Brief thoughts on the new Tudor Ranger 39mm for 2022

To mark the 70th anniversary of the British North Greenland Expedition, TUDOR is presenting the Ranger model, a tool watch celebrating the spirit of this daring adventure, complete with Manufacture Calibre MT5402, a 39-millimetre case and a clasp with rapid adjustment system.

Press Release with commentary in Italics.

New: Tudor Ranger 39mm for 2022

The new Tudor Ranger 39mm is priced at SGD 4,210 for the bracelet and SGD 3,780 for the strap versions. Inclusive of GST.

Commentary

The watch is fairly priced at about SGD 4k mark, perhaps right smack at the sweet spot. It is a time-only watch with 100m water resistance and a utilitarian design. Its strongest sell point is the clean military style layout that does nothing else apart from telling the time.

The movement is the “in-house” Cal MT5402 which was initially released for the 39mm Black Bay line in 2018. This is a COSC-certified chronometer and features high-end features like a variable inertia balance wheel with a free-sprung silicon hairspring. It is non-magnetic and boasts a 70 hour power reserve. Though quoted as “in-house” by Tudor, the movement is manufactured by a Tudor Joint Venture – Kenissi, who also supplies movements to Breitling, Chanel, and Norqain. This same caliber also appears in the Norqain as the Cal NN 20/1 used in the Adventure Neverest, though the Norqain movement lacks the silicon escapement and feature a different finish. Also of note is that the Tudor MT5204 movement not only does very well with the COSC certification but in addition, Tudor tests the fully assembled watch (not only the movement) to a much tighter chronometer specifications of -2 and +4 seconds’ variation.

Also going for it is the new case is now 39mm which we think is an ideal size for today’s wearer. As compared to the previous 41mm Ranger (full hands on review here), the new model drops the size and the bund strap for a more popular optional steel bracelet. As a time-only watch, the Ranger 39 also wears thinner than the GMTs or Black Bay Divers.

Overall, the watch is more muted and a touch more tool-like for the military watch enthusiast. And is a good candidate for a do anything, go anywhere everyday watch.

The History

It was on 8th July 1952, that the British North Greenland Expedition left Deptford, an area on the banks of the Thames in London, for a two-year scientific mission studying ice sheets in Greenland. Equipped with the brand-new Oyster Prince model, TUDOR’s first watch that was both automatic and waterproof, the members of the expedition, mainly British scientists and sailors, conducted in-depth glaciological and seismic surveys at several sites. TUDOR also asked them to gather performance data for the 30 Oyster Prince watches that would be worn under extreme conditions. It is the adventurous spirit of these pioneers of arctic exploration that the latest addition to the Ranger line celebrates, offering an affordable combination of state-of-the-art watchmaking technology and historic aesthetics.

KEY POINTS

1. Satin-brushed case in 316L steel, 39 mm in diameter, with a fixed bezel in 316L steel
2. Grained, matt black domed dial featuring hour markers painted with grade A Swiss Super-LumiNova® luminescent material
3. “Ranger” hands with grade A Swiss Super-LumiNova® luminescent material
4. Manufacture Calibre MT5402, certified by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC), with a silicon balance spring and a 70-hour power reserve
5. Three bracelet options: olive-green Jacquard fabric with red and beige stripes, hybrid rubber and leather or 316L steel with TUDOR “T-fit” rapid-adjustment clasp.
6. Five-year transferable guarantee with no registration or periodic maintenance checks required

The origins of the TUDOR Ranger family date back to 1929. This was the year when Hans Wilsdorf registered the “Ranger” name, just three years after registering the “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 recognise 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”.

The case and dial

To echo this functional heritage, the 39-millimetre case and the bracelet of the Ranger are satin-brushed, creating an overall matt finish, in the purest spirit of a “tool watch”. Some elements, however, are polished to strengthen the lines of the case, including the inner edge of the bezel. As for the dial, an attentive eye will notice a detail of historic influence, hour markers painted in luminescent material. Beige in colour, they perfectly contrast with the grained, matt black 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 novel touch, the tip of the seconds hand in burgundy.

The Ranger is also offered with an entirely satin-brushed 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 TUDOR Ranger to carry out a fine, instant adjustment of the total length of the bracelet along an adjustment window of 8 mm.

Finally, a third bracelet option is offered, in natural rubber and fabric-like textured black leather, with beige topstitching and a folding clasp.

MANUFACTURE CALIBRE MT5402

The Ranger model is equipped with Manufacture Calibre MT5402. Its construction has been designed to ensure robustness, longevity, reliability and precision due to its variable-inertia balance, which is held in place by a sturdy traversing bridge with two points of fixation. Thanks to this balance and the non-magnetic silicon balance spring, the Manufacture Calibre MT5402 has been certified as a chronometer by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC), with its performance going beyond the standards set by this independent institute. In fact, where COSC allows an average variation in the daily running of a watch of between -4 and +6 seconds in relation to absolute time in a single movement, TUDOR insists on between -2 and +4 seconds’ variation in its running when it is completely assembled.

Another notable feature is that the power reserve of the Manufacture Calibre MT5402 is “weekend-proof”; that is to say about 70 hours, which enables the wearer to take the watch off on a Friday evening and put it back on again on Monday morning without having to wind it.