37 mm Oyster Prince Submariner references, the 7922 and 7923, both water-resistant to 100 meters, to the French Navy's underwater research group in Toulon. They became the Marine Nationale's first official dive watches. The 7924 'Big Crown' followed in 1958 with an 8 mm crown and 200 meters of water resistance, and the 7928 added crown guards around 1959 and 1960.

The detail that would define the modern Pelagos came later. The French Navy wanted a hand that divers could read in murky water, and Tudor answered with a broad, square-tipped hour hand and square luminous plots. Collectors named the result the 'Snowflake.' One account dates its debut to the reference 7016 in 1969; another gives 1968. The 'Tudor Blue' reference 9401 arrived around 1974 and 1975 and stayed in navy service into the 1980s.

Tudor kept making Submariners until 1999, then spent more than a decade without a serious professional diver in its catalog. When it returned at the Baselworld fair in March 2012, it launched two divers at once: the vintage-styled Black Bay and a modern tool watch it called the Pelagos, from the Greek word for the high seas.

Titanium, top to bottom

The first Pelagos, reference 25500TN, was built as an all-titanium watch: a 42 mm satin-finished case rated to 500 meters, a titanium bracelet, a black ceramic bezel insert and a helium escape valve on the left flank for saturation divers. One collector's guide describes it as the first model in the Rolex and Tudor catalogs to use a titanium case. It ran on a bought-in ETA 2824 movement with about 38 hours of power reserve and was priced at CHF 3,950 at launch.

Its clasp drew as much attention as the case. Tudor's patented system uses springs inside the clasp so the bracelet contracts as a diver's wetsuit compresses with depth and expands again on the way up, with a folding extension for wearing the watch over a suit. The watch also shipped with a rubber strap carrying its own diving extension.

In March 2015 Tudor replaced it with the 25600 series, in black (25600TN) and, for the first time, blue (25600TB). The case stayed at 42 mm, now measured at 14.3 mm thick and 50 mm lug to lug, and the 500-meter rating, ceramic bezel and helium valve carried over. What changed was inside.

Tudor's own engine

The 25600 introduced the MT5612, the first Tudor-made movement to appear in the Pelagos. It is an automatic caliber with time and date, beating at 4 Hz with 26 jewels and a 70-hour power reserve, roughly three days, against the 38 hours of the ETA it replaced. It carries a non-magnetic silicon hairspring, a free-sprung balance with adjustable inertia and an instantaneous date that can be set at any time, and every one is certified as a chronometer by the Swiss testing office COSC.

The dial changed to match. The 2012 watch carried two lines of text above six o'clock; the 2015 version carries five, including the new 'Chronometer Officially Certified' line. The blue version also drops the luminous plot at three o'clock, where the date sits.

Launch prices show the cost of the upgrade. In Switzerland the 2015 model was listed at CHF 4,200 including VAT, against CHF 3,950 for the original. U.S. figures for 2015 differ between sources: one reference history gives $4,125, while a review written that October gives $4,400.

One diver, many branches

The Pelagos has grown into a family. In November 2016 Tudor added the 25610TNL 'LHD,' a mirror-image version with the crown on the left and a date wheel printed in alternating red and black. In 2021 it renewed its relationship with the French Navy through the Pelagos FXD, a 42 mm watch with fixed strap bars and a bidirectional bezel built to the specifications of the navy's combat swimmers, with a navy marking on the case back.

A smaller Pelagos 39 without a date window followed in 2022, and carbon-composite FXD editions and an FXD chronograph appeared in 2023, including versions tied to Tudor's sailing and cycling sponsorships. In 2025 Tudor launched the Pelagos Ultra, rated to 1,000 meters.

Through all of it the 25600 has stayed in the catalog as the core model. A 2025 reference guide listed it at $5,325 retail, well above its 2015 launch price.

How to read one

The 25600TN and 25600TB are easy to separate from the first-generation 25500TN: the newer watch has five lines of text at six o'clock and the 'Chronometer Officially Certified' marking, while the 2012 watch has two lines and an ETA movement. The 25610TNL is the only version with its crown and helium valve swapped to the opposite sides.

All three share the cues that make a Pelagos recognizable across a room: the matte titanium case and bracelet, square hour markers, the angular Snowflake hour hand, and a helium escape valve set into the case side at nine o'clock. The 2021 FXD is a different watch entirely, with fixed bars, no bracelet and a 200-meter rating.

The numbers

Reference

25600TN (black), 25600TB (blue); predecessor 25500TN

Caliber

MT5612, automatic, 4 Hz, 26 jewels, 70-hour power reserve, COSC chronometer

Case size

42 mm diameter, 14.3 mm thick, 50 mm lug to lug

Case material

Titanium, with titanium bracelet

Water resistance

500 meters, helium escape valve

Production years

25500TN 2012 to 2015; 25600 series March 2015 to present

Production numbers

Not published by Tudor

Timeline

1. 1956

   Tudor submits Oyster Prince Submariner refs. 7922 and 7923 to the French Navy's underwater research group in Toulon.

2. 1958

   The ref. 7924 'Big Crown' brings 200 meters of water resistance.

3. 1969

   The ref. 7016 introduces the 'Snowflake' hand made for French Navy divers (one source says 1968).

4. 1975

   The blue ref. 9401 enters service and stays with the navy into the 1980s.

5. 1999

   Tudor ends production of its Submariner.

6. Mar 2012

   The titanium Pelagos ref. 25500TN debuts at Baselworld beside the Black Bay, at CHF 3,950.

7. Mar 2015

   The 25600TN and blue 25600TB arrive with Tudor's in-house MT5612 movement.

8. Nov 2016

   The left-handed Pelagos LHD, ref. 25610TNL, is introduced.

9. Nov 2021

   Tudor renews its French Navy partnership with the Pelagos FXD.

10. Aug 2022

    The 39 mm Pelagos 39 arrives without a date or helium valve.

11. 2025

    The 1,000-meter Pelagos Ultra joins the line; the 25600 lists at $5,325.

The world in 2012

• Feb 6, 2012

  Queen Elizabeth II marks her Diamond Jubilee.

• Jul 4, 2012

  CERN announces the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs boson.

• Jul 27, 2012

  The Summer Olympics open in London.

• Aug 6, 2012

  NASA's Curiosity rover lands on Mars.

• Oct 14, 2012

  Felix Baumgartner jumps from the stratosphere and breaks the sound barrier in free fall.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Tudor Pelagos is number 100 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (82 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• One guide calls the Pelagos the first watch in the Rolex and Tudor catalogs with a titanium case.
• Springs inside the clasp let the bracelet tighten as a wetsuit compresses at depth.
• The 'Snowflake' hour hand was designed so French Navy divers could read the time in low light.
• The 'Pelagos' name comes from the Greek word for the high seas.
• The LHD version mirrors the whole watch, putting the crown on the left and printing the date in alternating red and black.
• The Pelagos line went from 500 meters to 1,000 meters with the 2025 Ultra.