The Tudor Chrono-Time ushered in a new era for Tudor Chronograph watches, with a downsize in case design – which was more akin to the Daytona. This 4th series Tudor Chronograph features a rather distinctive 3 sub dial layout, with registers at 6, 9 and 12 o’clock – recording hours, seconds and minutes respectively. This particular example features a rather striking cobalt blue dial, with a guilloché sunburst effect. The dial features applied luminous Arabic numerals, matching the inlaid luminous filled hands, with a striking bold red sweeping seconds chronograph hand.

The example remains in excellent original condition and appears to have been rarely worn. However, the pièce de résistance of this Tudor Chrono only becomes apparent when the case back is revealed, depicting a Royal Omani Khanjar.

The Khanjar is part of the Omani national emblem, introduced by Sultan Qaboos Bin Said who was one of the most famous collectors and connoisseurs of watches. This example features the Royal Khanjar on the case back which indicates the watch was commissioned on behalf of the Sultan by the government and given as a gift. To add to the overall desirability of this piece, it is accompanied its original box (featuring the Royal Khanjar), paperwork, accessories and its original complementary note from the Secretary General of Royal Court Affairs.

In 1995 Tudor launched the Prince chronograph. Up until this point the cases of the Tudor chronographs had been quite thick and flat sided – a true ‘presence’ on the wrist. Before the fourth series had been the Big Block watches, but the new watches witnessed a complete redesign of the case. Gone were the flat sides and sharp edges and instead a softer case was utilised that was very similar to its stable mate the Rolex Daytona.

This new sleek aesthetic was further enhanced by the introduction of a sapphire crystal, which accentuated the lower profile of the watch on the wrist. The previous plastic bezels were problematic in that they were delicate and could crack quite easily. In the new series of watches the 79260 had an aluminium tachymeter insert in the bezel. There were three watches available, the reference number referring to the bezel type. They were:79260 with a black aluminium fixed tachymeter bezel; 79270 with a black aluminium rotating 12-hour bezel and the 79280 with polished steel fixed tachymeter bezel.