Last week, I had a curious experience in our AAAreplica office. One of our colleagues, who is a die-hard lover of Rolex watches, received a Tudor Ranger replica watch as a gift. Our officemate cannot afford original watches, and for this reason, he always chooses the best imitations for himself. His wife decided to give him a gift that would be “something similar” to Rolex because he had previously owned almost all possible Rolex replica models. She decided to surprise him with a Tudor, knowing that this brand is closely related to Rolex, being sure that he would appreciate the gift.
The officemate showed up with his new Tudor Ranger replica watch at the office. The whole team noticed the change on his wrist and we could not refrain from asking him what this change was connected with. More than that, curiosity was eating us from the inside to find out what he feels about his new replica watch. I think we spent about 2 hours discussing HOW he feels about this Tudor Ranger after years of wearing Rolex Explorer replica watches. Have I piqued your curiosity? Let’s see together his conclusions about the Tudor Ranger replica watch.
Short overview of Tudor
I will not talk much about this brand; you probably know a lot yourself. But what I want to note is that it has evolved fabulously in recent years. More specifically, the Black Bay collection has managed to capture the attention of the public, even among replica watch lovers. The collection comes with an extraordinarily wide range of designs with or without complications and for different purposes.
What is the secret of the Black Bay collection appeal? Without much hesitation, I state with certainty that the answer to this question revolves around the number 39. Tudor adapted all the latest Black Bay models to a 39 mm case, which instantly made the collection very practical and highly wearable. In addition, the brand has gradually removed from the Black Bay collection all the functions that seemed to be superfluous. As a result, the Black Bay collection has become a perfectly balanced collection from a functional and proportional point of view. The beautiful part of things is that Tudor is slowly gaining momentum on its own. If in the previous models, a strong attachment to “Big Brother” was felt, now, Tudor is increasingly shaping its own personality.
What are the differences between the Rolex Explorer and the Tudor Ranger?
Our colleague, who I said was passionate about Explorer models, had been wearing a 214270 replica model until he switched to Tudor (due to his wife). His wife gave him a Tudor Heritage Ranger, with the reference number 79910. Initially, he could not quite get used to his new watch. But later, he began to discover its advantages.
Sizes
The first thing he found uncomfortable was the 39mm size of the Tudor imitation. It seemed like “too small” for him, even if the difference between the Tudor and the Explorer was only 2mm. But after only a couple of days, he understood that the 39mm model is in no way inferior to the 41mm Explorer. The Tudor imitation turned out to be very easy to read thanks to the highly legible. More than that, our officemate concluded that the Ranger dial is even more expressive than the Rolex one.
The hour markers have a more pronounced shape and contrast against the 214270 background, compared to the Rolex markers, whose contrast with the dial is less pronounced. Still, the face of the watch looks more elegant on the Explorer replica model. The hour markers of the latter have a longer shape and a thin steel frame. In addition, the indicators at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock are made of stainless steel. In contrast, the thin frame around the hour markers is missing in the Tudor imitation, which makes them visually more obvious and readable.
Further on…
The dimensions of the hour and minute hands also differ in these two models. Looking at the Tudor imitation, they are substantially thicker and more pronounced. In the Explorer model, these markers have a much more elegant structure, with long and fine shapes. Our friend concluded that he adapted very quickly to the Tudor 39mm model. This is due to the increased readability which is a result of the more pronounced indicators on the 39mm face.
However, the Tudor imitation could not give him the elegance he was used to with his Rolex. In this context, the Explorer turns out to be a more distinguished model than the Tudor. Tudor, for its part, takes precedence in terms of readability.
Dial differences
Let’s start with the fact that the texture of the dials of the 2 imitations is a priori different. My colleague’s Explorer imitation has a glossy black dial with white gold applied indexes.
His Tudor model came with a matte dial and painted indexes. Probably, this difference also contributes to the different grades of readability. The Rolex glossy texture of both the dial and the indexes makes the model seem a bit too “shiny”, impacting readability.
Still…
Looking at it from another perspective, our officemate felt it necessary to remark that he liked the matte dial of the Tudor imitation. The previous Rolex models he had were all with glossy dials and he didn’t know that the matte texture could look so fabulous. CONSEQUENTLY, our colleague became somehow attracted and impressed by this type of texture.
The bad part of the story is that the painted markers on the dial did not “pass the test” in front of my colleague. He said that he can’t adapt to this type of hour markers and that he still prefers the applied version, as it was on his Explorer. In his view, painted hour markers seem to look “childish”. Those from the Explorer, which look much prettier in their applied version, were more to his liking. The conclusion he made is that he will never again opt for a watch with such a flat dial.
Beauty in the dark
My friend has a particular passion for watches that glow brightly in the dark. His Explorer replica watch featured a strong blue light, once it was getting dark. The brightness was uniform on all the main indicators. In the dark, the watch became even more elegant than it is in daylight.
Without discussing too much, we turned off the light in the whole office and drew the blinds to see how the Tudor imitation would light up on his wrist. When it got dark, the imitation started to turn green, in a pleasant and comfortable shade. What lights up the most in this imitation are the 3, 6, 9, and 12 indicators, as well as the central hands. The other hour markers feature a slightly weaker shade of green. It is the first time we have seen different degrees of luminosity on a replica watch.
A little later, we contacted the manufacturers of this imitation to ask what is the secret of the different degrees of brightness. They told us that the secret is simple: they only applied one layer of lume coating on the secondary markers, and 2 layers on the main markers.
On the whole…
The idea is that the imitation looks very attractive with such a method of applying the lume coating. My concern, however, is that a single layer of lume is not quite enough for a long-lasting effect. So, I do not rule out that the layer on the secondary indicators will become thinner along the way, and the brightness will decrease. But, we will see.
Our friend’s conclusion is that The Ranger looks fabulously expressive in the dark, thanks to the different intensities of the Suyperluminova coating. But, the question is how long the effect will last, considering the special technique with which this coating was applied.
Regarding his Explorer, our friend had no comment. The Explorer looked wonderful in the dark and it seemed that no other watch would be able to replace it, even if its new Tudor looked like a pretty decent imitation.
Sapphire Crystal
Both watches featured a sapphire crystal. The major difference between them was that the sapphire crystal of the Explorer model was flat, like the original model.
In contrast, the Ranger imitation had a domed sapphire crystal. Visually, there didn’t seem to be any obvious difference. Looking from above, both dials looked equally transparent, clean, and without reflection. Personally, it seemed to me that the domed version of the Tudor seemed to have a slightly higher degree of aesthetics, but the difference was practically invisible.
When we started to analyze the watches from different angles, we noticed that the Tudor sapphire crystal slightly distorted the view, producing a slight magnifying effect. I don’t know if this is good or bad. But that’s it.
Another distinctive element in these 2 models was the fact that underwater, the domed sapphire crystal significantly lost legibility. With the Explorer, readability remained perfect thanks to its flat crystal.
Water resistance profile
A curious fact about these 2 replica watch models is that in their original version, the Ranger has a stronger water-resistance profile. It withstands up to a depth of 150 meters, while the Explorer is up to 100 meters.
Talking about the replica versions, the situation is exactly the opposite. The Rolex Explorer imitation is resistant up to 50 meters, while the Ranger is only up to 20 meters.
This fact did not bother my colleague, because he never wears watches on his wrist when interacting with water. But for a swimmer, or for someone who goes to the beach with a watch on his wrist, this aspect could be a big disadvantage for the Tudor imitation.
Note!
If you intend to buy a Tudor Ranger replica watch, you should know that the water resistance profile can be different. My friend’s Tudor was an AAA-degree imitation. These, as a general rule, are water resistant only for light interactions with water. If you still need a more reliable profile, you can opt for a Swiss imitation, which is usually resistant up to 50 meters.
Either way, it is advisable to specify this aspect with your dealer before purchasing a waterproof replica watch. It is possible that you will have to pay an extra fee for this additional technical detail.
Wearability
During a week that our colleague wore the Ranger imitation on his wrist, he managed to notice its versatility. He didn’t have much trouble matching this watch with his clothes. He wore it both with a suit during his official meetings and during the weekend when he was walking with his dog in Central Park.
At the same time, he admitted that before, it was a bit difficult for him to match his Explorer with his outfits. He always had to add “refined” details to his outfit so that his entire look would harmonize with the watch. This suggests that the Explorer has, however, a more elegant and classic charisma compared to the Ranger model. Even if the Explorer is not exactly a classic watch, it still looks more delicate due to the suppleness of the indicators on the face. Consequently, it requires a “more careful” matching with the outfit.
Final conclusions
Our colleague remained faithful to Rolex imitations. He continues to wear Tudor from time to time as a sign of respect for his wife, who gave it to him as a gift.
When asked “Why will you continue to buy Rolex and not Tudor imitations”? he listed the following shortcomings:
-the printed hour markers are not to his taste;
– the domed sapphire crystal reminds him of his grandfather’s lenses.
Let’s agree that these “shortcomings” are not exactly objective, but more of a personal opinion. While wearing the Tudor replica watch, our colleague did not report any functional deviation of it. The Tudor imitation worked and continues to work perfectly, within acceptable precision errors. This speaks of the fact that the imitation is, first of all, reliable, from a technical point of view. The rest of the differences are just a matter of personal taste, aren’t they?