Tudor
Submariner
79090
The last Tudor Submariner to carry an ETA heart before the in-house era.
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Overview
The Tudor Submariner reference 79090 is a 40 mm stainless steel diver produced between 1989 and 1995, representing one of the final chapters in Tudor's long-running Submariner lineage. Powered by the ETA calibre 2824-2, it offered collectors a robust and well-regarded automatic movement in a purposeful tool-watch package. Available with either a black or blue dial, the 79090 occupies a distinct place in the Tudor canon as a transitional reference bridging the brand's mid-century heritage and its modern identity.
History
Tudor introduced the Submariner line in the 1950s as a more accessible companion to the Rolex Submariner, sharing its broad design language while offering independent references and movement choices. The 79090 emerged in the late 1980s as part of a broader rationalisation of the Submariner range, adopting the reliable ETA 2824-2 automatic — a movement widely respected in the industry for its accuracy and serviceability. Its production run through the first half of the 1990s coincided with a period of renewed collector interest in Tudor as a marque in its own right. Today the 79090 is regarded as a historically coherent reference, appreciated for its clean proportions and the understated quality typical of Tudor's tool-watch philosophy.
Notable points
- The ETA calibre 2824-2 movement is a well-regarded Swiss automatic, prized for ease of servicing and long-term reliability.
- Dial options in black or blue give the reference meaningful variety, with the blue variant particularly sought after among collectors.
- At 40 mm in stainless steel, the case size aligns with the professional diver standard of its era without the bulk of later sport watches.
- The 79090 represents one of the last Tudor Submariner references to use an ETA-sourced movement before the brand's subsequent shift toward different calibre strategies.
- Its production window of 1989 to 1995 places it firmly in the transitional period when Tudor was asserting a stronger independent identity within the Rolex group.
