Boldr Venture Automatic Review | These Field Watches Keep Getting Better!
There are some micro-brands out there that seem to exist solely to rip you off. They’ll take as much money as possible for as little product as possible in return. This isn’t one of them.
Boldr emailed me a few weeks ago, asking if I’d like to take a look at some of their watches. I was busy at the time so I only took a glance at the site. I skimmed over them if I’m honest, assuming they were yet another overpriced microbrand. Then my fiancée mentioned how they were made of titanium, which I didn’t expect. So, I took a closer look at what was on offer. What I saw was a list of specifications that lined up exactly with what I would want from a field watch at this price.
If you’re not familiar with this brand, they’re a relatively young Kickstarter brand that has a surprisingly interesting story. I’ll link it here if you want to read it. They’re based out of Singapore and Malaysia, though the delivery time for my parcel was extremely fast, despite the outbreak. Something I can’t say for recent orders I’ve placed elsewhere, which have disappeared off the map.
They shipped over two of their new Venture line of field watches; one black and one blue. Each arrived in their respective carry pouches, alongside some basic documentation. I quite like this packaging, as it could have some practical usage versus traditional disposable packaging.
Watch Size
These are small chunky pieces, sitting at 38mm in diameter and 12mm in depth. Due to the compact lug design, these have a short lug to lug size of just 44mm. On the website, it says 42, my callipers measure 44, so go figure! Despite the thickness, this watch sits very well on my small 6 ¼ inch wrists and I think will look equally good if yours are closer to average, say somewhere around 7 inches.
Case
This watch is made all the more comfortable by the lightweight case. As with the Lorus field watch, I reviewed a few months back, this is constructed of titanium. This means it weighs a fraction of an equally proportioned stainless steel case and that makes a big difference on-wrist. It’s also the reason you have that distinctive dull silver colour, this watch having a familiar bead-blasted finish, similar to that on other titanium watches. Despite its limitations, this is still my favourite watch case material. It’s not suitable for all watches out there, but for a field watch like this, it’s practicality makes it a strong choice. The watch may be thick, but this material ensures it’s still comfortable.
Design
In terms of the design, it’s very angular and squared off. In combination with the heavily grooved crown and steep lugs, it gives this watch an industrial, almost mechanical feel. The screw-down case-back and crown are welcome features, contributing to the strong 200m of water resistance present here. This should keep you covered in any situation that you might encounter in the field. The crown itself is extremely grippy, though does feel rather gritty during usage. We’ll talk about the movement in a moment.
The aesthetics are up next. This dial is a fairly classic one, nothing extreme here. You get the standard numbering, with the small inner 24-hour ring. You’ll also find small lume pips in place at each hour marker; in combination with that on the numbers and hands, you get really powerful low light performance. I’m unsure what Japanese lume they are using, but it seems like some strong stuff.
For hands, you have a pair of silver squared-off syringe hands, with the white lume. In a perfect world, I’d like the size difference between the minute and hour hand to be greater, to differentiate them more when glancing. I’d also love it if they were a closer match in colour to the case. Nevertheless, the choice makes sense and I do like the orange accent on the second hand of both colourways, it gives it more of a unique look as it bobs away there.
Both colourways feature dark matte dials, which contrast well with the lettering and give the visibility you’d want from an everyday watch. The layout and amount of text are fine too. As a whole, I really don’t have many complaints about the design.
Glass
Covering the dial is a flat piece of sapphire crystal, with an anti-reflective coating. This will give best-in-class scratch resistance at the cost of some impact performance. Most watch enthusiasts prefer this glass over other options, myself included. It’s great to see this in here, it gives you some peace of mind when it comes to scratches and scuffs.
Watch Strap
Both of these Ventures come equipped with Nato straps, the quality of which are really good. The stitching feels solid on each and the material itself is surprisingly resilient for a default strap. I bet this would last a long time, however, I think an alternative strap might make for a better choice for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, the added depth from two layers of fabric inherently turns what was already a deep watch into a real thick boy. The total depth is boosted to a whopping 16.5mm, making this combination a no-go for thinner wrists. Additionally, this style of strap leaves a noticeable gap around the lugs, which I’m not keen on. I think a two-piece fabric strap, such as those sold separately on their site, would likely solve both of those issues and give a similar but smoother look.
Nevertheless, I do like how the titanium buckle and keepers perfectly match that case. It’s little things like that which accumulate to make this piece feel well-thought-out.
Movement
This range is packing 24-jewel Japanese Seiko NH35A movements inside too, which is respectable at this price point. This movement is incredibly popular among microbrands; it’s very reliable and fairly accurate too. It hacks and hand-winds too if that’s something you require. As I mentioned before, while the crown is incredibly easy to use, it does feel gritty during winding. Considering some of the other great specifications you get, I think this is an understandable, good choice regardless.
Are Boldr Watches Any Good?
As a whole, I really do like these watches. They have a very distinctive shape, are built like tanks and boast impressive specifications. For a retail price of around £250, I’m incredibly impressed with this offering from such a young brand. On paper, these outclass many similar field watches from traditional brands at comparable prices.
For the most part, they’ve made the decisions I would have made if I were designing this style of watch, which is great to see; though, I’d love to see if Boldr could produce a similar watch in a more slender form. One of the reasons I enjoy wearing that other titanium Lorus so much is because it sits so discreetly on-wrist and I’m sure part of that is the slim design. Yes, that watch is quartz, so it’s generally going to be thinner anyway, but I think you get my drift.
Despite that, it looks good, it feels awesome on-wrist and I think is a great example of a microbrand taking the right approach and delivering some unique watches for a good price.
