Venezianico Arsenale – 6221550

Venezianico have done it again with the dial of the Arsenale Avventurina – 6221550. It is dreamy. It sparkles with an effervescence you seldom see, and when it catches the light just right, then you are instantly rewarded with a thing of beauty glistening from the 40mm dial. There’s no clutter on the dial, just three hands doing their thing, a tiny cross from the clock tower in St Mark’s square, and applied indices by the railroad track. The hands have the odd coating of BGW9 Super-LumiNova® but its not their purpose to shine, that is left to the dial!

Avventurina refers to either the technique of making glass with embedded metallic particles or the resulting shimmering glass itself, created in 17th-century Murano, Italy. The glass gets its name from the Italian phrase “all’avventura“, meaning “by chance,” because the technique was discovered accidentally by glassmakers spilling copper fragments into a blue glass paste. it soon became became a symbol of Venetian craftsmanship and spread throughout Europe.

The watch wears well at 9.95mm thickness, including the anti-reflective coated sapphire. The dial and the satin finished steel works beautifully together offering an elevated feeling and the knurled bezel is slightly reminiscent of the Parmagiani Fleurier Tonda. The lug to lug of 44mm keeps the watch honest, and it wears very comfortably on my 21cm wrist. For just under £700 you are getting a beautiful watch that can be a daily wear on the integrated rubber strap supplied. However, when you you change the strap to the Canova Concept Bracelet, made for the Arsenale range, it really ups the ante and becomes quite the dress watch.

The steel case, water resistant to 5ATM, houses a Miyota 9039 automatic movement, 24 jewels, and provides a power reserve of 42+ hours. The movement is quiet on the whole but can occasionally be heard.

Theres a closed caseback celebrates the Arsenale of Venice. A vast, historic shipyard and armory complex, that was the engine of the Venetian Republic’s naval and commercial power. A marvel of pre-industrial engineering, it housed the world’s first true assembly line, allowing Venice to maintain its dominance over Mediterranean trade for centuries.

It’s a beautiful piece by the Venezianico, who are really creating something quite special. Not just watchwise, but as a company. They are going from strength to strength, as was proved by their Redentore Utopia watch, which houses the caliber V5000 (more of this in a separate piece) and a hand guilloched dial.

This Avventurine dial also features on Venezianico’s other models the Redentore and the Nereide. It’s a stunning piece that offers versatility, reliability and comfort for, what I think is, an affordable price.