Traska Introduces an Affordable, Vintage Inspired Sports Watch with Lacquered Dials in Four Colors

Over the last few years, Traska has developed an enthusiastic following in the watch community among those who appreciate affordably priced tool watches with subtle vintage inspired details. They are by no means the only brand doing this type of work (in fact, there’s a glut of these watches on the market at any given time) but Traska seems to hit the right balance between affordability and good design. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding: their entire collection has been sold out all summer. Now they’re back with a full collection refresh, including an entirely new model, the Venturer, a dual crown sports watch featuring what appear to be beautifully realized lacquered dials. 

The Venturer would seem to slot in nicely with the rest of the Traska collection, which includes the Summitteer (reviewed here by Zach Weiss back in 2019), the Commuter, and the Freediver. The names of these watches give away the ethos of the brand. These are watches that Traska wants owners to associate with going out into the world and doing things, and their design is meant to subtly evoke sports watches of a bygone era that were largely task oriented. 

The Venturer has a two crown design, with the second crown located at the 10:00 position, and controlling a rotating 12 hour bezel. The 12 hour bezel is one of our favorite non-mechanical complications, as it provides a ton of functionality for travelers and can still be used for tracking elapsed time as long as you can perform some simple math. The Venturer comes in four dial variants at launch: Carbon Black, Arctic White, Steel Blue, and Mint Green. The black and white dials are the most traditional of the group, with the blue and green offering something a little more adventurous. The Mint Green dial is a particular knockout, and a shade of green we don’t see too frequently, even in this year of all-green-everything. The dials are nicely detailed with substantial applied markers and a nicely framed date window at 6:00. 

The Venturer measures a modest 38.5mm in diameter, and is just 10.5mm tall, not including the sapphire crystal. We haven’t had a chance to handle these watches yet, but they appear to be well finished for their price point, with attractive polished chamfers contrasting with brushed surfaces on the caseband and lugs. The watch is water resistant to 150 meters, making it a solid daily wear candidate, and is powered by a Miyota 9019 automatic movement. The Venturer is also mounted on a stainless steel bracelet with a 4mm taper from the lugs to the clasp and fully articulating lugs and solid end links. This is an extremely well specced watch at the $585 price point that Traska is asking. 

Traska is making this watch available beginning this Saturday at 10:00 AM. Rather than a traditional pre-order model, they are taking $50 deposits from customers, who will then be asked to complete their purchase when the watches are ready to ship in early January. It’s worth noting that Traska is also relaunching their previous three models at the same time, with the same ordering process, and those watches all have small refinements based on customer feedback, including the addition of that impressive Mint Green dial (previously exclusive to the Freediver) across the entire range. Check out Traska’s website for more information.