THE RANGER LINEUP EXPANDS

Robust, reliable and simple. The least amount of complexity, but the most amount of adaptability. The new matt “Dune white” dial joins the lineup as a permanent option, some may say as a subtle homage to TUDOR’s involvement in the world’s toughest race. With a permanent population of zero, the only things you’ll find along the tracks of Dakar are extreme heat, rocks and towering sand dunes. It’s also exactly the kind of place the Ranger was made for.

There are no watchmakers in the toughest corners of the world, so you’d better bring along a watch that works when you need it. Whether you’re launching for the poles or cruising through Rub’ al Khali tomorrow, the Ranger will go any range.

The origins of the TUDOR Ranger family date back to 1929. This was the year when Hans Wilsdorf registered the “Ranger” name, three years after registering his “The TUDOR” trademark. At the time, the name was not used to indicate the model specifically, but instead to add an adventurous aspect to certain watches in the TUDOR collection. The aesthetics that we now recognize as the Ranger didn’t appear until the 1960s, with its large Arabic numerals, generously coated with luminescent material at 3 (for models without the date), 6, 9 and 12 o’clock, as well as its uniquely designed hands.

Offered in a number of variations over the course of its history, examples existed with and without the date, with automatic or manual winding and initially with the TUDOR rose logo followed by the shield on its dial. As early as 1973, a version of the Ranger was made with an integrated bracelet under the name “Ranger II”.

新款Ranger腕錶承襲帝舵表傳統美學標準，尤其是其錶面3、6、9及12點鐘位置的阿拉伯數字延續了系列的經典元素。同時，新錶款亦創新融入先進科技部件，例如高性能帝舵表原廠機芯，以及配備快速調節系統的帝舵表「T-fit」帶扣。腕錶堅固實用且價格相宜，不僅令人回想起英國北格陵蘭考察隊員佩戴的Oyster Prince腕錶，更體現了帝舵探險腕錶的傳統與精神。

To echo this functional heritage, the case and the bracelet of the Ranger are satin-brushed, creating an overall matt finish, in the purest spirit of an expedition watch. Some elements, however, are polished to strengthen the lines of the case, including the edge of the bezel. As for the dial, an attentive eye will notice a detail of historic influence: painted hour markers. Beige or black in colour, they perfectly contrast with the respective grained, matt dial and match the tone of the TUDOR shield logo and inscriptions. The arrow-shaped hands, rounded for the hours hand and angular for the seconds hand, are characteristic of Ranger aesthetics, with a TUDOR signature touch: the tip of the seconds hand in burgundy.

The Ranger models are offered with an entirely satin-brushed stainless steel bracelet, with the TUDOR “T-fit” clasp equipped with a system for rapid length adjustment. Easy to use, requiring no tools and offering five positions, this practical system allows wearers of the Ranger to carry out fine, instant adjustments of the total length of the bracelet along an adjustment window of 8mm.

Also offered as a configuration with all Ranger models is a single-piece earth tone tri-colour fabric strap. Woven in France on 19^th century Jacquard looms by the Julien Faure company in the Saint-Étienne region, its manufacturing quality, robustness and comfort on the wrist are unique.

The British North Greenland Expedition represented a seminal moment for TUDOR and its tool watches. In fact, this was one of the very first long-term tests, under real-world extreme conditions, implemented by the brand. The members of the expedition monitored variations in the precision of their Oyster Prince watches compared to the hourly signals emitted by the BBC, and recorded them in notebooks specifically provided for this purpose. In light of the expected temperatures, the TUDOR watches sent for this project were specially lubricated with “Arctic” oil and provided with bracelet extensions so the watches could be worn over the sleeves of the parkas. Upon returning from Greenland, one of the members of the expedition wrote in a letter to TUDOR, which has been preserved in the brand’s archives, that his watch “maintained remarkable precision” and that “at no time did it need to be rewound by hand”.

This approach to testing, termed “destructive”, where the watch is evaluated in the field by professionals under extreme conditions, echoes the theme of TUDOR’s first large-scale advertising campaign launched in 1952. Such testing steered the development of a number of the brand’s tool watches. This notion of robustness remained at the heart of the TUDOR philosophy as evidenced in particular by its branding over the following decades, always focused on technical performance under difficult conditions rather than on questions of aesthetics or prestige status. At the beginning of the 1970s for example, in a TUDOR catalogue, the Ranger model was presented on the wrist of a lumberjack who “chose his watch as carefully as he chose his chainsaw”. Ranger models have perpetuated this concept of the tool watch, a robust, practical and affordable instrument, born at TUDOR during this time. A concept that today sits perfectly at home aboard a Dakar Rally car cruising madly in the Empty Quarter.