Snowflake dial

Probable

The dial of the 1970s Tudor Submariner, with square luminous markers in place of the round-and-baton set used by Rolex, matched to a hand set whose hour hand terminates in a large angular lozenge. It is Tudor's own design rather than a Rolex part, and it is the reason a vintage Tudor Submariner is identifiable at arm's length. Several generations exist, distinguished by printing, marker size and lume colour, and collector research orders them relative to one another with reasonable agreement.

Part reference

Brand: Tudor
Material: Brass with painted markers
Introduced: 1969
Discontinued: 1984
Identifying marks: Square markers seated flush with even lume fill and no adhesive halo under 10x. Printing crisp with no bleed. The lume on a genuine period dial has aged and its colour should be consistent across markers and hands — uniform bright lume on a fifty-year-old dial is a relume or a reproduction.

Documented variations

Classification

FactoryDocumented as shipped from the factory for this reference and period.PeriodNot original to this watch, but correct for its production period.ServiceFitted by the manufacturer's own service network. Not a defect.AftermarketThird-party part. Affects originality, not authenticity.ModifiedGenuine parts in a configuration the factory did not sell. Affects originality and value, not authenticity.CounterfeitDeceptive reproduction intended to pass as genuine.UnknownEvidence on file does not settle the question.

Period Snowflake dial
FactoryProbable
1969–1984
Original dial, aged consistently with its hands. The generations within this class are ordered by collector research and are not firmly dated; the catalog records the ordering without asserting years.
Service dial
ServiceProbable
Whole production
Tudor supplied replacement dials, and a Submariner serviced in the 1980s or 1990s may carry a later dial than it left with — frequently a non-Snowflake one, since Tudor reverted to conventional markers. A correct service dial is a service history and an originality finding, not a fake.
Reproduction Snowflake dial
CounterfeitProbable
Whole production
Reproduction dials are made in quantity because the price gap between a Snowflake and a non-Snowflake Tudor is large. Tells are printing that sits on rather than in the surface, lume that is uniform and modern in colour, and markers whose square edges are soft. Establish this from the dial itself; the presence of a Snowflake dial in a reference that should have one proves nothing.

Open questions

OpenDial generationHigh

Dating the Snowflake dial generations

Can the printing and marker variations within the Snowflake dial be tied to production periods, rather than only ordered relative to one another?

Best current answer

Collector research agrees on the relative ordering of the generations. The catalog records the ordering and asserts no years.

Scope The dial carries most of the authentication weight on a vintage Tudor Submariner, because the case and bracelet are Rolex parts that interchange freely. Tying dial generations to dates would turn the strongest available observation into a cross-check against the serial.

Documented on these references

Tudor 7016Factory
Whole production
The Snowflake dial is what the reference is known for. A later service dial without square markers is a service history rather than a wrong watch.
Tudor 9411/0Factory
Whole production

Provenance of this record

Sources & Evidence

Secondary sourceCollector research

Tudor collector research on references, dial generations and case supply

Tudor Collectors Forum and allied collector communities

Accessed: 2026-08-18

Cited for

This referenceProbable

Contemporaneous sourceOriginal catalog

TUDOR dealer catalogues and price lists, 1950s-1990s

Montres TUDOR SA

Accessed: 2026-08-18