Rolex’s Best Abandoned Tradition Lives On Through This ‘T-Rex’ Tudor Diver

Like the Comex Sub and Domino’s Air-Kings before it, this rare Pelagos is one of the best examples of Tudor continuing a fun but abandoned Rolex tradition.

Close-up of a Tudor wristwatch with a black dial, white markers, and a stainless steel bracelet on a textured gray surface.

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By Ben Bowers

Published February 19, 2026

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Updated February 19, 2026

A unique, delightful, and slightly nerdy iteration of one of Tudor’s best modern watches – the Tudor Pelagos 39 Titanium– has quietly surfaced on the grey market.

For the majority of the watch world, the listing is a rare second-hand sighting of a watch that was never meant to leave its original owner’s wrist, and the kind of piece that will stop a certain breed of collector dead in their tracks.

For long-time watch nerds and avid collectors, it also stands as a fun reminder of some of Tudor’s parent company, Rolex’s, most coveted and distinctive vintage pieces made in a different era.

From Chrome to titanium

Black Tudor wristwatch with white markers and a pixelated dinosaur icon on a metal bracelet worn on a wrist. — The listing on the respected vintage watch dealer Wind Vintage offers Google outsiders a rare second-hand sighting of a watch that was never meant to leave its original owner’s wrist.

The piece appears on Wind Vintage, the respected Palm Beach–based vintage watch shop run by the expert Eric Wind, whom we’ve had the privilege of interviewing several times.

The watch was a custom order produced for Watches@, an internal, employee-run enthusiast group made up of thousands of Googlers. Though not formally affiliated with the company, the group has become a sizable hub for collectors and watch fans inside Google, and this project is one of its standout collaborations.

Silver Tudor Pelagos dive watch with black dial and bezel, shown with water splashing in the background. — Even without a custom dial treatment, the Pelgaos 39 is a heck of a modern tool watch in its own right, thanks to its proven diving roots, more manageable 39mm case, and its deceptively light titanium construction.

According to a past Reddit post from a Google Chrome PR manager who was part of the order and creation process, the group worked with Bay Area retailer Shreve and Co. for more than a year to secure Tudor’s approval and finalize the design. The result was a run of 617 pieces, pre-ordered in July 2024 and delivered that December.

The end result is a slight modification of Tudor’s current Pelagos 39, which is no slouch in its stock form. In fact, in 2023, it was honored as the best sports watch of the year by the prestigious GPHG.

Feature-wise, it’s a 39mm titanium diver rated to 200m equipped with a matte black dial, full lume indices, a 70-hour power reserve, and a unidirectional rotating bezel.

What sets this version apart from the standard issue variety is immediately visible on the dial, in the form of a small, pixelated dinosaur at 6 o’clock.

What sets this version apart from the standard issue variety is immediately visible on the dial, in the form of a small, pixelated dinosaur at 6 o’clock.

For those not immersed in internet culture, the creature is what’s generally known as the Chrome Dinosaur, a.k.a. the official digital mascot and lead character in Google Chrome’s beloved Easter Egg and offline game, which was built into the Chrome browser as a hidden game in 2014 by a small team, in a playful nod to the “prehistoric ages” of offline computing.

Set of pixelated black dinosaur and cactus figures with a white box in the background displaying a "There is no Internet connection" error message. — The Chrome Dino has been immortalized via countless quirky products and chotckess in the past, like this set from maker Dead Zebra, Inc., but this custom Tudor Pelagos might be the coolest (and most expensive homage) we’ve seen to the pixelated king of lizards.

Some estimates have now pegged gameplay logs at over 270 million plays per month worldwide.

As it turns out, the beast is known internally as “Stan” – likely in a nod to the infamous T. Rex fossil – and officially as the “Lonely T-Rex.” It also has a physical counterpart in the form of a statue at Google’s Headquarters, a gift from founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

Close-up of a black watch face featuring a pixelated white dinosaur icon above the "Swiss Made" text. — The standout design detail here is the Chrome Dino on the dial, presumably submerged with air bubbles coming from its mouth in a fun nod to the watch’s dive-focused design

According to reporting from The Bay Area Telegraph, there’s an origin myth that the statue nods back to the original computing business that once previously sat on the site of Google’s main campus, which played a role in creating the computer graphics in the pioneering film Jurassic Park. Other explanations suggest it’s meant simply to remind employees never to let the company become another tech dinosaur.

The watch, in short, manages to be both understated and unmistakably Google.

In the case of this unique Pelagos 39, the dino appears with a fun twist – it’s submerged, with air bubbles rising from its mouth, in a nod to the piece’s dive-focused design. According to the information shared on Reddit, the Dino is also apparently loomed to glow in the dark.

Back of a stainless steel Tudor wristwatch with engraved pixelated design and "watches" text. — The custom details also extend to the watch’s caseback – showing Stan again as well as a “xx/10^100” numbering system that nods to a googol, the number that inspired Google’s name.

The caseback likewise features a more elaborate engraving of Stan in diving mode surrounded by pixelated fish, kelp, and bubbles. Each piece is also numbered “xx/10^100” — a nod to a googol, the number that inspired Google’s name.

The watch, in short, manages to be both understated and unmistakably Google. It carries just enough Silicon Valley lore to make it genuinely compelling — even for someone who’s never touched a keyboard.

An Rolex novelty lives on through Tudor

Custom-dial watches like this one carry echoes of a long and storied Rolex tradition — one that the company has largely abandoned.

For decades, Rolex produced watches with third-party logos on their dials, including corporate emblems, military insignia, and national crests.

The most famous examples include Air-King models made for Domino’s Pizza managers, Sea-Dwellers and Submariners bearing the Comex diving company logo, and a range of Datejust and Day-Date models commissioned by governments and heads of state.

Several of these so-called “signature dial” Rolexes are some of the most interesting sought-after collector pieces today, precisely because Rolex stopped making them.

As noted by Sfwatchlover, this tradition now lives on through Tudor, which has become the go-to brand for corporate and enthusiast group collaborations — a list that includes custom pieces made for Facebook, Instagram, Apple, Amazon, and Delta Air Lines employees. The Google Pelagos 39 joins that lineage as one of the most creatively conceived of the bunch.

Pricing and availability

Close-up of a stainless steel wristwatch with a black bezel and metal link bracelet on a wrist. — If I’m being honest, the listing calling the piece the “Tudor Pelagos 39 Dino” feels like a real missed branding opportunity. The Tudor T-Rex has a much catchier ring to it.

The Tudor Pelagos 39 Google Dino is currently listed by Wind Vintage at $14,900, which is a hefty surcharge over the standard watch’s MSRP of $5,475.

That said, the piece comes complete with all original straps and is described as brand-new. Given that the run was limited to 617 pieces and was never intended for public sale, paying a premium might be worth it for dedicated dive watch collectors as well as investment speculators.

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About the Author: Ben Bowers is the Co-Founder and Chief Content Officer of Gear Patrol. Throughout his tenure in media, Ben has written and reported on everything from consumer tech to whiskey, watches, cars, camping, and personal style. These days, he gets to write less than he’d like to.

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