A special edition of Boldr Tuesday here, it’s so special that it’s coming to you on a Friday. Boldr allowed me the honor of having first access to their newest Odyssey. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Boldr, “BOLDR Supply Company is an outfitter brand for the adventurers of the world. Based out of Singapore, we manufacture watches and gear that’s super-tough, stylish, functional, and built to be used and abused every day.Because watches are worn on wrists and your wrists follow you everywhere, you’ll need a companion that can handle any environment on your path. Strap on a BOLDR and step out of your comfort zone, comfortably.”
This is also special because it features one of Boldr’s new knives. Yes, you read that correctly, Boldr is making knives now. They teamed up with adventurer, Mikael Strandberg for this venture. For those of you who don’t know Strandberg, “his excursions have earned him a formidable reputation amongst the world of adventurers, covering almost 100 countries over 34 years as a professional explorer, fellow of The Explorers Club, and fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.” A while back Boldr asked me what I thought about the idea of producing knives. What do you think my answer was in response to that question?!? It was a big “HELL YEAH! I think Boldr should start producing knives. Watches and knives go together brilliantly in the adventurer lifestyle. So much of the Boldr ethos is about adventure so having knives added to their lineup makes perfect sense to me.
When the watch arrived, and my excited fingers opened up the mini-pelican style box, right out the gate the case of the watch is what I took notice of first. I wanted to talk more about this case first before diving into any of the other details. It’s such a badass case and I love that Boldr went back to its original Odyssey case design for this Coral Brown 2.0. The strong angular shapes that make up the Odyssey’s case is nothing short of magnificent. Those angles, teamed together with the aged steel PVD finish, delivers some of the strongest wrist presence I have seen from any Boldr. The lugs alone are enough to get my watch loving glands to salivate. You damn well better believe that I am loving the oversized screw down crown. I am such a drool-fool for the aesthetics & the functionality of a good crown, and Boldr definitely delivered on both fronts here. The crown is extremely easy to grasp a hold of, it screws in/out without any issues and looks awesome too because of it being signed with the raised Boldr logo. Even with my cold, wet fingers gripping and operating the crown was an easy task because off the way Boldr designed the edges of this crown. Why do I have to operate the crown when I am out in nature and the elements you ask?!? Watch photography 101 of course, it’s all about the ten & two.
Same points can be made for the bezel, in terms of A&F, it’s not only aesthetically pleasing to the eyes but also has that precision functionality that I appreciate. The matte finish on this case it something that I truly enjoy because I’m a firm believer that a watch designed to sustain adventurer provided abuse should never have polished details. That’s a quick rundown of this watch for now, as I want to talk a bit about their knife. If features a snake wood handle, M390 steel drop-point blade and a liner style lock. It pairs perfectly with this new Odyssey. It’s well built with that Boldr quality and ruggedness that is perfect for ASA, adventure sustained abuse! As I get more adventures in with the Woodsman III, I will update you all on how it’s holding up and it functions.
Time to dial it in a bit my friends! Looking through the sapphire crystal into this coral brown dial has been quite a treat for me. Just off the top of my head, I don’t think I have experienced a brown dial before. I am really digging this brown eyed dial, it reminds me of bronze. Bronze in the sense of how it’s always changing because of the constant change of appearance. This dial is always changing its appearance. When it hits certain light, especially sunlight, is when the sunburst really “shines”. Pun intended. I had the watch indoors for a bit when it first arrived and I actually thought it was fitted with a matte chocolate dial. I was actually surprised to see that it was in fact a sunburst dial. The pic below highlights how it looks like a matte chocolate dial.
Boldr has yet to disappoint on their hand choice on any of their watches and this latest Odyssey is no exception! I absolutely love these hands on this piece. The shape, length and overall design is spot on. What I like most about these hands are the width and the like fest didn’t end there either. The dark gun metal color of the hands with the delicious cream feeling is quite pleasing to the eyes. The most important detail here though, is that the hands are proportional to the dial itself. Wouldn’t be nice if the hands looked this good in the dark too?!? Well Boldr has you covered because they used old Radium Super-LumiNova® but not that lame kind that has a dim glow either, this lume glow brightly like gamma radiation.
The soft cream color of the applied indices and hands creates a lovely cohesiveness with the brown dial. I love how the gun metal coloration of the hands ties into the aged PVD finish of the case. Boldr always does a great job with carry over of their design language throughout the entire piece. The touch of red on the tip of the second adds a small detail but a detail that impacts on a much larger scale. Boldr kept the text simple on the Odyssey’s dial with some bare minimum goodness. They included the Boldr name and logo under the 12H and above the 6H date window is “automatic” , Odyssey and the water resistance depth, which for this diver is 500M/1650ft. I could have done without the date window but I know there are plenty of people who appreciate them. It’s certainly a detail that I can live with and won’t break any deals for me. What Boldr did to help with helping to keep this dial clean is that they included a chapter ring that has the minute/seconds markers printed on it.
What kind of dial details do you love and what details will be dealbreakers? Let me know in the comments below 👇🏽
As I have spent more time with this watch, I have been discovering new details on this piece each day. One of those details was the date window at the 6H position. The date wheel on the Odyssey 2.0 is the same shade of brown as the dial itself. What makes this even better is that the printed numerals on the wheel are in the same cream as the applied indices. It is those details that separates Boldr from other brands. Their attention to these types of details show Boldr’s commitment to increasing the wearer’s experience with their watches.
The Odyssey has two wearing options for you to choose from, one is the Druber® fluoroelastomer brown rubber strap and the other is a steel bracelet that is done in the aged PVD finish to match the Odyssey’s case. The rubber strap is extremely soft and pliable with wrist forming comfort through and through. It’s armed with a standard buckle & pin that is also done in that badass aged PVD. Boldr did a hell of a job with consistency in the design details throughout the Odyssey. I have to say more so than any other watch they have done, and that’s something because they have been killing it for the past 4 or so years! I’m not a bracelet guy, but this bracelet is really something special because of how they finished it with the aged PVD. The clasp on the bracelet also received the same treatment. It’s also equipped with a micro-adjustment to fine tune the fit.
How about that caseback?!? A screw-in solid caseback that checks my box not only because it’s solid but because of the Kraken….The killer Kraken!!! Clash of the Titans was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. I asked Santa year and year for the Kraken toy from that movie. Never got it, but that didn’t ruin my love of Ray Harryhausen’s amazing stop motion animation! Underneath the Kraken, lies another beast, this beast is of the ticking species. Boldr used the Swiss Sellita SW200-1 automatic movement inside the Odyssey 2.0. A good, reliable workhorse style movement.
I always like my moody Tuesdays a bit more Boldr. The Odyssey Coral Brown 2.0 definitely has some enchanting powers that make those Tuesday Boldr. How so?!? Well, because it’s the first sunburst dial that I actually appreciate. That’s saying something because you all know what a matte black dial nerd I am. It’s easy to get set in your ways and not allow new/different details into your watch loving life. There’s one thing though that I consistently love about Boldr’s watches is their attention to quality control. This is 5th or 6th Boldr I have spent time with and there has never been an issue with their quality.
There is an area of the Odyssey that I would change and I am sure some of you already know what it is. Should I cue the Jeopardy music while you write down your answers, remember to phrase your response in the form of a question. If you guessed “what are quick release spring bars?” you are correct! I’m sorry if you are a fan of quick release spring bars, but I am not. The lack the reassurance I like to have when I am out on one of my adventures in the wild. Now here’s my solution for companies that won’t go the drilled lug route, if you are going to go the quick release route then please include a set of regular spring bars with the watch so that those of use who love switching it up to custom straps can do so without searching for a pair of spring bars that properly fit.
Honestly that’s the only change I would make to the Odyssey 2.0. The highlight of this piece for me is how well done the aged PVD steel case and bracelet are done. I love how it looks like it’s made from granite. Boldr carrying over this detail from case to bracelet is wonderful to see the consistency of the design language. This watch has some major wrist presence as a result of that consistency and it even retains some fantastic wrist presence if it’s on the rubber strap or a custom strap. Boldr’s line of Odyssey divers are built for ASA, also known as adventure sustained abuse. The 2.0 is no different! It’s a watch you won’t have to worry about once you strap it onto your wrist and if it sustains some scars, it will only add to the badass look of the aged PVD steel. Boldr makes adventuring more fun not only with this grab & go watch, but even more so because of their line of grab & go knives. The watch and the knife are great choices for any fan of EDC gear!
The watch and the knife are available for purchase via Boldr’s website:
https://www.boldrsupply.co/collections/daring-dive-ready/products/odyssey-coral-brown-20
https://www.boldrsupply.co/collections/hack-your-adventures
Thanks for reading, I truly appreciate it. This is my 10th year and I’m still going strong. I am grateful for the continued readership from all over the globe!
Thank you Boldr for the opportunity.
SPECIFICATIONS:
- Case: 45.5mm 316L Stainless Steel + helium escape valve
- Movement: Swiss Sellita SW200-1 Automatic movement
- Water Resistance: 500m (1650ft) / 50ATM
- Crown: Screw-down crown with custom embossed BOLDR logo
- Dial: Brown sunburst
- Lume: Old Radium Super-LumiNova®
- Bezel: 120-click unidirectional stainless steel bezel
- Lens: Double dome sapphire crystal with inner side AR-coating
- Strap: Druber® fluoroelastomer brown rubber strap
- Case Thickness: 16.8mm
- Lug size: 22mm
- Lug to lug: 52mm
- Case Back: Single-piece screw-down case back with embossed limited edition artwork
- Limited to 100pcs with individual serial numbers, from 001/100 to 100/100
Woodsman III Knife SPECIFICATIONS:
- Closed length: 110mm / 4.3″
- Open length: 190mm / 7.5″
- Blade length: 6.5mm / 2.55″
- Blade steel: M390
- Blade shape: Drop-point
- Handle length: 105mm / 4.13″
- Handle material: Snake wood
- Lock type: Liner lock
- Weight: 56g / 0.12lb
Time to Blog Watches 