Tudor Ranger 7995

[JSebWC]

The infamous Tudor Ranger.. like the 5500 Explorer a minefield of questions and doubt in the gen market. Many shy away from them as so many are franken , but every once in a while you come across one that appears to be legit and unmolested , they generally fetch a premium. Ebay was filled with Red Rangers and many poor redials from asia that were so very wrong but were selling for $1500-$2500 + but the red flags were too hard to ignore.

What better way to know what your getting than to build one yourself! This journey started almost 2 years ago when i set out to build a 34mm ranger.

The best dial option at the time was the Yuki ranger shield dial. So I went with that along with the Raffles case set, hands , eta movement and domed crystal I built this watch as a birthday gift for myself and I took it on a trip out to Arizona where I was celebrating my birthday with some family friends. ( vacationing . I remember we used to do that)

Anyway this was how it started.

JMB was kind enough to engrave me a proper caseback for the build. which was icing on the cake.


I wore it for a while and enjoyed it but then you start noticing things that aren't correct about the dial and the watch starts to lose its appeal so in the watch box it sat. Finding a correct dial was always on my todo list so I reached out to manodeoro to see if he would be up to the challenge of creating a decal dial . After some discussion and sharing images of what I was after, he went to work creating the file.

The 7995 is an earlier small rose version of the ranger and the most coveted . These are complex as they have a gilt minute track and T SWISS T but the rest of the print is in white. It took him a few tries to nail it but he nailed it!! It turned out beautiful The dial made it here in record time from France. .to arrive in my mailbox in about a week. So I went to work.


The embossed appearance of the text and the negative relive gilt in one dial....crisp details and that satin flat black appearance sans film makes this dial look soo legit



I asked him to leave the lume as off white as possible as I was intending to age the dial lume to match my hand set. it took a few attempts but I think I hit it and gave the hands an equally vintage appearance as the dial


After a few tweeks I cased it back up to get my first look.


YES PLEASE!!


So I have to take some better pics to showcase this beauty and the current favorite of my collection. This will most likely end up being my summer 21 watch. 34mm gets a bad rap but it is one of the most comfortable watches . light on the wrist, especially in the summer heat and does not draw a lot of attention to itself.


Pictured here with my Gen 7909 Tudor Those that know , know the significance of this model and its use in the BNGE in the early 50's I found this watch earlier this year and got it for a fair price. It was recently serviced, new crystal and appears to be all original, including crown . You can see the lineage of the 7909 and how it was carried into the Ranger line into the 60's The almond tone of the dial with the radium burns really give this watch alot of visual interest.


Also shown with my 6429 commando another favorite of my collection. Less is more and the commando owns that motto! hand wind 3 hander , simple yet unique enough


My collection is starting to get 34mm heavy which is really odd for a guy with 7.5" wrists but once you get used to them, its all you ever want to wear. The 34mm oysters are underappreciated by alot of people but I think they are a hidden gem

Big Thanks to JMB and Manodeoro for sharing their skills and talents with me so that I can add a few very rare and unique pieces to my collection. I couldn't be happier!

As always, comments and criticism welcome.

Thanks for looking

[bronzefish]

Nice write-up and a beautiful build! 

 

I enjoy reading it.

 

22 hours ago, JSebWC said:

My collection is starting to get 34mm heavy which is really odd for a guy with 7.5" wrists but once you get used to them, its all you ever want to wear. The 34mm oysters are underappreciated by alot of people but I think they are a hidden gem

 

Can't agree more. 

 

I used to wear 44-47mm PAM for years. But now is always the 34-37mm size watch on my 6.75" wrist. Maybe my taste had change,  maybe I'm older, maybe I'm skinner now. Reason? 

Believes is the super comfort/light weight factor... 

 

And the 34mm oyster is been my daily timepiece for the past 8 months....

 

Have a good weekend mate and cheers! 

 

Jack