The All-New Venturer GMT

All the watches were shipped. The reviews were glowing. Demand exceeded supply. It was time to make a bunch more of those watches go back to the drawing board and re-engineer virtually everything all over again.

I know, I know. This is becoming a habit. When something works, you should just do it again, right? But that’s just not how we do things. After every launch, we sit back, we reflect, and then, we challenge ourselves: How can we raise the bar just that little bit higher?

We start small. A subtle change reveals a tantalizing new possibility. Suddenly, a design vision we had deemed unattainable seems to dangle right there on the horizon. We chase it. We prototype. We go back to the drawing board. We try again. And then…eventually, finally… we get to where we want to be.

Impelled by Miyota’s game-changing 9075 movement (more on that soon), the all-new Venturer breaks new ground for TRASKA in so many ways. Yes, we’re bouncing-off-the-walls excited to be introducing our first ever GMT. But there’s so much more to this new watch than simply that. In fact…

…Every single component* of the Venturer has been completely re-engineered.

*Okay, aside from the date window — we let that one be.

We’ll start with the case. And to make following along a bit easier, I’m including a technical drawing of the previous iteration (Gen. 1) and the new GMT variant (Gen. 2).The first thing to note are the different sapphire crystals. As you can see, the top portions of both crystals are relatively similar — though the bottom half is a different story.

After a lot of prototyping, we decided to go with a new style of boxed sapphire crystal that requires 50% more material and twice the amount of machining to manufacture compared to the previous version. The result? The crystal now exhibits a certain warmth, a certain mellow subtlety that teases the eye in a way the previous version just could not.

Let’s move on to the case. The previous case dimensions and profile were good, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t room for a little improvement. So, we started by broadening the lug tips by around 7.5% — just enough to give the case a more robust, sportier look that would translate to a more assertive stance on the wrist.

Next, we turned our attention to the watch's profile. We resculpted the chamfers, revisiting every line of their silhouette. To further maximize the watches’ splendor, we also chose to mirror polish the flanks. This kind of finish really does the case justice, allowing light to dance off the convex sides in a way that has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.

The final flourishes can be seen when observing the crowns. By making the chamfers on their outer perimeters larger, they now give off a thinner, more refined appearance than their predecessors. The formerly engraved logo and globe motifs are now embossed and exhibit a combination of polished and media-blasted finishes.

With me so far? Wonderful, your attention to detail and patience is itself something to behold!

Now let’s move over to the dial, where our story continues. At a glance it appears to be the same dial as before. But you’re not here for just a glance. Upon close inspection, a host of visual nuances make themselves apparent.

Hone in on the applied indexes and allow yourself to be delighted by the subtle chamfers adorning their sides. Coming up with ways to allow light to reflect in all the right ways was at the forefront of our ambitions with the vast majority of these updates, and the faceted nature of these indexes achieves this in a way that is both opulent and restrained.

We wanted to give the hour and minute hands a bit more contrast against the dial, but we still wanted them to maintain their silver sheen. The solution? Carefully brushing the middle sections so they would stand out from the polished, sloping sides. Now, they’re more legible, and the light simply waltzes around them.

Oh no, we are not done! The bracelet was another key component deserving of our time and attention. To better assimilate its aesthetic with the polished case sides, the bracelet’s flanks now also exhibit a mirror-polished finish. Perhaps easy to miss at first glance, astute observers like yourself will notice the links have been shortened. This allows for more points of articulation, making it our most comfortable bracelet to date… and, spoiler alert, we’ll be rolling this improvement out across the entirety of our collection, but more on that another time.

The buckle was completely redesigned and now features a new locking mechanism with two points of contact for enhanced security. The two push buttons used to open it are now fully CNC-machined rather than stamped from sheet metal as before, affording the buckle an enhanced aesthetic as well as a more premium feel when used. Thanks to the addition of a 5th micro-adjust hole, the bracelet can now be lengthened or shortened in increments of 2 mm, which makes achieving the perfect fit easier than ever.

Shielded beneath sapphire crystal and surrounded by walls of hardened stainless steel lies the most noteworthy addition to the all-new Venturer: The Miyota 9075 GMT movement.

This is no ordinary GMT movement, either. The introduction of this movement by Miyota has broken the proverbial glass ceiling that had divided the two classes of GMT movements. Until now, GMT movements in the affordable spectrum were really only available with “caller” complications. When changing the time at a new destination, the GMT hand on these caller movements would advance along with the hour and minute hand. This necessitated the extra step of having to adjust the GMT hand back to its previous position after setting your watch to a new time zone.

The Miyota 9075 solves this issue. Now, the GMT hand is no longer dependent on the hour hand, meaning there’s no added step needed when setting the time after landing on the runway — simply adjust the hour hand to reflect the time zone of your newest locale.

Movements like this have existed before, but until now, such “traveler” or “true” GMT complications were only available in the luxury sphere of watchmaking. True, to the uninitiated, harping on this new “feature” in the more affordable segment of watchmaking may seem quite trivial. But for those of us who relish the little details and appreciate the sophistication of these little mechanical marvels, it’s like a really big deal, okay?!

And there you have it. From the dial to the case, from the bracelet to the movement, and from the window to the wall, the Venturer GMT has been lovingly, painstakingly, and passionately redesigned from the ground up. The only step remaining is to place one on your wrist.

Jon Mack
TRASKA Founder & Chief Iteration Officer