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“Audentes Fortuna Juvat” – Fortune Favours the Bold. Or could that be the BOLDR? This new brand name is a play on words from an outdoor and dive watch company looking to make an impression. Does the title refer to ever bolder explorers seeking new challenges or is it a reference to the solid presence of an enormous million-year-old sphere of rock discovered while exploring?

For sure, it is a very clever piece of marketing that conveys, in one word, the spirit behind the creation of these watches.

The BOLDR Supply Company is a brand for explorers across the world. Based in Singapore, they manufacture watches that are contemporary, functional, and built to be used and abused every day.

There are many BOLDR models but they can be divided into two principal design genres: field/outdoor or diver.

The BOLDR Venture Models

The outdoor models are designated Venture and sub-divide into the Venture Automatic, Venture Field Medic, Venture Wayfarer, and the Venture GMT. These models all share a highly functional 38mm titanium case design with offset crown or central crown and pushers for the chronograph variant.

There are very close design parallels across the range, which adds to the highly distinctive Venture look. The base model Venture is a classic Field watch design with either a Japan quartz or NH35 Seiko automatic movement.

It is a no-nonsense unit that draws inspiration from military watch specifications and adds a contemporary twist to those designs. Ventures are available in four colours, Carbon Black, Jungle Green, Navy Blue or (white) Sand Storm. All Venture watches have a water resistance of 200m and a screw-down crown with custom embossed BOLDR logo. High legibility is further enhanced with Japan Superlume and a flat sapphire crystal lens with an Anti-Reflective coating. Ventures are supplied as standard on a nylon NATO Strap with custom titanium buckles.

As you move through the range the models have additional complications beyond the standard Field watch. The Medic is a chronograph watch with two highly specialized functions to measure pulse rates and respiratory counts. Powered by a SII VK64 Mecaquartz Chronograph movement the watch has clearly marked indexes and specific health-tracking scales to make it a valuable tool for professional medical staff, be they civilian or military.

The Wayfarer harks back to the classic world of exploration when the requirement for a 24hr sub-dial was the only guaranteed way to be sure that a critical radio call or timing checkpoint was not missed. Trekking the Arctic, where it is dark for six months of the year, it is remarkably easy to confuse 0700hrs with 1900hrs on an analogue watch. This is also a common dilemma for cave explorers and submariners. However, with the Wayfarer Khaki this problem is eliminated due to the inclusion of an essential 24hr dial at the 9 o’clock position.

A GMT watch is still the global explorer’s best companion. If you are a regular traveller, once you start to use a GMT hand, it becomes a constant in your life. Powered by a Ronda 515.24H Quartz and with the ability to show a second-time zone or be set to home time for a 24-hour function, the BOLDR Venture GMT will serve well as you navigate foreign lands and always give you a reassuring pointer to home.

The Venture range has a watch for everyone who is an explorer at heart. Whether you are on a casual weekend walk or a professional expedition to the ends of the Earth, a BOLDR Venture will be your prefect partner.

The BOLDR Diver Range

If your adventures or profession take you under the waves, then BOLDR also has your needs covered with their diver series – the Odyssey.

This range is available in two principal models, the steel Freediver or the Bronze. The 300m Freediver is a 40mm classic style diver but with many subtle design features we have come to expect from BOLDR.

Legibility and contemporary style work together making the Freediver a watch for all occasions. Inspired by the sheer will and bravery of freedivers who push to the limits this watch honours those qualities. The 316L case and bracelet are of a design that has evolved beyond so many similar watches on the market today. The angular design is striking and reminiscent of a piece of essential sub-aqua equipment.

The beautifully textured dial is uncluttered with unmistakable legibility and available in white, green, blue or red. Blue lume gives the watch excellent low light capability and a bright orange spear point second hand allows for accurate timekeeping.

The 120 click dive-compatible unidirectional bezel is made from ceramic to withstand scratches and long-lasting exposure to water. The Odyssey Freediver has a custom case back depicting the mythological Kraken sea monster depicting confidence to face the unknown of the deep.

Within the waterproof case beats an anti-magnetic Japanese Cal. 9015 Automatic movement with 42 hours of power and Parashock capability. The BOLDR Odyssey Freediver fully meets ISO 6425 dive standard criteria and is a highly capable watch but if you want something truly special then it is also available on a limited basis with a meteorite dial extracted from fragments of the 4-billion-year-old Muonionalusta Meteorite, which was discovered in the Arctic Circle.

As we saw with the recent 2021 Watches and Wonders releases, Bronze is the new steel and BOLDR have adopted this material for the second model in the Odyssey range – the Bronze.

Whilst these watches retain the family name, they are very different in design to the Freedivers. The 45.5mm cases are made from CuSn8 bronze. CuSn8 is an alternate term for phosphor bronze, which is an alloy of copper, tin and around 0.30% phosphorus. This mix is highly specialised due to the low level of impurities, resistance to corrosion and minimal reaction to oxygen.

Bronze Odysseys are pure dive watches with 500m water resistance, triple lock crowns and professional helium escape valves. They are equipped with a unique powerful luminesce designated Lumicast. This is a '3D' lume due to the raised nature of the hour markers, which are built by combining ceramic parts with Super-LumiNova.

Powered by an SII NH35 movement with 24 jewels, a power reserve of 41 hours and additional protection from Seiko’s Diashock proprietary anti-shock system, Bronze models are also ISO certified.

Specially selected Druber fluoroelastomer rubber straps finish off these high-end aquatic units. Each model is limited to 100 pieces with individual serial numbers.

WatchGecko UK authorised retailers for BOLDR watches

BOLDR watches are an exciting addition to the WatchGecko portfolio and represent everything contemporary in the worlds of exploration and underwater time keeping. With the Venture range starting at just £269 and the Odyssey range peaking at a remarkably low £579 BOLDR watches represent outstanding value for money, design flair and true technical capability.

Check out the full range here.