My brand new Tudor Ranger stopped working on the 3rd day

Hey everyone!

I'd really appreciate some advice of the following problem I have. I just got a Ranger earlier this week (Tuesday) after months of researching various watches. After a couple of happy days with it, today while having dinner I've noticed that it had stopped working. I've been wearing the watch pretty much non-stop since I bought it, so I was extremely puzzled how something like this can happen, especially with a brand new luxury automatic piece.

Manual winding did get the watch moving again, but now I'm pretty worried that something's defective in the movement (or the rotor is not working properly) and I'm wondering how to deal with this. In particular I'm not sure how you can prove that something's not working properly. I'd definitely be unhappy if I go to the AD with the stopped watch, they wind it fully and tell me to come back in 3 days if the problem recurs.

I'm pretty upset right now, because what was supposed to be a happy occasion will likely turn out to be a serious of frustrating interactions and perhaps a long wait for a warranty repair. (I doubt they'll just give me my money back, even if there's a real problem with the movement) I'm also starting to wonder if luxury watches are really worth their premium if something can break so quickly.

Perhaps I was just extra unlucky, perhaps it's some one time thing, but perhaps it's some deeper issue. Go figure. The paranoid in me even started to wonder if got some refurbished watch that was problematic or whatever. (although I really hope a brand like Tudor would not resort to such tactics)

So, has anyone heard of similar problems with Tudor's manufacture movements? What might be the problem in your opinion? What would you do next if you were me?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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Tudor does warranty repairs reasonably quickly -- my BB GMT started losing time at an unacceptable rate (-12 sec/day) so I took it back to the AD. They sent it off for repair at the beginning of November. It was back from warranty work within 5 weeks (mid-December). I was told that Tudor prioritizes warranty repairs.

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Is there any possibility that you didn't fully wind it initially, and then simply didn't move enough to allow the rotor to keep it wound? I would suggest fully winding it, and then leaving it sit to see how long it lasts with no rotor movement. Then once you have that baseline, do the same thing with it on your wrist, so that you get an idea of whether or not it is getting wound while on your wrist. When doing so, make sure that you fully wind it each time.

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JBird7986

Tudor does warranty repairs reasonably quickly -- my BB GMT started losing time at an unacceptable rate (-12 sec/day) so I took it back to the AD. They sent it off for repair at the beginning of November. It was back from warranty work within 5 weeks (mid-December). I was told that Tudor prioritizes warranty repairs.

That's good to know, but part of my problem is that I bought the watch while traveling abroad and I won't be back home for another month. But I guess it shouldn't be an issue to send it back to another country once it's repaired.

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Unfortunately, things can go wrong with any watch. It does sound like it could be a problem with the rotor or automatic winding mechanism. I would start by taking it to the AD to have it checked out. No need to go down the conspiracy rabbit hole. An official Tudor AD isn't going to try to pass off some refurbished watch as new. It's never fun to have to deal with warranty issues on a brand new, expensive item, but it happens.

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I would wind it to the max according to the manual, then time the power reserve. That would rule out a mainspring problem. Also when you rewear it with minimal winding, you would then know it was a rotor issue. Also was your watch around a tablet, laptop or even one off those new folding phones? These magnets can temporarily/permanently affect the watch unfortunately. However all covered under warranty.

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tempus

Is there any possibility that you didn't fully wind it initially, and then simply didn't move enough to allow the rotor to keep it wound? I would suggest fully winding it, and then leaving it sit to see how long it lasts with no rotor movement. Then once you have that baseline, do the same thing with it on your wrist, so that you get an idea of whether or not it is getting wound while on your wrist. When doing so, make sure that you fully wind it each time.

I'm not sure how much movement is needed to keep it fully wound, but I've been walking a lot in the past 3 days (e.g. 10 km of walking) - I assumed this should be enough. Such amount of movement was definitely enough for my PRX and it has a similar power reserve to the Ranger.

When I bought the Ranger I didn't really wind it in the AD, but I assume they wound it while they were setting the time and adjusting the bracelet. But maybe they didn't.

Btw, why is it important to fully wind it initially? I've heard a few people mention this (and in the AD they told me to do this each time the watch stops), but it's not obvious to me why is this needed if the rotor would wind it anyways.

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moemoe

I would wind it to the max according to the manual, then time the power reserve. That would rule out a mainspring problem. Also when you rewear it with minimal winding, you would then know it was a rotor issue. Also was your watch around a tablet, laptop or even one off those new folding phones? These magnets can temporarily/permanently affect the watch unfortunately. However all covered under warranty.

Thanks for the advice!

Also when you rewear it with minimal winding, you would then know it was a rotor issue.

So, you're suggesting I wind it just a little bit after it runs fully out of juice to try to confirm/reject a rotor issue? Any idea how much activity is needed normally for it to last a day?

Also when you rewear it with minimal winding, you would then know it was a rotor issue.

I often work on a laptop, but I was under the impression Tudor's calibers are supposedly anti-magnetic (with a silicon balance spring).

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Small update - I wound if fully just now to do the power reserve experiment. I'm pretty sure it was completely out of juice when it stopped as I could easily do 50+ crown turns before I started to feel the resistance indicating it's fully wound. I'm still puzzled how 3 days of active use were not enough to wind it, though. Before I noticed it had stopped I was walking outside for 1.5h. I've check the data on my phone and I've walked 16k steps today alone. (that's why my initial assumption was some problem with the self-winding)

Let's see if I'll manage to get to the bottom of this mystery.

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The MT5402 has a 70 hour power reserve simlar to MT5612 on my north flag. It takes 12 hours of wearing to wind it up, based on the silly power reserve dial indicator on that watch. I would say what happened on your watch is odd. The silcon balance only there to avoid magnetization from throwing off the timing even when other parts of your watch develop a magnetization. The rest of the watch is iron alloy based so a neo-magnet found on most laptop latch systems which can affect it in someway if you lay your watch on that spot. I know on my ms surface it is on the base of the keyboard portion. The gauss effect there is approximately 400. I don't know the effectiveness of sheilding on the Ranger but that is still more magnet juice than I would want around watch or any other mechanical or electronic thing for a long period of time. But your wrist should be a good enough shield. I wouldnt develop a worry over the magnets as much as trying to figure out the watch.

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neomatik

I'm not sure how much movement is needed to keep it fully wound, but I've been walking a lot in the past 3 days (e.g. 10 km of walking) - I assumed this should be enough. Such amount of movement was definitely enough for my PRX and it has a similar power reserve to the Ranger.

When I bought the Ranger I didn't really wind it in the AD, but I assume they wound it while they were setting the time and adjusting the bracelet. But maybe they didn't.

Btw, why is it important to fully wind it initially? I've heard a few people mention this (and in the AD they told me to do this each time the watch stops), but it's not obvious to me why is this needed if the rotor would wind it anyways.

I would assume that walking several KMs per day should keep a watch wound, unless you walk without swinging your arms, like Sam, the girl in the "Summer of George" Seinfeld episode.

I always wind my automatics fully before wearing them to be sure that the PR is at the max. That way, even if I'm not overly active, I should move enough to prevent the watch from winding down. It also ensures that I'm starting out with the sufficient mainspring tension to ensure proper timekeeping. There can be differences in the way that the rotors are implemented in different watches (eg uni-directional vs bidirectional winding) that will impact the effectiveness of the automatic winding from watch model to watch model.

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Thanks to everyone for your advice so far! In the end I've decided to just wind the watch fully, wear in normally for the next few days and observe what will happen. I've waited too long for this beautiful piece to just keep it lying on my desk for 3 days to time its power reserve. If it stops again during the weekend I'll be pretty certain that something is broken and I'll take it to the AD to have it checked up.

In the mean time I'll try to take a page from the Stoicism handbook and not worry and frustrate myself over this problem. Yesterday evening I was feeling pretty down, but today I've mostly come to terms with things.

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A small rule of thumb is if it is 70 hours of power reserve, you do 70 winds. It's not the exact number but it is somewhere closer to fully wound from dead.

You cannot overwind an automatic so don't worry about that. Also, different movements have different resistance for the rotors, so the balance wheel may not move as freely to wind with your motion. The Powermatic movements balance wheel moves quite freely so the slightest motion will work. Wind it fully, note the time and see after 70 hours if your watch is still running. Like @tempus said, it is always a good habit to wind your watch a little before you set it down for the night or before you wear it or set it away for a few days. You cannot be always sure you were active enough to turn the rotor to wind up the power reserve.

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Small update - 68 hours after fully winding the watch and wearing it non-stop for the past 3 days it stopped working again. At this point I'm 100% sure it's defective. I'll take it to the AD tomorrow to see if they'll be willing to replace it or I'll have to wait for it to be fixed.

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Went to the AD today and I was kind of pissed there. They put the watch on a timegrapher (after winding it) and told me that it works fine. I politely asked how the hell would a timegrapher indicate a problem with the self-winding and they offered to have their watchmaker take a look. But their watchmaker was on vacation this week, so they had to send my watch to a watchmaker in another branch they had in a nearby city. Depending on what the watchmaker says we'll be discussing next steps, but they told it was very unlikely I'd receive a replacement even if the watch was defective. Most likely it'd be sent to Tudor for a factory repair.

I left the watch with them, but I definitely wasn't reassured that this story will have a happy outcome. What a start of my first luxury watch experience...

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neomatik

Went to the AD today and I was kind of pissed there. They put the watch on a timegrapher (after winding it) and told me that it works fine. I politely asked how the hell would a timegrapher indicate a problem with the self-winding and they offered to have their watchmaker take a look. But their watchmaker was on vacation this week, so they had to send my watch to a watchmaker in another branch they had in a nearby city. Depending on what the watchmaker says we'll be discussing next steps, but they told it was very unlikely I'd receive a replacement even if the watch was defective. Most likely it'd be sent to Tudor for a factory repair.

I left the watch with them, but I definitely wasn't reassured that this story will have a happy outcome. What a start of my first luxury watch experience...

That really sucks. I've never had an issue with an automatic winding down like that. Given that you've mentioned you walk several KM per day, I would definitely suspect a problem with the automatic winding.

Keep us posted.

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neomatik

Yesterday I got my watch back from the AD. They told me that their watchmaker inspected it and couldn't find any problems with it. So, it's back to square one for me at this point - no hints what-so-ever as to what was causing the watch to stop and likely no solution to the problem either. Perhaps they actually did something they didn't say and it will miraculously start operating normally now, but I'm somewhat skeptical. Fingers crossed, though.

Most likely I'll just wait to go back home and try with the local Tudor AD. Worst case scenario I'll have a manually-wound watch disguised as an automatic.

There are only 2 possible ways that an automatic is going to lose its power reserve. Either the watch is not seeing sufficient motion to allow the automatic winding mechanism to properly wind the watch, or the automatic winding mechanism is defective. If your Ranger dies after 68 hours on the wrist, there is no way that the automatic winding is working properly unless you remained stationary the entire time. I live a fairly sedentary lifestyle, so the main movement that my watches experience is from walking, and I walk about 3-4 miles per day. In the 4+ years of wearing mechanical watches, I have NEVER experienced an automatic winding down completely even with that small amount of motion. These days I rarely wear the same watch for more than 2 days in a row, but I do occasionally, and did regularly when I first started collecting. This includes watches with a stated PR of between 38 hours and 70 hours, similar to what the Ranger claims. Based on that, and your comments about how much you walk, I would suspect that there is indeed an issue with the watch itself.

If you have another automatic that you could try for a few days to prove that you are moving enough to maintain the PR, it might help convince the AD to look further. If you can't do that, I would suggest being insistent with the AD or repair center.

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tempus

There are only 2 possible ways that an automatic is going to lose its power reserve. Either the watch is not seeing sufficient motion to allow the automatic winding mechanism to properly wind the watch, or the automatic winding mechanism is defective. If your Ranger dies after 68 hours on the wrist, there is no way that the automatic winding is working properly unless you remained stationary the entire time. I live a fairly sedentary lifestyle, so the main movement that my watches experience is from walking, and I walk about 3-4 miles per day. In the 4+ years of wearing mechanical watches, I have NEVER experienced an automatic winding down completely even with that small amount of motion. These days I rarely wear the same watch for more than 2 days in a row, but I do occasionally, and did regularly when I first started collecting. This includes watches with a stated PR of between 38 hours and 70 hours, similar to what the Ranger claims. Based on that, and your comments about how much you walk, I would suspect that there is indeed an issue with the watch itself.

If you have another automatic that you could try for a few days to prove that you are moving enough to maintain the PR, it might help convince the AD to look further. If you can't do that, I would suggest being insistent with the AD or repair center.

I also have an Tissot PRX Powermatic and it has never stopped on me, that's why I'm fairly certain I move enough to keep it fully charged. My wife also has an automatic watch that never stops and her activity is pretty similar to mine. (and I think she wears her watch less than me)

Either the watch is not seeing sufficient motion to allow the automatic winding mechanism to properly wind the watch, or the automatic winding mechanism is defective.

Exactly my thinking as well. I tried to explain this to the AD as well - e.g. such a problem can't be detected with a timegrapher. That's why I insisted for a watchmaker to check the watch as well - and I was fairly certain the watchmaker was going to find some issue. Now I'm super puzzled. There's the small chance that the watch was heavily magnetized which has affected the rotor's movement somehow, but I'm very skeptical of this. They put the watch in a demagnitizer in the AD and I won't wear it around my laptop for a couple of days to observe what will happen, but I seriously doubt that the magnetic field of a modern laptop can seriously affect a modern watch movement. Time will tell.

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Aww. Sorry to hear about that. There’s definitely something wrong with the movement and I don’t know how common it is with Tudor but enough that there are numerous stories of problems with their Kenessi movements. A quick online search in some watch forums and you can read stories about this same thing happening to many. Even if it’s a quick repair or minor inconvenience as someone commented earlier you just spend a few grand on something that lasted 3 days.

I write this from experience with my Tudor GMT. The common thing with the GMT was the wheel date getting stuck. That wasn’t my problem. It was the same as I’ve read that has happened to a lot BB 58, similar to your problem, movement completely crapping out. Couldn’t power it up either by winding it or shaking the hell out of it. The first time it stopped (1year old), I shook it and it started then stopped 30 minutes later, then I wound it about 40 turns and boy did it sound crunchy, that’s when I knew something was up. That lasted for about 2 hours on the wrist.

Yeah it was fixed on warranty but seriously, that doesn’t sound bode well for long term reliability. They really should have stuck with ETA movements.

It took 3-4 months to repair, swapped out the movement. It’s been a year and I’ve not had any problems but, I may look at selling before the 5 year warranty is up.

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DrewP94

Aww. Sorry to hear about that. There’s definitely something wrong with the movement and I don’t know how common it is with Tudor but enough that there are numerous stories of problems with their Kenessi movements. A quick online search in some watch forums and you can read stories about this same thing happening to many. Even if it’s a quick repair or minor inconvenience as someone commented earlier you just spend a few grand on something that lasted 3 days.

I write this from experience with my Tudor GMT. The common thing with the GMT was the wheel date getting stuck. That wasn’t my problem. It was the same as I’ve read that has happened to a lot BB 58, similar to your problem, movement completely crapping out. Couldn’t power it up either by winding it or shaking the hell out of it. The first time it stopped (1year old), I shook it and it started then stopped 30 minutes later, then I wound it about 40 turns and boy did it sound crunchy, that’s when I knew something was up. That lasted for about 2 hours on the wrist.

Yeah it was fixed on warranty but seriously, that doesn’t sound bode well for long term reliability. They really should have stuck with ETA movements.

It took 3-4 months to repair, swapped out the movement. It’s been a year and I’ve not had any problems but, I may look at selling before the 5 year warranty is up.

Thanks for sharing your experience! I've been thinking lately myself that perhaps the "manufacture" calibers are not really the great feature they were advertised as. Lesson learned I guess.

At least I'm still early in the warranty period, so I guess they'll manage to fix this properly in the next 5 years. 😄

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As I suspected the problem persists. I guess tomorrow I'll go back to the AD again and this time I'll do some venting out, given their claims that nothing's wrong with the watch and continually wasting my time with this. Given the events so far I doubt this story will see a happy ending any time soon, though...

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neomatik

As I suspected the problem persists. I guess tomorrow I'll go back to the AD again and this time I'll do some venting out, given their claims that nothing's wrong with the watch and continually wasting my time with this. Given the events so far I doubt this story will see a happy ending any time soon, though...

That's not surprising given what you've previously described. I'd like to think that the AD will be reasonable enough to admit that there is a problem with the watch based on what you've experienced.

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tempus

That's not surprising given what you've previously described. I'd like to think that the AD will be reasonable enough to admit that there is a problem with the watch based on what you've experienced.

They surprised me today at the AD and actually agreed to replace the watch. Perhaps I was just lucky to encounter a different employee, who was more reasonable and more customer-centric. He consulted with their watchmaker, apologized for the back-and-forth and swapped my faulty Ranger with another one. Hopefully that will be the (happy) end of this story.

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neomatik

They surprised me today at the AD and actually agreed to replace the watch. Perhaps I was just lucky to encounter a different employee, who was more reasonable and more customer-centric. He consulted with their watchmaker, apologized for the back-and-forth and swapped my faulty Ranger with another one. Hopefully that will be the (happy) end of this story.

That is great news!! Hope this one works flawlessly, and that they actually send the other one back for repair rather than pawning it off on someone else. Very pleased to hear that they stepped up to the plate.

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tempus

That is great news!! Hope this one works flawlessly, and that they actually send the other one back for repair rather than pawning it off on someone else. Very pleased to hear that they stepped up to the plate.

They told me they were sending the other one to Tudor, and I can only hope it will be properly fixed by them or disposed of. I do wonder what watch companies do with those returned watches, as supposedly they can't resell them, but mine looks pretty much as good as new for obvious reasons.

I have to say that I'm certainly not impressed by Tudor's QC - one thing I've noticed today on the new Ranger is that the bracelet clasp wiggles a bit when closed, unlike the one on the defective Ranger. Not a big deal, but I certainly expect more attention to such details, especially if they sell this bracelet standalone for 850$. At any rate - at this point all I want is for the watch to work reliably.

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neomatik

They told me they were sending the other one to Tudor, and I can only hope it will be properly fixed by them or disposed of. I do wonder what watch companies do with those returned watches, as supposedly they can't resell them, but mine looks pretty much as good as new for obvious reasons.

I have to say that I'm certainly not impressed by Tudor's QC - one thing I've noticed today on the new Ranger is that the bracelet clasp wiggles a bit when closed, unlike the one on the defective Ranger. Not a big deal, but I certainly expect more attention to such details, especially if they sell this bracelet standalone for 850$. At any rate - at this point all I want is for the watch to work reliably.

I can understand how frustrating this must be for you. I only have one Tudor myself (a BB58), and have had no issues with it. Obviously each persons opinion of a brand or a given watch model is going to be colored by their own personal experience, and it's unfortunate that you've already experienced both a defective watch, and a wiggly bracelet clasp. Assuming that the automatic winding works properly on the new watch, it may be worthwhile dropping by the AD in a few days to let them know, thank them for helping out with the replacement, and pointing out the wiggle in the clasp.

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tempus

I can understand how frustrating this must be for you. I only have one Tudor myself (a BB58), and have had no issues with it. Obviously each persons opinion of a brand or a given watch model is going to be colored by their own personal experience, and it's unfortunate that you've already experienced both a defective watch, and a wiggly bracelet clasp. Assuming that the automatic winding works properly on the new watch, it may be worthwhile dropping by the AD in a few days to let them know, thank them for helping out with the replacement, and pointing out the wiggle in the clasp.

Yeah, I might get to do this, but my overall experience with bracelet issues is that they are often ignored by ADs unless it's something major. The usual responses I've had in the past for smaller problems have been "that's normal" or "the warranty doesn't cover this". I'm also afraid that they might hate me at the AD by this point. 😄

Obviously each persons opinion of a brand or a given watch model is going to be colored by their own personal experience

True that. Expectations also play an important part. The Ranger is my first "luxury" watch and I expected some outstanding craftsmanship. That made the whole story extra frustrating for me. Now I'm really wondering whether pricier watches (e.g. an Omega or a Rolex) are really worth it or it's more of the same with respect to defects and QC.

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I can't imagine paying that much and having an immediate problem. I will never pay more than $1000 for any watch, no matter what. That way if something is seriously wrong with it I can toss it without a thought. An expensive watch is an indulgence I don't care for any more than I would a Rolls-Royce -- talk about diminishing returns. There is no expensive watch that is attractive to me. I guess I'm fortunate that way.

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neomatik

Yeah, I might get to do this, but my overall experience with bracelet issues is that they are often ignored by ADs unless it's something major. The usual responses I've had in the past for smaller problems have been "that's normal" or "the warranty doesn't cover this". I'm also afraid that they might hate me at the AD by this point. 😄

Obviously each persons opinion of a brand or a given watch model is going to be colored by their own personal experience

True that. Expectations also play an important part. The Ranger is my first "luxury" watch and I expected some outstanding craftsmanship. That made the whole story extra frustrating for me. Now I'm really wondering whether pricier watches (e.g. an Omega or a Rolex) are really worth it or it's more of the same with respect to defects and QC.

I would still mention it to the AD - you never know what their response would be unless you bring it their attention. They may very will dismiss it as a minor issue, but if you feel that it's a big enough issue that it may impact your enjoyment of the watch, it's worth at least trying. As long as your expectations are reasonable, you should have absoutley no concerns with bringing them up. A bracelet issue that an AD may accept as normal on an entry level brand may be treated as a larger issue by the AD as you move up to brands higher up the price scale.

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TheGreatEscapement

I can't imagine paying that much and having an immediate problem. I will never pay more than $1000 for any watch, no matter what. That way if something is seriously wrong with it I can toss it without a thought. An expensive watch is an indulgence I don't care for any more than I would a Rolls-Royce -- talk about diminishing returns. There is no expensive watch that is attractive to me. I guess I'm fortunate that way.

I will never pay more than $1000 for any watch, no matter what.

3 months ago I was of the same opinion, but watches are a dangerous (and expensive) hobby. 😄 After reading so much about the famous watches and brands I got really curious whether they are really worth it and I decided to buy some entry-level luxury watch. I've settled on Tudor for various reasons ("value", brand history, in-house movements, great bracelets, lots of positive reviews, etc). Given my bad experience so far I'm somewhat skeptical that the extra price is worth it, but it's undeniable that the Ranger is better made overall than all watches in the 1-2k segment that I've had some experience with. My wife made a lot of fun of me for "believing the hype" (from her perspective) and buying an expensive piece of "junk". Time will tell if this was money well spent or not.

I totally agree that cheaper things generally cause less stress, though. I hate having to worry about items, as I already have plenty of other more important things to worry about in life.

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I had the same issue with my Tudor Ranger and have made many posts about it on here. When I returned mine for warranty service, I was told another customer at my AD had the same issue. The QC is just not great at Tudor. You will need a warranty repair. I was told it would be 4 months to get mine fixed so be prepared to wait. I'm sorry you will have to go through the same thing as me.