Tudor Ranger Date Ref. 7996/0 - 'Canadian Ranger'

The Tudor brand was born in 1926 out of a problem that Rolex founder Hans Wilsdorf had: It is much easier to produce high-quality Rolex Oyster cases at scale, than it is to produce the handmade, assembled, and tested Rolex movements that the cases bear. His brilliant solution, use ebauche calibres (off the shelf mass produced swiss movements from ETA, Valjoux, etc.) and pair them with the high-quality cases from Rolex. This would allow those cases to be used, and be able to offer a very high quality product at a much lower price-point.

Many Tudor models even resembled and shared the names of their Rolex relatives: i.e. Submariner, Prince, Oyster, etc.

The piece that we have here is a Prince Oysterdate 'Ranger' Ref. 7996/0 dating to circa 1968. It comes to us in strong overall condition, with the 34mm Oyster case having been  lightly polished in the past, while retaining symmetrical lugs at all four corners and showing normal signs of wear. Like its Rolex cousin, the bezel is a smooth steel unit and is in matching condition. The highlight with any Ranger is the dial inside, and in the case of this particular Ranger, the dial is something very special and exceedingly rare. The characteristic Explorer Ref. 1016 quadrant numerals carry are preset like on any Ranger, but rather than the 'stick' indices between them, this piece bears slightly smaller 'Arabic' indices that match the 3, 6, 9, and 12 o'clock marker. Of course, this Range Date model utilizes a date complication in place of the 3 o'clock marker, which also happens to feature a 'roulette' date wheel. The indices exhibit an attractive and even patina throughout, and the correct 'shovel'-style handset matches the dial beautifully.

Only a handful of these pieces have surfaced on the open market, all of which seem to date to circa 1968 and come from Canada. This is a very rare opportunity to grab one.

...and with the most recent modern interpretation of the Ranger being a hit, these vintage examples are being held and surface far less than they previously had on the open market.