Tudor had a solid showing at Watches & Wonders 2024 with a slate of new releases including Clair de Rose watches with blue dials, a monochromatic Black Bay 41, an 18k yellow gold Black Bay 58, and a Black Bay 58 GMT. Thanks to its black and red bezel, the latter of those new Tudor watches quickly picked up the “Coke” nickname, which is, as you probably already know, borrowed from its big brother, Rolex. When it comes to watch nicknames, none are as ubiquitous as Rolex nicknames; there are so many of them and they’re used regularly. While Tudor doesn’t have nearly as many, there are still a few worth pointing out. Here’s our guide to the most important Tudor watch nicknames to know.
Tudor Snowflake
The nickname “Snowflake” doesn’t refer to a specific Tudor watch but rather the style of blocky handsets prevalent across many models. Tudor snowflake hands include a very distinct hour hand with a diamond detail towards the end, accompanied by a square tip. The seconds hand also includes a square detail.
The earliest Snowflake Tudor watches were the Submariner ref. 7016 and 7021 watches, which appeared in the brand’s catalog in 1969. The reasoning behind the shape of these hands was to provide more surface area for lume, thus improving legibility in low light.
The snowflake nickname — originally coined by collectors but now used officially by Tudor — is derived from the fact that the hour hand resembles a spoke of snowflake.
Tudor Smiley
The Tudor “Smiley” or “Smiley Face” refers to the curved shape of the “SELF-WINDING” inscription found on Tudor watches that run on ETA-based movements rather than in-house movements.
For instance, early Black Bay dive watches included the smiley inscription while current models do not since they are powered by Tudor movements.
There are still a few models with the smiley text in Tudor’s current catalog including the 1926 watches,
Tudor Home Plate
In 1970, Tudor released its first chronograph collection; it was called the Oysterdate and the watches ran on manual-winding Valjoux movements. These early Tudor chronographs included multi-colored dials with gray backgrounds, black subdials, white minute tracks, and orange accents.
Most notably, the dials were home to five-sided-shaped hour markers resembling a baseball home plate, thus earning the nickname “home plate.”
In 2010, Tudor revived the Home Plate in the form of the Heritage Chrono 70330N; unfortunately, that reference has also been discontinued.
Tudor Monte Carlo
In 1971, Tudor launched its second-generation chronograph, which collectors eventually nicknamed the “Monte Carlo” (home to the world’s most famous casino) because the dials resemble a roulette wheel.
In 2013, Tudor brought the Monte Carlo chronograph back to life with the introduction of the Heritage Chrono 70330B, complete with a blue bezel and blue, white, and orange roulette-style dial. Tudor ceased production of the Heritage Chrono line in 2023.
Tudor Big Block
In 1976, Tudor introduced its third generation of chronographs, which were, for the first time in the brand’s history, equipped with automatic movements rather than manual-winding ones. These were officially known as Oysterdate Chronographs but were nicknamed “Big Block” due to their thicker cases to accommodate the movement’s rotors.
Tudor continued to make Big Block chronographs until the early-1990s. In 2023, the brand revived the “Big Block” chronograph in a special one-of-one 18k solid gold version, made for the Only Watch charity event.
Tudor Tiger
In 1995, Tudor unveiled its fourth chronograph series, improving upon the preceding references with updates such as sapphire crystals, aluminum bezels, improved movements, and refined case silhouettes. In 1997, Tudor signed a deal with Tiger Woods and the world-famous golfer became the face of the Oysterdate chronograph.
As such, Tudor began making special Oysterdate chronographs in honor of the golfer and even added the Tiger’s name to the dial. Some Tudor Tiger models have bright dials (such as yellow, red, blue, and green) while others are more subdued including some panda dial and reverse panda variants.
Tudor BB
In Tudor-speak, BB refers to Black Bay — the company’s flagship collection. Given that there are almost endless Black Bay variants, the BB shorthand can be paired with other letters and/or numbers to refer to a specific model. For example BB GMT, BB 58, BB 54, BB S&G (steel and gold), and so on.
Tudor Pelly
The Tudor Pelly refers to the Pelgaos, the line of the brand’s titanium dive watches that debuted in 2012 and later expanded with a new smaller 39mm size option in 2022.
Tudor Pink Panda
Earlier this year, Tudor unleashed a very pink Black Bay Chrono in honor of its partnership with the Inter Miami soccer club. Pink and black are the official colors of Inter Miami, which explains the wild colorway of this new Tudor chronograph. And given the black subdials on the rosey background, no other nickname than “Pink Panda” will do.
Tudor Nicknames Borrowed From Rolex
No matter how successful and popular Tudor is in the watch market, it will always be compared to Rolex. For better or worse, the ties between these two sibling companies are simply too strong to untangle. This goes for nicknames too; some famous Rolex nicknames, such as Pepsi, Root Beer, and Coke are applied to Tudor watches with similar colorways.
For instance, the Black Bay GMT 79830RB with a red (burgundy is what the brand calls it) and blue bezel is often called the Tudor “Pepsi.” There’s also the Tudor “Pepsi Albino” with the same red/blue bezel but paired with an opaline dial. Similarly, the Black Bay GMT S&G 79833MN is affectionately known as the Tudor “Root Beer” thanks not only to its black and brown bezel but also its two-tone metal combination.
Finally, we come full circle with the brand new Black Bay 58 GMT 7939G1A0NRU we mentioned at the beginning of this article, which as we said, is quickly being referred to as the Tudor “Coke.”
That wraps up our tour through some Tudor watch nicknames. As you can see, it’s not a very long list (especially when compared to Rolex, Omega, and Seiko nicknames) but there are a few notable ones. If we’ve missed any important Tudor nicknames, drop us a comment below and we’ll be sure to include it.