Notes from Tudor's (Quiet) 100th Birthday Party
The top 50 Swiss brands; the reality of dealer margins; and do we 'need' watches?
Hello from O’Hare Airport, where I’m about to head to Minneapolis for the day to look at some straps. This newsletter’s coming later than expected because I had to take my first “sick days” this weekend.
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Last week was Tudor’s 100th birthday, dating to the trademark registration in February 1926. Tudor didn’t mark the occasion with any releases, typical of Rolex and Tudor, but there were some low-key announcements for those paying attention:
Tudor had a few media folks visit all their manufacturing partners for the first time: Hodinkee, Fratello, Monochrome, Time + Tide, Adrian Barker, and Teddy Baldassarre. Monochrome has already posted a photo report from the visit. It’s the first time Tudor has given access not just to its Le Locle manufacture and affiliate movement maker Kenissi, but almost every component supplier:
EMP—movement blanks, Tudor recently acquired a majority stake
Kenitec—regulating organs, owned by Kenissi
Montremo—dials
Joseph Baume—case blanks
Orolux—cases
Detech—bracelets
I was surprised to see a supplier network that’s largely separate from Rolex. While Rolex is vertically integrated and secretive, Tudor has a network of supplier partners it owns in whole or in part.
Tudor’s Cole Pennington also talked about this on The Grey Nato podcast. They mostly talk about cars and bikes, but there’s some Tudor chatter in the last ~25 minutes:
Cole says Tudor has formed “industrial alliances, or a network of suppliers, that we call horizontally integrated. 100% of parts are made within about 1.5 hours of the [Le Locle] manufacture using a hub-and-spoke system.” Suppliers then send parts to the manufacturer for final assembly.
He says this philosophy is designed to support the entire industry—it’s not usually acquiring suppliers, but will buy a stake in them, ensuring financial security. This also allows other brands to obtain parts.
He even throws some shade at Swatch Group/ETA. Referencing when it choked off supply to ETA movements 5-10 years ago, as what Tudor doesn’t want to do.
This is the philosophy of the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, which owns Tudor and Rolex. “When watches do well, Tudor does well,” he says. Watch companies shouldn’t be competing with each other, but thinking about how to compete with other luxuries for relevance in 2026 (cars, 5-star resorts, etc.). This is, of course, easier to say if you’re Rolex/Tudor and sit at the top of the Swiss industry. But Tudor says that Tudor’s structure is more intentionally set up to support a healthy industry.
Meanwhile, Teddy Baldassarre is officially a Tudor authorized dealer. Looks like you can buy pretty much everything from their online store. Some watches have a “Buy Now” option that sends you through the standard Shopify checkout flow, while others prompt a “Contact to Purchase” form that’ll have a sales associate reach out. The division for which watch is in which category looks similar to what you’d find at your local AD: You can walk out of the store with a Black Bay 58 or Chrono, but you’ll have to Contact to Purchase a newer Ranger or 54 Blue Lagoon. Last time I checked, that’s basically how it worked at my Chicago AD: You have to “request” newer watches, and they say yours will arrive in their next shipment from Tudor HQ.
Teddy recently closed its boutique in Cleveland, but a bigger store is on the way, anchored by Tudor and Omega. As Omega has done previously, I assume having a physical location was a requirement for these online-first retailers to get Tudor.
For more, here are a few of my old Tudor articles. As I’ve said before, Tudor and Lange are my two favorite modern brands, for completely different reasons:
Tudor Black Bay 58: Gilt vs. Burgundy (Unpolished Index, which actually rates watches 1-100)
Tudor Oysterhin: The thinnest watch the Shield ever made
A few Tudors: Oysterthin; Gilt and Burgundy 58; Greenland Expedition Oyster-Prince next to Rangers I and II; the rare manual-wind Tudor Sub 7923—only a handful are known.
The Roundup
The largest Swiss brands, what your watch is actually worth according to dealers, the best watch I saw all week, and AI writing is absolutely everywhere (and people aren’t even trying to hide it).
📊 Top 50 Swiss watch brands in 2025 (Monochrome). It feels like this annual report exists just for us to create content around it. I got my hands on the full PDF, so here are five quick takeaways you might not get elsewhere, beyond just Rolex’s continued domination and Omega slipping to the 5th spot, being jumped by AP and Patek (read Monochrome for that):
