The Opifex Venture is a list of my favorite things: Sapphire. Titanium. Automatic calibre. On top of that, we get a Power Reserve meter, and sub seconds and a date wheel in an arrangement I call skeleton dial, with a non skeleton movement.
Titanium housings are excellent. I love the lightweight and superior durability titanium provides. Here, the case is titanium in PVD black. It has modular lugs secured with three screws per side. In this example, they’re PVD rose gold, which matches the rose gold elements in the watch face.
The face has an outer minute track with rose gold hour indices. There’s a sub-seconds dial at 6, ringed in rose gold, with a rose gold hand, and a power reserve indicator, with rose gold ring and hand. The central hour and minute hands are also rose gold, with lume. The date wheel is a skeletonized affair where the numerals are cut out of the metal of the date wheel. The date window at 4 is ringed in rose gold as well.
I need to point out that the people behind OPIFEX care about what they’re doing here. They paid close attention to the fit and finish of materials, as well as the seating of the hands. We discussed how important it was to them that the hands in the subdials aligned with the height of the decorative rings of the subdials. They gave a lot of thought to modular lugs. There are some interesting things here that all came together for them. It’s not the individual elements that count, it’s the sum of all of the elements together. For me, this watch isn’t that dissimilar from what makes a watch like a SevenFRIDAY good. And it is good. 
The automatic movement is a bit of a mystery, and it’s unmarked, but decorated with stripes and engine turning. The movement holder is matching in metal and engine turning, seen through the sapphire back. The crown is easy to turn, has a nice diagonal knurling, and the power reserve indicator responds quickly to manual winding. The Opifex name is not marked on the face anywhere, but instead is printed on the crystal. Opifex claim the movement is made in house, and they do make the hour wheel guard and the date wheel themselves.
It comes on a canvas strap lined with leather that matches the black PVD titanium case handsomely. If you like a skeletonized dial, this is a solid choice.
Watch Overview
- Brand & Model: Opifex Venture
- Price: Earlybird pricing starts at $320 USD
- Who we think it might be for: You like that skeletonize dial, and a little metal flashiness.
- Would I buy one for myself based on what I’ve seen?: It’s pretty cool. I like the idea of replaceable lugs.
- If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: Anything that can be done to slim it down
- What spoke to me the most about this watch: The depth of the skeletonized watch face
Tech Specs from OPIFEX
- Case size: 44mm (52mm lug-to-lug)
- Height: 13mm
- Case material: Titanium (black)
- Crystal: flat sapphire
- Strap: canvas, pin buckle clasp
- Movement: FE01M, 22 jewels, 21600vph, -20/+40 seconds a day.
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