BOLDR Venture Jet Black – Unboxing and Review
One of my hobbies/passions is getting the chance to review watches. I wear them for about a month or so and then give some idea to my readers and fans how the watch is holding up, things that are great and things that could be brought up a notch or two.
The BOLDR Venture in Jet Black is a field watch. It’s a very NICE field watch!
For some, the field watch is the go-to while others prefer to wear divers.
Here’s the unboxing video:
As a field watch, and I have a couple, this BOLDR definitely stands out from the crowd.
If you watch the un-boxing video, BODLR includes a watch roll with the Venture comfortably nestled into the first slot.
Immediately, I was impressed with the presentation of the watch. The Venture also felt rather light, which is good, considering how many watches I own that are heavy due to their water resistance and their automatic movements. Most field watches are in the same weight class, light and easy to wear.
The field watch was born out of the need to have soldiers be able to do one thing and still check the time without having to resort to reaching into a pocket to retrieve their pocket watch.
During WWII, there were four manufacturers of the A-11 field watch: Bulova, Elgin, Hamilton and Waltham. There may have been others – these are what i found in my quick research.
Like those iconic watches, the Venture has a clean non-reflective dial with legible indices. There are the standard 12 hour marking around the outside of the dial and the 24 hour marking towards the inner part of the dial.
The need for accurate timing is embodied into the Venture. The movement features “hacking”, which in simple terms, means that when you pull out the crown, the second hand stops and you can set time to the PRECISE second; something truly important for the military.
If you look at the back of the case in the photos, it features embossed limited edition artwork; with the specs laid out around the edge.
The Venture also features an ETA 802.102 Swiss Quartz Movement – it has not lost a single second since the day I put it on my wrist.
The Venture started it’s month long test the next morning.
The watch case is 38mm and is fabricated out of aerospace grade titanium with a black coating that has proven to be exceptionally tough.
“How tough?”, you might ask.
I was taking some garbage out to the curb and the metal garbage can lid SLAMMED down on the watch, leaving a mark that I thought was the coating coming off. Honestly, I was pretty worried that I had damaged the Venture.
Nope. It was the paint from the garbage can lid, which came back off rather easily using my thumbnail.
Watches that are built like tanks are my usual go to since my regular day job involves computer repairs and some tower cases can scratch and mangle a watch and it’s crystal in one fell swoop. I carry band-aids as well since skin is less tough than my watches.
The crystal is a flat sapphire with reflective coating on the inner surface. If you are new to watches, sapphire is one of the most desirable crystals as it stands up to scratching much better than mineral glass. The lowest level of crystal is acrylic and many older watches featured that type of crystal.
The case is also very thin, and fits under any long sleeve shirt. I don’t think I have explain short sleeves…well I hope not.
The logoed crown is at the 4 o’clock position – this is preferable for many, since lefties that wear it on the right wrist don’t have the crown digging in to skin just above the wrist, while righties won’t have it digging into their left wrist.
Many of my clients asked about the watch and how nice it was. After hearing my spiel about this watch, I would hand it over for them to check out. I had to wrestle them to get it back…it’s THAT good of a design and it’s 11mm thickness and 38mm case makes this a unisex watch.
I have taken this watch on hikes, shows, client calls, music and other photography events, and let me be blunt: a heavy watch when shooting pro level cameras with pro lenses just adds to the fatigue after hours on my feet.
The Venture is barely noticeable in terms of weight. I was grateful to NOT notice it’s weight!
The one area I have not tested, except for some splashing while watering my nearly dead front yard plants, was it’s water resistance. The Venture is rated for 100m/10ATM//330ft. It got quite wet and show no signs of internal fogging or other issues.
I won’t be running it through my laundry cycle either, but I am quite confident in this watch and it’s ability to get doused, dunked or accidentally chucked into a pool at a party while on your wrist.
Over the course of the past month and a half, I did have a couple of suggestions for the Venture and what BOLDR could improve.
The NATO strap seemed to have gotten a little relaxed over time and the dial would suddenly be facing the outside of my wrist. I would have to open the titanium buckle and re-position it correctly and occasionally make it tighter. The band also features titanium loops and buckle which is pretty durable and lightweight.
I would personally like to see a heavier weight NATO strap, or a ZULU strap that might be custom made to fit through the space between the band pin and the case and have a heavier duty feel to it.
The lume is listed as SuperLume, but I found myself occasionally straining to read the dial when I was driving around at night.
In defense of the slightly dimmer lume: if a field watch is worn on the wrist of a member of the armed forces, you don’t want lume that some sniper with a scope can see at 300 yards, but a balance has to be struck between that and very muted lume.
Overall, I am very well pleased with the BOLDR Venture and feel quite honored to be able to review this for my readers and for BOLDR.
PROS:
Lightweight
Durable
Easy on the wrist
NATO Strap vs. a watch band
Easy to read in daylight
IMPROVEMENT:
Lume could be a bit brighter
Dial indices could also be a bit whiter for legibility
Nato Strap – thicker version or a Zulu
Specs from their site:
- Case: 38mm Solid aerospace grade Titanium with DLC Black Coating
- Movement: ETA 802.102 Swiss-Made Quartz Movement, Up to 36 months of battery life
- Water Resistance: 100m (330ft) / 10ATM
- Crown: Push-pull with custom embossed BOLDR logo
- Bezel: Nil
- Dial: Matte dial with printed indexes with Superlume
- Hands: Customs hands with Superlume
- Lens: Flat sapphire crystal with Inner-side Anti-Reflective coating
- Strap: NATO Canvas strap with solid titanium buckle with etched logo
- Case Thickness: 11mm
- Lug size: 20mm
- Lug to lug: 45mm
- Case Back: Screw-down solid titanium caseback with embossed limited edition designer artwork
Pick yours up here: https://www.boldrsupply.co/collections/boldr-venture/products/boldr-venture-dlc
*UPDATE 5/2/19 BOLDR has given me a code for 10% off for my readers!!
Use SCOTT10 at checkout for 10% off!! (Good till July 2, 2019)
BOLDR sent this to me for review and I have received no other compensation.
