With just one day to go until the 2014 edition of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève, here’s a long overdue look at the most recent addition to Tudor’s ever-popular Heritage line of vintage-inspired watches, the Heritage Ranger, nominated for “Sports” watch of the year.
The Tudor Heritage Ranger takes inspiration from the brand’s historical line of the same name (minus the Heritage, obviously), which was based on the iconic Rolex Explorer. I’ll let the vintage experts like HODINKEE fill you in on all the historical Tudor references the Heritage Ranger draws from, but suffice to say that like the all the other Heritage pieces, it’s a mix of details from several past models with a few modern twists.
The round steel case measures 41mm diameter, slightly larger than the original Tudor Rangers. While I appreciate that making it in a slightly smaller diameter would have been more historically correct, 41mm just feels more current. After all, the Heritage Ranger is not a vintage reproduction but a retro-inspired modern timepiece .
The sapphire glass is slightly raised and domed, without any sort of antireflective coating to keep that warmer retro look.
Size aside, the case features a small detail you don’t see very often in modern watches, and that’s pierced lugs. This is especially useful with the bund strap, since getting to the underside of the case with a spring-bar tool is downright impossible. For a klutz such as myself who can never change a strap without nicking the lugs, this little feature is a godsend.
The black dial is slightly domed with a matte and grained texture, not unlike that of the Black Bay. The layout is as clean as it gets, with the easily recognisable Explorer layout. The hour markers with a cream colored SuperLuminova are for more pronounced in real life. A closer look reveals that they’re actually painted onto the dial rather than printed.
Although tinted luminous paint never grows as brightly as natural greenish-white SuperLuminova, the sheer amount of the stuff makes it glow quite brightly. I will say that the hands glow brighter because of the larger luminescent surface area.
Probably one of the most eye-catching details of the Tudor Heritage Ranger is the leather “bund” strap. It really stands out and lends the watch a more adventurous side. Yet from my experience, it’s not particularly comfortable on the wrist. The problem is that there’s a limit to how much of the strap can actually curve and wrap around the wrist and in my case, it produced large gaps and didn’t sit right at all. Now you have to keep in mind that I usually wear supplied straps on the smallest hole and sometimes even have to order smaller straps, so this is purely subjective. I’m sure on a more manly wrist it fits just fine.
The supplied camouflage nylon strap that comes bundled with all three bracelet options (bund strap, steel bracelet and regular calfskin strap) is another story entirely and by far my favorite look on the Ranger. It has the feel of a Nato strap with the convenience of a regular two-part strap with a tang buckle. The pattern and colours aren’t the cliché woodland camo type and If you look closely, the different colors are actually part of the weave and not just printed.
While I know that many of you would have preferred something closer to 38mm, I have to say the. The bezel is thin, but not that thin. Paired with the domed sapphire crystal and dial, the three-dimensional effect makes the proportions feel just right on my puny wrist.
The Tudor Heritage Ranger comes with a sticker price of 2,700 CHF for the leather strap and 2’800 for a steel bracelet version that I unfortunately didn’t manage to get my hands on.
A special thank you to my friends at Watchonista for loaning me the watch for a couple of days.
More information on www.tudorwatch.com
The Tudor Heritage Ranger is up for the “Sports” watch award at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. You can still cast your vote for the Public Prize” HERE and enter the draw to win Girard Perregaux watch.
