A stainless steel backed, gold plated Tudor Sussex model.  This very handsome, early and very rare Tudor, This watch comes from the pioneering and exciting days of both Tudor, and its parent brand; Rolex. This Tudor features the iconic font style, along with the early, very small Tudor Rose logo. The overall appearance of the dial of this watch is exceptional.  It has everything one looks for from a vintage watch from the late 1940's/early 1950's; patina, original hands and unmolested overall with a handsome subsidiary dial seconds.

Rolex produced these uncommon watches for the Commonwealth market along with the models Essex, Chester, Devon, London, and Bristol.. This was a very exploratory time for both Tudor and its parent brand. New models were being developed over the yearts, and the most successful ones would stuck. These very niche watches did not stay the coures, making them very rare today, and hard to come by.

The design of this watch is also rather important given what we know developed at Rolex in the 1940's and early 1950's.  This is a very interewsting take on a classic Oyster case. There is the screw back case, not gold plated from the factory, as it was not to be seen and helped keep costs down, the screw down crown, and the very recognisable appearnce of this iconic case that would be seen across OP, Explorer and seom Date and Datejust models. 

The watch is powered by the seventeen jewel caliber 59   automatic movement with beautiful butterfly rotor.  This caliber was actually   made by  Rolex and based on the caliber 1530 movement. These movements were considered the best ever vintage calibers used in Tudor watches. This  caliber was only produced for a short period of time, before the switch to ETA based ebauches occurred, which became the nrom going forward.  The movement in its own right  is rather valuable, as it is exactly the same as used in the Tudor Submariner gilt dial references from this period.

This watch is a wonderful part of the Tudor, and to some degree Rolex evolutionary tale.  The gold plated case and steel back is a common production feature from this time, as there was a need to produce watches that gave the appearance of gold, without being solid gold, and also not needing to gold plate elements that were not to be seen once on the wrist.  This was still very early days after the ravages of World War Two. The serial on the watch is present on the exterior case back of the watch, and were not engraved in between the lugs, as later became the case.  

Overall, a stunning looking vintage watch.  The case has been polished, and indeed re-plated at some point, but this is to be expected in order to match the beauty of the dial.  The gold plating would likely have worn off in parts. However, it has been done well, and brings the watch to life. The dial is all original, as are the hands. The "Swiss Made" is present below the chapter ring at the six o'clock position. The distortion seem to the chapter ring on the image is simply from the plexi curved edge crystal.

The look of this piece on the wrist is superb, and represents an excellent watch for anyone looking for a real 'vintage' watch. The watch does not come with the original box or paperwork, it has undergone a full service and comes with a year mechanical warranty.