Tudor Ranger Date Ref. 9050/0

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, an Prince Oysterdate 'Ranger' Ref. 9050/0, dates to circa 1977 and comes to us in excellent overall condition. The 34mm Oyster case is very likely unpolished, retaining symmetrical lugs at all four corners and shows normal signs of wear with no apparent damage. Like its Rolex cousin, the bezel is a smooth steel unit and is in matching condition. The real highlight with any Ranger, however, is the dial inside. Offered in both time-only variants or with a date, the remaining quadrant numerals are virtually identical to the beloved numerals found on Rolex's Explorer Ref. 1016. This example features a date at 3 o'clock and possesses the characteristic 6, 9, and 12 numerals at the remaining positions, as well as 'stick' indices — all of which exhibit an attractive and uniform patina. Additionally, the correct 'shovel'-style handset matches the dial beautifully.

This is a strong example of a vintage field watch that has seen steady grown in popularity, with no signs of stopping...

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