MICRO MONDAYS: The Boldr Venture might be the best value titanium watch on the market
Yes, it’s a very bold opening line. In fact, this is no boldr (sorry!) than a simple statement of the facts, should you sum up the parts, starting with a titanium watch with 200m water resistance for under $300 USD including shipping. Boldr Supply Co. is an established microbrand with five watch lines, and a solid community following of their watches and accessories for the self-categorised Urban Explorer. The two questions you’re likely to ask yourself: How is it possible to have a stock model in titanium with a low might-never-happen-Kickstarter project price? Is the compact field watch that is the Venture, worth more than the sum of its parts, or is there a caveat? The case If I stack up the specs first, you are going to check the date for April 1st, I can assure you. So, let’s start with the case being titanium. In this price bracket you’ll find a host of decent microbrands in steel, some with Chinese catalogue cases, and rather large for 2020, quartz powered, or having a vintage diver vibe. None of this applies to the Venture, a small, modern, minimalist field watch, with the bonus of a confidence-inspiring and dive-ready 200m WR.…
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The notion that “knowledge is power” has arguably become the guiding principle of our professional lives. Organisations are more reliant than ever on numerical evidence to gauge how they’re shaping up. Businesses study balance sheets, governments scrutinise trade figures, media networks analyse traffic growth and revenue streams. Sport, too, has become ever more data-obsessed after the so-called “Moneyball effect” saw the Oakland A’s baseball team thrive after they started basing their decisions on statistical analysis, rather than the hunches of ageing scouts. As a result, the corporate maxim, “If it’s not measurable, it’s not manageable” has become universally accepted. The reason is simple: numbers deliver an objective yardstick to determine your rate of progress or decline. That philosophy is now also becoming increasingly applied to our personal lives. Built on the promise of “self-knowledge through numbers”, the “quantified self” movement is based on collecting data on a specific area of your life with a long-term view to improving it. Your focus could be anything you’re looking to work on: weight loss, mood swings, cholesterol levels, productivity, too much booze … To the self-tracker they’re all made to measure. Once you’ve accumulated a reasonable wodge of data, you can then analyse…
Editor’s note: Thor’s story earlier today about the battle of the Girard-Perregaux Laureatos sent me back in time to my own Laureato experience. And it’s not an entirely happy one. Because it involves me doing perhaps my biggest ever U-turn. But the story gets even more awkward. Because shortly after writing this review, and then reading the story on Time+Tide (luxuriating once again in Jason Reekie’s startling pics) I called a local dealer (Hi, Bernard), arranged an inspection, and the rest was history. How do I feel about it a year later? The force remains strong. I love it now more than I did then. Many nuances have revealed themselves over time, but perhaps best of them is the brushed steel of both the case and bracelet. It emanates a duller grey lustre than many super shiny steel sports watches, which belies a toughness that gives you confidence. You put it on – noting as always the silky wrist feel of the bracelet and 904L steel – and you’re up for just about anything. Ok, so there’s the twist in the tale, at the top of the story. Read on! When it came up that a review of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato was on the…
Cam Wolf of GQ has made yet another great watchspot in his latest “Watches of the Week” column. Cam spots Joe Biden wearing an Omega Seamaster 300M with a black dial on his wrist during the Democratic National Convention. As Cam explains, this is not the only Omega Mr Biden owns – as he has also been spotted wearing an Omega Speedmaster and earlier generations of Seamaster divers as well. Cam takes it a step further then just naming the watch on Mr Biden’s wrist. He also compares and contrasts the wrist choices of the two men going head to head for the Presidency in November. The rivalry does not end at the polling booth. While Mr Biden has been spotted wearing luxurious yet subtle stainless steel sports watches from Omega, President Trump prefers gold; his Rolex Day-Date on a Presidential bracelet (among other yellow gold watches such as a Patek Philippe Golden Ellipse) being the favourite. Cam notes that the type and shade of metal can speak to how a politician wants to be perceived by their constituents. “Since Lyndon B. Johnson wore a Rolex Day-Date in the Oval, that watch has been known as the President. But times have changed…
If you were to pick Girard-Perregaux’s Jekyll & Hyde, this would be the pair of watches that fit the bill; the Laureato 38mm and the Laureato Absolute Chronograph. Girard-Perregaux is a distinguished but quiet presence on the horological scene, and have a history whose shadow and depth extends well beyond the brand’s current day reputation. And when we are talking about the modern era and the category du jour: steel sports watch with integrated bracelets, GP are well and truly in the game with the Laureato range, reissued in 2017, based on the 1975 hit. This, however, is a tale of two brothers separated at birth, one being raised as the pampered prince-to-be in the castle, slim and perfectly honed. His more menacing namesake has spent life growing up in the dark dungeons below, training to be a gladiator, strong as an ox with a dark brooding presence. The nobility of the Girard-Perregaux Laureato 38mm The 38mm Girard-Perregaux Laureato is a watch that, for me, has that enviable quality of instantly feeling at home on the wrist, and like many sub-40mm models, it will undoubtedly make you reconsider the larger pieces in your collection. The Laureato 38mm with a silver…
Tennis players are well known for being ambassadors of various watch brands. Serena Williams has recently been spotted playing with her Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Chronograph during matches, Roger Federer with his Rolex Sky-Dweller (when his match is over), as well as Rafael Nadal with his RM 27-03 Manual Winding Tourbillon Rafael Nadal Edition. Gael Monfils, previously an ambassador for De Bethune from 2014-2017, is a known collector of watches – having gone so far as to create a dedicated Instagram @myson.watches with some pretty tasty watch content. Nick featured it in Great ‘Grams recently; check out the story if you haven’t already. He has even held an Instagram live chat, for those lucky enough to speak French, with fellow top tennis player Stanislas Wawrinka about watches they love to see and wear. This weekend, however, Gael posted a killer series of videos Instagram Stories field testing the Limited Edition Greubel Forsey GMT Sport (released in late 2019 and more than twice as expensive as their newly released Balancier S). Whether a fan of tennis, watches, or both, you will surely appreciate the footage he shared. The watch Before we jump into the play-by-play of the field test, let’s briefly recap…
At the end of July, I wrote a hands-on review of my G-Shock GMWB5000TCM Titanium Camouflage. While that limited edition is likely almost sold out, anybody who may have missed out on that initial run may find a second wind in this familiar yet fresh take on the model. The GMWB5000TCF-2 is exactly the same in specifications as the previous model, super lightweight titanium, shock and scratch resistant, 200 meters water resistant, and a solar powered battery that when fully charged lasts almost two years without getting kissed with sunlight. It differs, however, in the execution of its finish. Whereas the GMWB5000TCM had a camouflage print laser etched into a DLC (diamond like carbon) coating over a black titanium base, here the titanium has been blued before it goes under its DLC and laser treatment. This blue hue is just enough of a change to make it stand out from its green camo sibling making this an equally collectable G-Shock for your collection. In a year of blue watches, this is another notable addition to this year’s biggest trend. The premium price tag these models command is not a result of greed, but rather time, effort, and attention to detail.…
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal ran a story with the provocative headline: “Should You Wear a Watch if There’s No One to Impress?” Two writers debated this pressing issue. One insisted that, even if you’re working from home in solitude, wearing a watch “can help to foster a sense of normalcy during a brutally abnormal year”. The other writer argued the opposite. He quoted a lawyer who admitted that wearing his Rolex seemed weirdly inappropriate while he was sat at home in Lululemon shorts. Whatever your personal opinion on the matter, the fact this issue was even discussed in the first place demonstrates that something is going on. Whether consciously or not, COVID is having an impact on our attitudes to our clothing and watches. That’s no surprise to Associate Professor Toby Slade at the University of Technology Sydney. As a fashion historian, his role is to explore how sartorial attitudes at a specific point in time reveal broader truths about our collective values and experiences. It so happens that debate in the Wall Street Journal illustrates exactly how he views the COVID fallout playing out on our wrists. “In the 1930s, there was this psychologist called John…
Although I have not been collecting for decades, over the past five years or so I have definitely gained a lot of insight, through trial and error, on some best practices if one is going to go down the rabbit hole of watch collecting. As John Mayer points out in the first-ever Talking Watches with Hodinkee, the first watches (in his case, 10-12) one buys will not reflect your collecting values as you progress in the hobby, and it’s inevitable to have regrets and make mistakes along the way. Here are five lessons I’ve learned during my own watch-collecting journey … 1. You get what you pay for … Don’t pick your watch dealer, whether new or second hand, based on the cost, but rather the capacity to service. It is best to try to have the brand service your watch for you in their factory for a “factory service”, but sometimes you may need to enlist a local watchmaker. As my trusted watch repairer (shout out to Grand Central Watch!) would say, you don’t want a quick “fake” service. You want a service done right, especially for something as precious as your wristwatches. I am not referring to how…
Time+Tide has always been proudly Australian-based, and, whenever required, Aussie-centric. If you didn’t know this before earlier this year, you would have learned it then. Our country was ravaged by bushfires, and many of you reading came to our aid by supporting an auction we held to help out. But that is all a distant memory. What is more current is that we have not been all about Down Under this week, and that’s been refreshing. At the weekend we encouraged New Yorkers to get down to the Nature of Time Experience that our writer Zach Blass attended and highly recommended. And then, to close out the working week we have a list of Scandinavian watch brands — several that are lesser-known — compiled by our prolific man in the north, Thor Svaboe. To round out the United Staff Members of Time+Tide, we have an Englishman attending Geneva Watch Days next week with an Amsterdam-based Melburnian shooting the action. Which is all, in the final instance, rather lucky, given that the ‘H’ and ‘Q’ in our HQ stands these days for ‘heavily quagmired’. We hope you enjoy the key highlights from another big week of watch action. Seiko is taking it to…