WATCH REVIEW: BOLDR Venture – Featherweight Titanium Quartz

What goes up must eventually come down. That old saying usually talks about objects shot into the air, but it can also work to describe sizing trends in wrist watches. For decades, watches were sized below 40 mm until they ballooned in size somewhere in the not too distant past. Luckily for slight-wristed gents like me, the size and weight of watches might be on the downward slope. That is where the BOLDR Venture comes into the story. The BOLDR Venture is a featherweight, 3-handed quartz watch cased in featherweight titanium case that is only 38 mm. Hallelujah!

BOLDR Supply Company is a microband based in Singapore. If that turns you off, then you might be missing out on some great watches. Not every watch in your collection has to come from Switzerland, Germany or Japan. The truth is that Asian manufacturers are often the source of parts for many of these other watchmaking regions because they can make high-quality, technically excellent doo-dads. Sure, they don’t want to advertise that fact but dig a little deeper and you might be surprised that SWISS MADE is not exactly what you think. But, that is for another article. Where BOLDR lives on a map means very little to me. It’s their products that I care about.

BOLDR Supply Co. has a variety of models available to consumers including pilot watches, dive watches, and field watches. They make 3-handed watches and more complex chronographs. They make quartz watches and automatic watches. They make a variety of sizes so that practically anyone could find a watch that will work for their wrist and style on their large website at www.boldrsupply.co. You can explore that on your own, but now it’s time to discuss the BOLDR Venture.

For full disclosure, BOLDR Supply Co. asked me if I wanted to review this new watch that launched in the Fall of 2018. I was excited to do so because I have been aware of BOLDR and their watches for many years now having noticed many of their earlier models. I liked what I saw and would consider owning many of them. I suspected that the BOLDR Venture might be good to check out too.

When the box arrived it was very light. I thought “this package feels like an empty!” To my relief, nobody had “borrowed” the BOLDR Venture during transit and the modestly-sized titanium watch was sitting inside happily ticking away. I say ticking because this watch has a “Swiss Made” ETA 802.102 quartz movement so instead of the smooth sweep of an automatic, you get the familiar tick tock as the second’s hand jumps from one marker cleanly to the next.

For the ultra picky people out there, mine seconds hand aligned with the dial markers a majority of the time, but not 100% of the time. I’ll be frank and admit, this did not bother me at all. When dealing with budget watches, you need to keep things in perspective. That movement will give you hacking seconds and should give up to 36 months of life per battery. Not too shabby for a “grab and go” watch.

I might as well reveal the price, which the BOLDR website lists as SGD $199. If you don’t know, that is Singapore dollars and the conversion to U.S. Dollars as of November 2018 is about $145. Yep, that is a small sum to pay for a watch made from titanium. Free worldwide shipping is available if you want to be patient or you can pay for faster delivery so that your watch shows up between 7 to 10 days. Not bad considering that it will be coming from the other side of the world!

It used to be that titanium was only used for more expensive watches. You might know that this lightweight material was once the bleeding edge of materials technology that made such aeronautical wonders such as the SR-71 Blackbird possible. That’s the U.S. spy plane that holds so many speed and altitude records that it will go down in history as one of the greatest manned aircraft ever to fly. It is a legend, and you can imagine that a small part of it is on your wrist as you wear the BOLDR Venture. haha.

Wrist presence is something we should discuss because the BOLDR Venture represents a unique wearing experience. It is the complete opposite of big and bulky. In fact, I often forgot I was wearing it most of the time because this watch is so darn light and comfortable. You barely feel it and “featherweight” is almost a literal description since the watch head weighs in at only 28 grams. If you want to feel what that is like, find 11 U.S. pennies and put them in your hand… that equals 28 grams.

The smaller size is another factor in this watch wearing like a dream. The case is 38 mm wide, which gives the BOLDR Venture a vintage military field watch vibe. The Venture is only 11 mm high and it has a lug-to-lug wingspan of only 45 mm. This watch could easily be worn by both men and women, older or younger. It’s about as democratic and inviting to a large target audience as possible. Only the largest wristed wearers may yearn for something bigger if this watch looks too dainty for them. Another factor that makes the watch “wear small” is that the 5 mm crown is located at the 4:00 position so there is zero chance of it digging into your wrist. Lastly, the lugs turn down minimizing the lug-to-lug length.

The BOLDR Venture has a 20 mm lug width so there are thousands of aftermarket strap options to truly customize this watch. The black dial makes it a veritable “strap monster” so you can put pretty much any strap you want on it from leather watchbands to other NATO-style straps. I included a few of my own straps in this review. Only the black one comes with the Venture. However, the original nylon strap that comes with is unique because it has actual titanium hardware on it. At this price point, I suspected that the metal was really bead blasted stainless steel, but BOLDR confirmed that it is truly titanium. Wow! The OEM straps come in black, tan or olive green underscoring the military aesthetic of the BOLDR Venture. The faceted lugs bring some interest to a straight-forward case design.

The dial continues the military theme and has both 12-hour markers and also 24-hour markers. This is common be field watches because it allows military personnel to read 24-hour time at a glance so they don’t miss dinner at 18:00. The proportion between the two number scales is excellent. In fact, the whole dial has a refreshing restraint with all the components balancing nicely. The designers did not make the logo too large or add too much text as some famous Swiss makers do. All of this means that the watch can be read quickly and accurately at a glance, which is the point really of a tool watch.

To my eye, the dial is a deep charcoal and not a pure black, which is a plus for me. The surface is matte and there are not glossy reflections to obscure your view. The hands are the famous syringe style found on military watches from the last century and they look great. The proportions are correct and there won’t be any confusing the hour and minute hands, even in the dark. There is a single splash of bright orange on the second’s hand that is appreciated. I think the watch would have been too monochromatic without this addition. Also, who does not like the classic combination of black, white and orange?

Surprisingly, the crystal is a scratch-resistant sapphire. It is slightly raised above the case bezel, which should provide some protection should you hit your watch on something. To clarify, I’m not saying this is a G-Shock, but the sapphire crystal is harder than the blasted titanium so a glancing blow the glass might prevent the case’s matte finish from getting scratched. The specs on this watch are really adding up quickly for such an inexpensive product. I am not really sure how they are doing this, but my guess is that they have a lot of parts available that they can combine to make a heck of a “bang-for-the-buck” watch.

The lume is listed as Swiss Superlume. It is adequate and actually pretty good at this price point. I am a bit of lume snob so I want EVERYTHING to light up as if there were radioactive fireflies living in the watch. The hands, numbers and little circular markers all get the same treatment so you have a better chance of reading the watch at night. Some watches only have the hands lumed, and that can get confusing for me. Don’t expect Seiko Lumibrite longevity, but it works fine.

The case back has a really cool engraved “X” design and all the specs at written in a circular pattern. Again, the designers could have screamed the specs with giant type, but they did not. The watch looks more sophisticated because of this, so thanks to whoever penned this design.

To wrap up, I had no preconceived notions about the BOLDR Venture. I knew that I liked the Company’s existing designs but I did not know what I would think once I got one in hand. I was not disappointed because the BOLDR Venture is a value-packed field watch that would make a great “do anything” companion (except diving because it has 100 meters water resistance).

Even if you have expensive watches in your collection, there will be times when those will not be appropriate or safe to wear. The Venture can fill that niche as an adventure watch, a workout watch, a hiking watch or a yardwork watch. It can also dress up so that you can wear it to the office… as long as you don’t work on Wall Street and need to show off. I give it a thumbs up so check it out if this style works for you.