Possibly the most mysterious of milsubs, there is little known about the issued watches of Argentina. This particular example is from 1963, sports a gilt, chapter-ring dial, big dot second hand, pointed crown guard case, and a wonderfully-ghosted, long 5 bezel insert. Available now!

Now for a long quote from Revolution Watch explaining the curious nature of these issued Tudors: “There are many known examples and all have a pattern of engravings that begin with the numbers six and one and three subsequent numbers i.e. 61xxx and then the letters Ci. The earliest known examples of these are mid- to late-1960s, pointed-crown-guard (PCG) Submariners ref. 7928. The caseback markings on these are all “612xx Ci” with the engraved fonts all having common traits. Additionally, a good number of known examples of these watches are with a reasonably small serial number range.

A transitional batch of watches followed that were marked “613xx Ci” beginning with ref. 7928 Submariners and then switching to Snowflake Subs. The Tudor Snowflakes continued to be issued and the caseback numbering moved through 614xx Ci to 615xx Ci. But what exactly do the letters Ci mean? The most popular theory is that it stands for Cuerpo de Infantería, which is a division of the Argentinian police force. In fact, the division is known as the Cuerpo Guardia de Infantería. The Argentinian Navy has a Commando de la Infantería, which deals with amphibious combat, much like Chile’s Cuerpo de Infantería, de Marina. I believe it is likely the watches were used by one of the latter two forces as their dive watches. Another recently mooted observation is that the Ci actually stands for código de inventario, meaning inventory code. Research is still ongoing, but they are interesting watches that we are piecing together gradually.”

Tech Specs:

Reference: 7928

Year of manufacture: 1963

Serial Number: 379XXX

Dial: Very good gilt chapter ring dial with light pumpkin-colored luminous plots. The original gilt hands—including the big dot seconds hand—are just a hair lighter than the dial. The dial is evenly going matte and has an exceedingly light hand drag. from 7-9:00. If i didn’t mention it here, it would go unnoticed. The (posssibly original) T19 crystal is crazing on the left side. The dial and hands glow evenly when exposed to UV and drop off rapidly at the same rate.

Bezel insert: Heavily, evenly ghosted long 5 bezel insert with a tritium pip that does not glow.

Case: Excellent pointed crown guard case with fat, original bevels in all four corners. The crown guards remain very sharp. The triplock crown was installed during service. Case back is engraved with Argentina’s military “Ci” markings and serial.

Bracelet: Phoenix NATO-style strap.

Movement: Tudor-branded Fleurier cal. 390.

Accessories: Don’t cry for me, Argentina. The truth is this watch never left you.

Watch is currently running at COSC spec

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