Hands-On: The 36mm Tudor Ranger 79930 Is What Fans Wanted All Along

Throughout Dubai Watch Week, a common question asked between collectors and press was, “What’s your favorite release of Dubai Watch Week?” The Chopard L.U.C. Grand Strike was one of, if not the most complicated. Kari Voutilainen released two new models, and in typically-Kari fashion, they flew slightly under the radar (as he doesn’t often toot his own horn). But there was no doubt in my mind that the biggest release from Dubai Watch Week in 2025 was the new Tudor Ranger ref. 79930. With a new size (36mm) and a new dial (“Dune White”) with storytelling centered around the upcoming Dakar Rally endurance race, the new Tudor Ranger will undoubtedly be the most significant commercial success from the Dubai Watch Week. And deservedly so. In many ways, this is what the Tudor Ranger should have been all along.

This is a bit of a full-circle moment for me. The launch of the original reissue of the Tudor Ranger in 2022 was my first press trip as a freelancer for Hodinkee, and I still remember the stress of trying to photograph and write about the watch quickly after launch. However, I struggle to see the 39mm relaunch as the most massive success. 

Nothing touches the Black Bay 58 (in fact, few watches across all brands still put up a fight). The balance to the dial was just a bit off, the numerals didn’t sit right with me, and it was a bit too big and slightly too thick for my taste. It was a solid field watch, but as the last comment on my intro (as of writing this) said, “I am still waiting for the 36mm version of this watch.” Well, here you go.

This time, I received a text from Tudor a few months before the launch, asking if I could make an appointment to see them in Dubai. “You will want to be here” was the gist of the message, and I had no clue what it would be. Eventually, I got word that whatever was launching at DWW was “good” and would be announced on Thursday. Well, the date was wrong, and we relived the harried rush to get a story out, getting to the Tudor booth at 10:30 am instead, right as the new 36mm Ranger launched. The new release is more closely sized to vintage Rangers, which measured 34mm, and it’s a size that better suits field watches that generally don’t trend as large as their diving counterparts.

I’d argue that the biggest change is far from the obvious one. The size update slides under the radar in pictures, while the new Dune White dial captures all the attention. Rather than keeping the color to only the 36mm version (as some brands would do, trying to force people to buy two watches if you like the color of one and the size of the other), you can also get the creamy Dune White dial in 39mm if you prefer. 

To me, the dial feels far more balanced and legible, with bold black hour markers and the 3, 6, 9, 12 style indication similar to the vintage Tudor Ranger. The ‘circles’ or curls that make up the 6 and 9 do feel a bit wonky to me, scrunched to the bottom of the 6 and top of the 9 in a way that becomes hard to ignore when you see them. However, there’s less dead space on the dial, and the black hands pair better with the indices than the silver hands of the black dial.

Try as I might, the bright venue of Dubai Watch Week wasn’t the best place to get a lume shot, but you can see there’s a slight difference to the execution of the lume on the Dune White Ranger. The hands are filled with luminous material that matches the aged hue of the dial. But instead of making the hour markers and numerals luminous like on the black dials, here, the bolder stick printing on the minute track is replaced with a color-matched luminous dot that glows in the dark. The hands also feature blue-emission lume, while the plots are actually green-emission (at least on the sample that I saw).

One area of improvement, aside from the more traditional 36mm size (which, at least to me, was an improvement), is a slightly slimmer case. The previous Ranger came in at 12mm thick with a stainless-steel case that featured brushing and polished chamfers. Without a dive bezel changing the visual proportion, it could feel a bit slab-sided. The new 36mm version is a bit thinner, coming in at 11mm. You still get the Tudor rose crown as well. Inside is the COSC-certified Manufacture Caliber MT5400 movement. That gives you 70 hours of power reserve, protected with 100m of water resistance, so it stacks up well to field watch use.

You can tell from the photos further down that the sample watches had come off wrists that were much thinner than mine, so I had to squeeze a bit to get them to fit. But otherwise, the bracelet itself is the best that Tudor makes in steel, without the pesky faux-rivets that bother some people so much, and with the inclusion of a T-Fit adjustment for 8mm of extra flexibility in sizing. The watch has a 19mm lug width, which I know frustrates some people who have a collection of 20mm NATO straps.  All I can say is that I’ve never found NATOs so expensive that I can’t buy a few more, but I understand why it’s still a pain. I do think a 20mm lug stance might look a bit odd on this case size.

If you can put aside the bit of squeeze shown on my wrist, you can quickly see that even on a 7.25” wrist, the new 36mm Ranger wears quite well on me. I daily wear everything from 34mm to 40mm. While watch size preferences are incredibly personal, I find this entirely versatile for the average buyer. More often than not, when I trade watches with friends, if it works on me, it works for someone else. I also found this very enticing in white, more so than black. It provides something the brand largely lacked outside the white-dialed Black Bay Pro or GMT. Combined with the simplicity of the dial alongside the specs, I can see a lot of people gravitating toward this option.

If I were forced to pick one critique, I’d have to choose the hue of white itself. I think it’s far past time to ditch the complaints of “fauxtina” and see colors of lume and, in this example, dial, as a design decision like any other color. Would a stark white dial have been as cool? That’s a personal preference as well, and I can’t tell you the answer. For people who have been waiting for a “Polar” Explorer from Rolex, it would have been the perfect fit. It also would have potentially cannibalized any opportunity the larger sister brand would have had to launch such a watch. But this feels more rugged and less refined than an Explorer, in the ways you want a field watch to feel.

As for why it’s the biggest launch from Dubai Watch Week, the explanation is really quite simple. Among all the brands (aside from Rolex) attending the fair, Tudor has by far the largest commercial reach. Maybe bigger in some ways, as it’s a brand that (save for a few select pieces) is far more accessible to walk-in clients and still more affordable. 

The price—$3,700 on the bracelet, $3,350 on the fabric strap—keeps it under $4,000, which is a bit more than the original ref. 79950 launched at (under $3,000 on a strap), but it is still a kind of magic number of accessibility for a lot of buyers. Tudor was never going to compete at Hamilton Khaki Field price points, but they’ve made the most “Tudor” competitor possible.

Unlike the Black Bay 58, which launched with specs that spoke broadly to an enthusiast audience and was then expanded this year into a lineup that included the more commercially sized 43mm Black Bay 68, the Ranger has done the opposite. The Black Bay 68 is clearly a market-capture play aimed at customers who, unlike many enthusiasts, prefer big and bold sizing. You can compare it to the launch of the Cartier Santos de Cartier in titanium that I recently wrote about. Similarly, the 39mm Ranger filled that role in the lineup; it was a competitive field watch, but one more likely to be grabbed by general consumers than enthusiasts. Now, the Tudor Ranger offers a broader range of options (including the “Dune White” dial in 39mm as well), making it all the more enticing to anyone looking for a solidly built field watch from the brand.

For more on the new Tudor Ranger in 36mm cases, visit the brand’s website. For all specs, read our Introducing story.