If I had to introduce Boldr as a television series, it would be Star Trek. Can the Venture Field Medic II be the “Enterprise” of the watch world?

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If I had to pick, I would say that I’m more of a Star Wars than Star Trek kind of guy. You really can’t beat Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan battling it out with Darth Maul to the tune of Duel of the Fates. That being said, I was (finally) introduced to the world of Star Trek through the 2009 JJ Abrams film, and I must admit that is some good stuff. The film ends off with a classic Star Trek quote:

Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before!

Star Trek (2009)

From before we began sending watches to the moon (see: Speedmaster), watches and adventure have been intricately woven together, often through the heroic acts of pioneers in various fields; other times through the genius of marketing. Today, almost every brand has a staple in its collection – a watch for scaling the highest mountains, a piece for diving into the deepest oceans. Today’s article however, features a brand that has made adventure the heart of every piece it makes – meet Boldr.

The Brand

Boldr is a young Singapore (support local!) based watch brand that focuses on making watches (and other gear) that’s “super-tough, stylish, functional, and built to be used and abused every day.”

A quick look at their catalogue will tell you that Boldr means what they say; they believe that watches are meant to be worn everywhere, and theirs are designed to take a beating. No worries here about keeping your Boldr in a safe – they want you to bring it out on an adventure.

When I bought my Venture Field Medic II, I happened to meet the founder, Leon, who shared Boldr’s origin story with me informally. Interestingly enough, the company had started out on Kickstarter with the aim of producing a smartwatch with a battery life that would outdo alternatives on the market then. Despite a successful fundraising campaign, the brand ran into difficulties with costs and manufacturing, ultimately pulling the plug on their project and refunding their backers. However, they received feedback that the backers liked the design and suggested to continue the project – but this time, creating a traditional watch instead. Boldr took the plunge, and hasn’t looked back since.

It’s one thing for a brand to tell you to put on a watch and go out there to live it; it’s another for the brand to have actually done that. Pretty authentic if you ask me!

The Case & Specifications

The Venture Field Medic II is an eye catching watch, and I was drawn to it immediately. The watch comes in at a case size of 38mm (41mm including the pushers, 41.5mm including the crown), with a thickness of 12.5mm, lug width of 20mm and a very compact lug to lug of 44mm.

The measurements are a dead giveaway with regards to wearability. The Field Medic II sits comfortably on my 16cm wrist and looks well proportioned. Smaller wrists like mine will have no issue rocking this piece.

While the watch sounds small specs-wise, it continues to maintain strong visual presence thanks to it’s tonneau-like case shape and sharp, angular profiles. Despite employing a matte finish throughout, the different facades of the case meet at various angles, giving rise to a visually appealing interplay of light and shadows.

The bezel sits rather proud of the case, which adds to the thickness. Despite being a quartz piece, the Field Medic II isn’t exactly thin, though it isn’t exactly thick either and I can attest that it fits well under most shirt cuffs. Sitting atop is a sapphire crystal with AR coating, providing for better legibility.

A knurled, screw down crown signed with Boldr’s logo is found at 3 o’clock; the crown offers good grip and is excellent to operate, which is ironic given that the only time you’ll need to do so is when adjusting for the date on months with 30 days, and the periodic adjustment for accuracy. Nonetheless, the crown is very well done and fits in with the tough-tool-watch aesthetic. I like it when brands pay attention to the small details, and thankfully Boldr hasn’t chosen to cut any corners here.

Chronograph pushers are located at 2 and 4 o’clock – rectangular buttons have been made the pushers of choice, fitting in with the angular theme and giving the watch a sleek look. Personally, I’m a fan of this style of pushers.

Water resistance is rated at 200m, with a screwdown caseback decorated with a Medic motif. The artwork features Boldr’s take on the Star of Life symbol, which is used to identify emergency medical services. Boldr mentions that the Field Medic series was inspired by the sacrifices of healthcare workers during the Covid – 19 pandemic; the caseback is probably a little tribute to these selfless warriors.

If I haven’t mentioned it above already, the Field Medic II wears incredibly well; not just because of its size but also because of its lightness. Having a full titanium case does help after all. I often forget just how light it is until I switch to wearing another watch, and its a joy to wear throughout even the longest of days.

Another benefit of titanium is the added durability; titanium is supposed to be stronger than stainless steel. You don’t hear Sia singing about being stainless steel after all. I’ve walked straight into a lamp post with my Venture, and amazingly it walked away unharmed.

Ironically, while reaching for my bag in a restaurant one time, I happened to brush past a handlebar and whoops, there’s a scratch. I’m not a stickler for pristine timepieces, though if every scratch was supposed to hold an adventure, the one where I eat porridge in a restaurant isn’t much of a story. Post scratch, I did some reading and learnt that while titanium is more durable than steel, it does scratch more easily. Titanium will oxidise over time however, and scratches tend to “fade out” after a while as compared to with stainless steel.

For anyone who’s interested, I did try the “eraser” hack on my scratch but I wouldn’t recommend it. It removed most of the scratch, but it didn’t exactly match the matte finish of the rest of the case. After a month or two however, the area that I buffed out oxidised and now you’ll have to look quite closely to spot the difference.

The Dial

The dial of the Venture Field Medic II is eye-catchingly gorgeous. The first thing that grabs your attention is the high contrast panda dial – the main dial is white with 2 sub-dials in black at 3 and 9 o’clock. The sub-dial at 3 is a 24 hour indicator, which some argue is not very useful, while the sub-dial at 9 is a 60-minute chronograph register.

A pulsometer is featured on the outer ring of the dial, with a red respiratory scale running on the inside. The pulsometer and respiratory scales are interesting complications that medical staff may find useful. You simply follow the instructions written on the dial – start the chronograph and count 30 heartbeats or 5 breaths, and you will be able to determine the patient’s heart rate / breathing rate. There’s probably more modern ways of doing this now, but the complications fit well with the medic theme of the timepiece.

Silver syringe hands have been chosen for the hour and minutes, while the main chronograph hand comes in the form of a red coloured stick hand, adding a nice touch of red that matches the respiratory scale. The chronograph sub-dials use “boxy” hands, and while they look interesting, they don’t exactly help with legibility. Its difficult to read the 60-minute register, with its rather dense minute track, and the sub-dial hands are a bit too thick. You probably wouldn’t use it to time very precise things.

Circular, printed indices mark out the hours and minutes, with a triangle to indicate 12 o’clock. At 6, a date window is included; I appreciate that the date window doesn’t break up the symmetry of the watch.

I find that the Venture Field Medic II is an interesting nexus of opposites. The bicompax layout gives the dial a strong sense of symmetry; the pulosmeter and respiratory scale however give it a touch of asymmetry. At first glance, the dial looks highly legible and simple, yet on closer look you realise a lot of things are happening and the dial is actually busier than you think.

One nice touch I thought to mention was the visual depth of the dial. The relatively thicker bezel combined with the use of a black chapter ring makes the dial appear to sit deeper than it actually is within the case. The chapter ring is also layered on top of the dial, which itself is in turn layered on top of the sub-dials like a “sandwich”, adding on to this effect.

The watch has one more trick up its sleeve. Aside from the lume filled hands, the entire dial is lumed with what Boldr calls “Japan Superlume”. Lume is strong and bright, and would be a great conversation starter in a dark room – if you ever needed a topic anyway.

The Movement

The Venture Field Medic II employs the Seiko VK64 movement as its engine of choice. The VK64 is Seiko’s mecaquartz movement, and should offer good reliability as with most Seiko movements. It is accurate to +/-20 seconds a month, though with no running seconds you probably won’t be able to set it super accurately to begin with anyway.

The VK64 combines the best of both worlds when it comes to chronographs – the smooth sweep of a mechanical movement with the accuracy of quartz.

The chronograph pushers feel crisp, and give off a nice tactile “click” when activated. Unlike quartz chronograph movements, the chronograph hand sweeps continuously as if it were a mechanical movement. Upon reset, the chronograph hand snaps back to 0 instantly, instead of going a round around the dial.

There are however, 2 issues that I have noticed with this movement. Firstly, unlike a quartz chronograph movement, you cannot calibrate the position of the chronograph hand yourself, and will need to take apart the watch and set the hands manually if they are out of alignment. When I got my watch, the chronograph hand was out of alignment, which Boldr gladly rectified by exchanging another watch for me. It happens from time to time and could affect any watch using a mecaquartz movement, so do check your timepieces when you first receive them.

The second issue I noticed is that when you reset the chronograph, the minutes hand jumps forward ever so slightly. I’m not sure if this is specific to my watch only or all VK64 movements, but if you use the chronograph in rapid succession, you will notice that your time is suddenly off by a minute or two. I’m not too bothered by this, as I almost never use the chronograph function anyway, but simply enjoy it for the sporty look.

The Strap

The watch comes on a Nato strap with titanium keepers and a signed buckle. The strap feels strong and durable – a bit too strong in fact. I find that the strap is a bit stiff for my liking, and I can’t get the watch to wear exactly how I like it on the stock Nato. I’ve seen some online reviews complaining that the keeper is too short; I actually appreciate that the keeper is shorter, which is useful for those with smaller wrists as the leftover strap to be tucked becomes much more reasonable. I have nothing against the provided strap, but it’s just not for me and I prefer to put it on my other straps.

Styling

The Price

At the time of writing, the Field Medic II can be bought from Boldr at a RRP of S$398 (USD300). For what you’re getting, I think its quite fair and the price is consistent with other microbrands, if not lower. Some other brands that use a similar movement are Brew and Autodromo, and those do come in at a higher price point. Holding my watch in hand, I’m confident that it will survive the various knocks and bumps I’m going to put it through, and I do feel that its well worth the price.

For major brands, its difficult to reach the guy on top but the Boldr team is quite small and there’s a high chance its the team that corresponds directly with you. If it counts for anything, I found that their customer service was great and I had no problems with exchanging my piece at all.

Overall Thoughts

If you constantly reach for a particular watch, you know that they’ve probably gotten at least a thing or two right. Ever since I bought the Venture Field Medic II, its become my grab and go piece; my no nonsense, always ticking away workhorse. I had initially positioned it in my collection as my field/outdoor watch, but being somewhat of a strap monster, it has since worked its way into many other situations, from the office to casual weekends out.

To say that it is eye-catching is not an understatement. On wrist, its gotten plenty of compliments from the likes of both watch enthusiasts and those who have yet to catch the watch bug. The proportions are on point, you get a titanium case, a mecaquartz movement, and a visually engaging dial – all for under 300 USD.

What I enjoy most about the Field Medic II however, is its simplicity and how it lines up with Boldr’s narrative. Watches are meant to be worn, not kept. There’s a whole world waiting for you out there, you just got to step out. I don’t feel the need to baby my Boldr – I just throw it on and I’m ready for the next big adventure.

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