Hodinkee Video Follows Tudor from Raw Material to Finished Watch
Hodinkee has released a behind-the-scenes video, Making A Tudor, that follows the brand from raw material through to a finished product. According to Hodinkee, the film is less a launch advert than a plant tour: metal, machining, movement assembly and the point at which a watch leaves as a boxed object rather than a purchased ébauche in a third-party case.
The subtext is verticalization. Tudor spent years as Rolex’s more accessible sibling with a purchased-movement reputation. Kenissi, in-house design language and a Le Locle industrial footprint have been the public answer. A raw-material-to-product video is how a manufacture tells that story without a new SKU.
What Verticalization Means in Practice
According to Hodinkee’s video framing, “making a Tudor” now includes stages that used to sit with suppliers: case and bracelet machining, movement production through Kenissi-related capacity, decoration, assembly and quality control. Full verticalization in Swiss watchmaking is almost never literal — springs, jewels, crystals and oils still travel — but the marketing claim is directional. More of the value-add happens inside the group.
| Stage | Why Tudor shows it |
|---|---|
| Raw metal / blanks | Signals the case is not a generic purchase |
| Machining and finishing | Shows industrial scale, not atelier myth |
| Movement production | Kenissi / in-house narrative versus ETA-era Tudor |
| Assembly and QC | Connects factory footage to a boxed watch |
| Finished product | Closes the verticalization story |
Rolex has used factory footage for decades. Tudor using the same grammar is a brand-maturity move. It also sets a contrast with microbrands and Seiko-mod builders, who assemble from a global parts map and do not pretend otherwise.
The Aftermarket Parallel
A manufacture video makes factory control look inevitable. A first Seiko mod makes the opposite visible: the builder is the final assembler. Case from one seller, NH movement from another, crystal and bezel from a third. Quality is a receiving-inspection problem. That is closer to 1970s contract manufacturing than to Le Locle in 2026, and it is why a starter kit still matters more than a brand film. The practical list remains the one in the Seiko mod starter toolkit guide.
Verticalization also shows up in bracelets. Tudor’s current steel sports watches sell as much on taper, clasp and finish as on the calibre. Aftermarket oyster-style and jubilee-style bracelets for NH cases chase that feel at a different tolerance. Fit, end-link gap and clasp micro-adjust are the variables; brand film is not. Those trade-offs are spelled out in the jubilee vs oyster bracelet guide.
None of this makes Tudor a mod platform. Black Bay cases are not SKX donors. The useful takeaway is industrial: when a brand films raw bar stock, it is telling you the case is no longer the cheap part of the watch. When you build from aftermarket cases, the case is still the cheap part — until a bad thread or a proud crystal makes it expensive.
FAQ
What is the Hodinkee video?
According to Hodinkee, Making A Tudor is a behind-the-scenes film from raw material to finished product, used to illustrate manufacture verticalization.
Does Tudor make every component in-house?
No Swiss brand does in the absolute sense. The claim is that more of the case, movement and assembly path now sits inside Tudor’s industrial system than in the purchased-movement era.
Is this a new watch announcement?
The coverage is process, not a reference launch. Product cadence remains separate from the factory story.
According to Hodinkee, the film’s point is simple: Tudor wants to be seen making the watch, not only branding it.