BOLDR x Windup Watch Shop's Venture LE 3

Five years ago, we teamed up with BOLDR Supply Co. to build two exclusive versions of their Venture field watch. Now the collaboration is back with a new, bolder design — cast lume, a reworked dial layout, and a run capped at just 100 pieces. First up: a warm sand colorway that doesn't wait around for you to make up your mind.

Who BOLDR Supply Co Actually Is

BOLDR is a young and energetic brand based out of Singapore and Malaysia. Yet, despite their relatively young age, they make extremely impressive watches with specs that far surpass their price points. Inspired by adventure, the outdoors, and urban exploration, their watches are modern-facing, feature-rich, and always stylish.

The Design

It might seem obvious in hindsight, but a good way to tell if a watch design works is to look at how long it's been made. If it wasn't a success, it won't be long until it's discontinued. Classics, well, they are made for as long as there are collectors to buy them. Perhaps it's a touch early to say this, but the BOLDR Venture, which is in its eighth year of production, is on pace to become a future, affordable classic.

Tough, compact, titanium, automatic, well-priced — what's not to like? The Venture is a modern field watch that lacks any pretension. It's not pretending to be vintage, and it doesn't have features it doesn't need. At 38mm x 42mm x 12mm with a 20mm lug width, sapphire crystal, and 200m of water resistance, it was a go-anywhere, do-anything watch before that term became a cliché.

And that's why, five years ago, we teamed up with BOLDR to make two versions of the Venture exclusively for the Windup Watch Shop. We stayed true to the spirit of the watches, but changed the layout to have a little more of an exploration vibe, and added in some color, as we're prone to do. That said, legibility was maintained as a core principle.

Well, finally, five years later, we're bringing out a new series of the BOLDR x Windup Watch Shop Ventures that speak to the previous collaborations, but with a new, bolder (pun not intended) design. Three watches, each limited to 100 pieces, will drop over the next six months, and we dare say, you might want to get all three.

The new Ventures share a general layout with the previous versions, but with some significant differences. Large numerals mark 15, 45, and 60, with the date now positioned at 30. At center are crosshairs balancing the layout. We added a chapter ring to bring in another element of color and serve as a backdrop to the biggest change: cast lume.

We wanted to bring another level of functionality to the design, and decided on something that we simply couldn't have done five years ago. Adorning the dial on the inner surface are large lume blocks per hour, with cast lume numerals as well. On the chapter ring are more lume plots, rectangles at the cardinal points with dots for the hours in between. In the dark, all glow exceptionally, with the dots radiating icy blue and all of the other marks bright green.

Of course, we still had to have some fun with color. For the first release, the dial is a warm sandy tone with a dark gray chapter ring and cross-hair. The BOLDR logo and dial text are rendered in dark red, and the date wheel is turquoise, both providing surprising points of contrast. The hour and second hands are pale gray, and the minute hand matches the date wheel. Paired with a sand-color mil-strap, it comes together as adventurous, unique, and yet slightly understated on the wrist.

Inside the Venture LE is the well-regarded Seiko NH35, keeping accurate time and featuring hacking, hand-winding, and quick-set date. Priced at $429, the BOLDR x Windup Watch Shop Venture LE 3 is available to preorder now and will ship in late November.

Three watches. One hundred pieces each. The first one's up for preorder right now.

Where It Lands

The Venture has spent eight years proving a good field watch doesn't need to shout. This new run doesn't change that — it just adds cast lume, sharper color, and a reason to move quickly. Only 100 pieces of the sand dial will be made before the next colorway takes its place, and preorders are open now for a late-November ship date. If you've been circling a BOLDR x Windup collab, this is the one to act on.