Being present for the birth of a brand is a strange experience. When managed properly, it can almost look miraculous. In one moment something doesn’t exist and, in the next, the world would never be the same without it. Of course, new brands come and go and their presence (or lack thereof) rarely has a seismic effect, but these comings and going to send tremors through the industry. Occasionally — very occasionally — those tremors start to make waves, eventually resulting in a swell of interest that has the potential to propel a brand from emerging to established in what seems like no time at all.
Boldr Venture Wayfarer Automatic Watch - Credit WatchGecko
BOLDR Supply Co. is one such company. As a journalist, I encountered BOLDR early on in its journey. Even in the early days, I found myself uncommonly impressed with the one element of the watch that normally let down similarly sized operations: the execution.
The first BOLDR watch I owned was not in the Venture collection (that came later), but it won my heart because of the smart design decisions made at every key point of the watch. Back then, in 2015 when the brand was founded, the material and machining quality of much of the microbrand scene was poor. The ideas were good. The creativity? Unquestionable. But the products themselves were lacking.
Buttery case edges, sloppy finishing, bleeding paint on off-colour dials. There were bezels that barely knew when to sit still. Crowns that thought cross-threading was a good thing. Straps made from the knock-off handbags no one could sell to tourists… You get the picture. What people paid for back then was not usually a watch that could rival or surpass the actual quality of a brand like Hamilton or Certina — brands that had been doing it for years. They were buying watches for fun. And while the inaugural BOLDR models were still that, they were so much more. They were good watches in themselves. And better yet, they’ve only continued to improve as the bar around the brand has been raised.
Boldr Venture Camo - Credit WatchGecko
What Leon, the founder of BOLDR has done well from day one is to design watches that excel within the limitations of his budget. Those “smart design decisions” I mentioned are not subjective. They are objective weighed-up compromises between cost and execution. It is an often overlooked aspect of watch design in the entry-level price bracket but it should not be ignored. Whether you like something or not is not the same as whether or not it is well done. What BOLDR can control is the latter; the former comes down to personal taste.
Take the closed case back of the Venture Staghorn, for example. This watch, unlike many in the Venture line, is powered by an automatic movement (Japan SII NH35A Automatic Movement). Despite it having a decent, well-respected Japanese mechanical self-winding calibre within, Leon and his team chose to close the caseback and decorate it with an exclusive embossed design. Why?
Working with what you’ve got and controlling what you can control
Boldr Venture Wayfarer Automatic Watch - Credit WatchGecko
Within the watchmaking world, the skills of the masters are legendary. Barely anyone, even after years and years of artisanal refinement at the bench, can hold a candle to the watches produced by mega-stars such as Kari Voutilainen, Laurent Ferrier, or F. P. Journe. When you look through an open caseback, that’s what you want to see. Hand finishing. Precious metal plating. Heat-blued screws, black polishing, razor-thin, peerlessly parallel anglage. You name it. That’s what gets the hearts of horology obsessives racing. A bog-standard NH35A Automatic Movement does not.
It’s not that it’s a bad movement for the price. It isn’t. But it isn’t a selling point in itself. BOLDR knows this so it controls what it can control by deploying special artworks in that space instead. It turns a potential weakness into a strength. And, remarkably, by doing so, it saves on production costs (sapphire crystal and the more extensive quality control process necessary to bring it to market is not cheap, after all).
The models in the Venture line are designed to look just as good (in fact, in my opinion, better) on straps as they do with their optional bracelets. That’s another buyer-friendly move that should not be dismissed for its importance. Leon has focused on versatility in his designs, and the result is a range of incredibly wearable, resilient, well-made, and well-priced watches that, thanks to their mostly neutral colourways, can be paired with countless after-market strap options to turn that one-watch collection into all you’ll ever need.
The Venture family of watches comprises four main model lines. We have the standard Venture Automatic model, which comes in a 38 mm titanium “field” case, has a time-only or time-and-date option, and starts at a very attractive £299. Then the Venture Wayfarer with its 9 o’clock sub-dial, 3 o’clock date and automatic movement (as well as an incredible starting price of £339).
The meca-quartz Field Medic line is listed as separate from the Rally model, but both utilise the same case shape, specs, and compur layout chronograph function, enabling the wearer to track elapsed time on demand.
Boldr Venture Wayfarer Automatic Watch - Credit WatchGecko
BOLDR accommodates dive watch lovers with the Staghorn series. This is the most ambitiously coloured range from BOLDR, and the only core collection Venture family to be presented on its bracelet as standard. Despite that, it too works exceptionally well with other straps.
As well as a smattering of limited editions (like the Chaigo and Un-Dark) and oddball relics from the brand’s earlier experiments under the same family name.
Ultimately, BOLDR’s standard Field watch line, which now encompasses a Dive watch designed in the same spirit, offers almost unbeatable value for money from a brand that has excited and entertained its audience for the best part of a decade already. Although the brand is still young, its flying start suggests it will persist for many more decades to come and continue to produce high-quality, affordable watches, that can be dressed up or down with ease.
