Tudor Sub Marine Nationale - help appreciated

I've been offered this watch locally by a collector who is an acquaintance of mine. He has many nice watches and has a good eye, but is not always knowledgeable about the watches he purchases (he's an impulsive buyer). There is no paperwork for this Tudor MN watch (i.e. no decommissioning papers). The owner says that he purchased it at least 8-10 years ago.

I have been reading about these pieces on various forums and blog-posts, and it seems they are tricky to authenticate in the absence of paperwork. This purports to be a 1982 issued model. The watch appears to be in good condition, with modest wear, and creamy lume. The lume on hands and dial matches, and macro photos show minor damage to the lume on the hour hand and second hand and some puffiness on the dial. The dial looks ok to me, but I'm not a Tudor expert by any means. The chamfers on the lugs have been largely lost, and the brushed finish on top of the lugs has been significantly polished.

This blog is helpful: https://tudorcollector.com/military/marine-nationale/. Here are some snippets that are relevant.

- "1980 till 1983 (approx.) the M.N issued Reference 94010 with Triangle markers and regular mercedes hands."

- "Note that the MN 81 has a 5 digit serial number. In approx. 1980 the serials reached 999.999 (This run from mid 1950’s till 1980 – 1 million watches produced) and as a consequence Tudor started again from zero. Precisely what number they started at is unknown, but 60.000 serials has been seen – I am certain lower ones also exist."

- "An M.N. produced in the 1960’s and onwards havecaseback engravings. All watches were delivered on NATO straps. Therefore they have no bracelet marks/wear between the lugs. However sometime bracelets were retrofitted after end of service."

According to these points, the watch seems like it may be legit at first glance, since it has the mercedes hand, triangle markers, 63047 serial number, and case-back engraving. There are faint bracelet marks between the lugs, but the usual big line through "STAINLESS STEEL" is absent. I found some other images of the case-back engraving from 1982, and they match this watch, as best I can tell (e.g. http://sweepinghand.co.uk/vintage-w...rench-navy-issued-tudor-snowflake-submariner/).

I would greatly appreciate opinions with respect to condition, originality and authenticity. One concern I have is that the case-back has some minor dings/pits on it, while the rest of the case seems cleaner, but I may be over-thinking this.

The blog post quoted above also notes the following:

"Tudor M.N. were delivered in serial number ranges known to serious collectors (not posted online due to fakes). A watch matching the configurations above, and in the correct range – will also be considered an genuine M.N. issued piece."

I have googled in vain to find the serial number ranges that "serious collectors" know. Can anyone help with this? Any other suggestions or thoughts? Here are some photos I took. I have some more photos like these, but nothing from the inside at this point. If things appear to be adding up, I can probably arrange some photos of the inside. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a UV light with me, so I don't have photos of the lume glowing.

Thanks for this suggestion. I also received the same comment by personal message so I took the liberty of doing that.

@Nathan1967, here is the link:
http://www.mwrforum.net/forums/showthread.php?84231-Tudor-Sub-Marine-Nationale-opinions-appreciated

Zaf Basha (also a longtime member of MWR) is a top expert on those. He accepts queries on his website, classicwatchdc.com.

I would really urge utmost caution with those, there are now many faked ones in circulation and the lack of decom papers creates a serious risk.
You are right to be seeking expert advice.

Have you reached out the Morgan and Ross at the Tudor Collector? [email protected]
They may be the only ones who know the secret serial number range.

Thanks, Matt, that was one of the first things I did, but thanks for prodding me to go deeper on this issue. Here are two more. Both sold with decom papers. They all look a bit different, but all in all, I think the Davidoff one is the outlier - the "M" is completely different, in particular the point of the "V" shape in the middle only comes half-way down. In all other example, the point of the "V" comes at least 3/4 of the way to the bottom of the letter. The "2" on the Davidoff example is also different. I'm not saying the Davidoff example is faked, it's more likely that there was just some variation.

Another from the Tudorcollector site. Low resolution, but the shape of the M is the key feature. The Davidoff example is completely different from every other one I can find from this era.

View attachment 629419

Last one.

Many thanks for that suggestion @Syrte. Luckily, I think he may have responded to my post on MWR (assuming his MWR name is @classicwatch) and suggested that the serial on the watch in the OP is in the correct range. He mentioned that he will be publishing the serial number ranges in his upcoming book. It's not the same as authentication, but at least the possibility that it is authentic hasn't yet been ruled out.

Great suggestion, I will give that a try and report back.

Probably is some variation even amongst correct examples. Just another reason why these are dangerous turf even for the advanced enthusiast.

Those scratches seems to be underneath the engraving, I'd avoid that if I were you.

Good point!! Agreed!