If a vintage styled field watch is your thing, then maybe the Gruppo Gamma Venturo Field Watch II maybe just the thing for you. Oh, and we’re giving it away!
What We Love
- Vintage styling
- Easy to wear
- Changeable straps
What We Don’t
- Not a high grade movement
- Lack of design elements on strap
- Not suitable for smaller wrists
Overall Rating: 8.375/10
- Value for money: 8/10
- Wearability: 9/10
- Design: 8.5/10
- Build quality: 8/10
This is a review with a difference. Whilst we get a lot of watches to review each month, this time we’ve decided to review one we’re giving away to our amazing audience. How do you win? simply take our short 4 minute survey to help us design and write content to help you, our readers. which you can take it here. Don’t forget to come back and read the review when you’re done!
Gruppo Gamma is probably a brand you’ve not heard of, and not surprisingly as they’re a micro brand founded in 2013, named after the Italian frogmen unit of the same code name, that was first put to action in 1940 and was the first modern naval diver unit. The top secret elite force was called “Gruppo Gamma” which was said to have originated from the Pirelli rubber skinsuit, called “muta gamma”, that was used by the divers. And they make some very reasonably priced tool watches with inspiration from vintage style field and dive watches.
The Design
If you think this looks familiar in style, then you’re not wrong. The Venturo is heavily influenced by brands such as Panerai and Rolex, which you can see across some of their other collections, such as the Peacemaker line whose dial is very much like the Radiomir sandwich dial. The design of the Venturo however is based on the Rolex Oyster Army, Ref. 3139 with California Dial. The fauxtina lumed Arabic numerals are prominent on the California dial, and are nice and easy to read. When compared to the Rolex from 1943, you can certainly see the design elements coming through.
Having copious amounts of lume, it’s a true field watch, designed to be taken out and into the outdoors, and worn throughout the night. And as you can see from the images, it does glow a beautiful green!
The dial is a sunburst black, and inside, looks almost matte, however, bring it into the light and you can see the dial striations from the centre. Another nice touch is the hands in a plated Rose gold, styled in an homage to the vintage Rolex, albeit more modernised and stylised version of.
The tiered case in combination with the box shaped sapphire crystal gives the Venturo nice depth and angular features that play with the light. The brushed 316L steel of the fixed bezel offsets the high polish of the sloped step down to the top of the polished main case and lugs, whilst the brushed steel sides give the watch a durable quality, less prone to scratches.
The Venturo comes with two different straps and a spring bar tool so you can alter the look of it easily. The black leather is very utilitarian, with very little embellishments other than the two bits of white stitching on the sides near the lugs. The Khaki canvas strap gives the watch a much more ‘adventurous’ vibe, and when on this, looks the goods. You can almost imagine yourself trekking through the jungle, exploring Mayan ruins, or if you’re not Josh Gates, just a good weekend watch to wear to the beach !
How it Wears
The Gruppo Gamma Venturo Field Watch II wears well. The black leather strap is soft and moulds to the wrist easily. I’d have to say that I’ve worn a lot of leather straps on both my watches and ones for review, and very few come close to the comfort of this leather strap. Most as stiff and take a while to break in, however, the Venturo’s strap just hugs the wrist nicely. The canvas strap is a little more stiff, but still moulds fairly quickly, and I’d say after a few days on the wrist, will be like it was made for your own.
Whilst on the larger side for watches these days at 42mm, it doesn’t wear overly big at all. I’ve a 17.5cm wrist, and it fits perfectly on it. This is helped by the case height only being 11mm thick, and about 12.5mm if you include the crystal’s height. The lug to lug is 48mm and they do curve down quite sharply so it wears very flat and flush when on the wrist.
The caseback isn’t flash, but it’s designed to be easy wearing. The hobnail design gives it a little more character when you compare to a Rolex Explorer or Submariner, and would help in the hotter months (or if you’re exploring those Mayan Ruins mentioned earlier!) with sweat and sitting snug on the wrist.
The Movement
The Gruppo Gamma Venturo Field Watch II isn’t an expensive watch, and one aspect that helps this is the Seiko Instruments NH35A automatic movement in it. It’s a robust and widely used movement, so you know that it will run without issues for a long time to come, and parts are readily available. Beating at 3Hz and with a 41hr power reserve it will get you out of trouble. Accuracy is an acceptable -20/+40 seconds per day.
The Venturo is water resistant to 200m and does have a screw down crown to protect the movement, so I wouldn’t hesitate to wear it in the pool or to the beach should you own it. Now we have not tested it out at all on this front like we would normally, given that this is a prize that will be going to a lucky winner, but the case is solid, and with a Seiko movement and screw down crown, you would be safe to head out adventuring with it.
Final Thoughts
I was pleasantly surprised with the Venturo Field Watch II. Its a great wearing watch, looks nice on the wrist and has those great vintage vibes that is so in right now. Whilst it’s based on the Rolex Oyster Army, it does remind me of a Radiomir somewhat in style, most probably as these are still available readily today.
At a price point of $360USD or approximately $600AUD, it is hard to go wrong with the Venturo as an entry level watch that’s robust and sturdy, looks good and with vintage vibes.
And if you want to win this watch, don’t forget to take our short reader feedback survey and enter the draw to win. Entries close on the 12th June 2023, with the winner announced on the 13th June 2023, and published on our site the next day.
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Reference: Venturo Field Watch II, Black Sunburst
Specification
- Case: 42mm, 12.5mm thick, 48mm lug to lug
- Case: 316L Stainless Steel
- Dial: Black sunburst dial with luminous markers
- Hands/Indices: Gold colour hands, luminous Hour, minute & second display with Swiss Super-LumiNova, ‘Old Radium’ color
- Crystal: Box shaped sapphire crystal, anti-reflective
- Water resistance: 200m (20BAR)
- Movement: Seiko NH35A automatic and hand-windable, 21,600 bph, accuracy -20~+40 s/day
- Power reserve: 41 hours
- Strap: Black leather and Khaki canvas straps with pin buckle
