BOLDR Expedition PVD

COLIN WEAVER NOVEMBER 2017

 

HANDS ON WITH THE BOLDR EXPEDITION PVD AUTOMATIC FIELD WATCH

AN INTRODUCTION TO BOLDR

BOLDR WATCHES are a Singapore based company created by co-founders & Diver’s Watches sponsors Travis, Leon and Isa. BOLDR state that they were ‘Founded to create active urban wear watches and apparel for the men and women traversing the urban outdoors around us. BOLDR creates products that assist and enhance the lives of those who put them on – blending the perfect balance of style, form and function.’

THE WATCH

The BOLDR Expedition watch with its military-inspired design is a unique timepiece. It’s rugged but stylish build makes it a watch ready to go anywhere with you, from climbing a mountain, white water rafting to simply looking the part in the office or on a swanky night out on the town. A good watch for daytime while looking smart to carry on through to the evening.

This watch has been built tough, ready for whatever life or you as the wearer choose to throw at it. Built in a 316L stainless steel machined case with a WR of 200 meters 660 feet. It has dual screw-down crowns proud enough to be practical and easy to use but subtle enough to enhance the watch case. They are positioned at 2 & 4 and adjust the time/date and the inner crown bezel. I found the time and date crown to be very positive between marks with an audible click. This made changing both time and date an easy task unlike some watches where it is difficult to get the crown at the right mark for adjustment, the Boldr Expedition was crisp and concise every time.

The inner bezel is clearly marked with N, E, S & W at 12, 3, 6 & 9 and can be used to mark countdowns, time elapsed or for the use as a compass.
Finding North and South in the northern hemisphere using a watch is easy providing you have enough light from the sun to cast a shadow, take a thin small stick and hold it upright against your watch as you hold the watch flat rotate the watch until the shadow lines up with the hour hand you are now pointing the hour hand at the sun, halfway between the hour hand and 12 o’clock will be south. The Expedition has an automatic Swiss movement, featuring a hacking seconds hand and supported by dialshock to absorb the rigours of outdoor adventures.

An easy to read dial with a visually striking-contrast display thanks to the matte dial featuring an inner minute track. The BOLDR logo and name sits proudly below the 12 o’clock mark.
The numerals are large enough to give a vintage feel while appearing slightly raised to give a sense of visual depth.
I found the large date window an advantage, stylishly placed at the 20-past mark. Black date numbers on white make it easy to read. It is a particular dislike of mine when watch makers put a date the same colour as the face and so small as to be useless without a magnifying glass. Of all the watches I have come across I find this one of the easiest to read, something that really appeals to me. Night time trekking hunting or fishing the Expedition has your back with an impressively bright Swiss Super-LumiNova two colour lume that kept its glow for a considerable amount of time in dark environments. The second screw-down crown has bright orange rings for easy identification and gives a nice subtle touch of colour.

The Expedition is truly a watch to grace anyone’s collection. I found it to have good versatile wearability while being extremely comfortable on the wrist. Its 41mm case would also appeal to wearers with a smaller wrist however with a 48mm lug to lug it didn’t look out of place on my 8inch wrist. This watch’s stylish design makes it the perfect want to have accessory for your outdoor adventure lifestyle or kick back leisure pursuits.

It’s available in 6 colours, and comes with a canvas strap, calf leather lining, and brass eyelets for a chunkier feel. The lens on the Expedition is the BOLDR double domed sapphire crystal, with AR coating on the underside. The caseback is also sapphire crystal with Boldr’s signature caseback artwork – allowing you to view the inner mechanisms of the watch, a nice feature.

I believe that this is the perfect ‘one for all’ watch. If you want one quality watch to suit any pursuit, outing or occasion then this is the watch for you. After having this watch in my possession for a few weeks to wear and review I found it hard to pass on and was sorry to part with it.

 

SPECIFICATIONS

CASE
316L Stainless Steel
PVD on selected models

INNER BEZEL / CHAPTER RING
35.0mm x 29.0mm

MOVEMENT
Swiss Made. Sellita SW200-1 with 28,800 bph
4Hz, 26 Jewels, Hacking seconds

POWER RESERVE
Approximately 38 hours

WINDING CROWNS
6.5mm. Crown at 4H for time and date adjustment
Crown at 2H for compass, elapsed time and count-down

DIAL 
Matte dial with superluminova hour markers, printed logo and subtitles, and minute track

LENS
Edge rounded double-dome Sapphire Crystal with underside AR coating

WATER RESISTANCE
200m (656 ft.) / 20ATM

STRAP
Canvas strap with pads and stitching, with brass eyelets, calf leather lining, steel buckle with etched logo

CASE SIZE
41.0mm

CASE THICKNESS
14.5mm

LUG TO LUG
48mm

LUG WIDTH
20mm

CASE BACK
Sapphire crystal see-through caseback with custom artwork
Screw-down caseback, thread in steel bezel.

 

Colin Weaver is an ex-Police Officer and Martial Arts Instructor. He is the Senior Admin on Diver’s Watches Facebook Group. He has two great loves in his life his family and his watch collection. He is a keen watch lover but is hooked on one type of watch more than any other dive watches. He has lived by the sea for most of his life and has spent a great deal of that time on the water or diving under it.