Ventura Watch SA/en
Ventura Watch SA
Amongst connoisseurs, the Ventura brand is well known for it's mechanical chronometers made of hardened titanium. Ever since the establishment of the marque in 1989, the ventura collection contained however also a «digital element»; particularly «watch» by Danish designer Flemming Bo Hansen, which has become a classic ever since it was added to the permanent design collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, in 1990. At the turn of the millennium, Ventura made a historic impact with its introduction of the world's first self-winding digital watch SPARC®, still the only watch of its kind on the market.
Ventura meanwhile specializes in the manufacture of sophisticated digital timepieces and has emerged as a market leader in this niche of Swiss made luxury watches. The v-tec line is the core and base of Ventura's collection. Contemporary design, a unique operating system and an exquisite quality sets the v-tec line radically apart.
Instead of the many pushbuttons that one associates with common digital watches, the v-tec features Ventura's patented «EasySkroll®» operating system with a single cylindrical wheel-barrel, which enables the intuitive scrolling through the multiple functions just like on an iPod.
Non other than the world famous «father of modern typography», Adrian Frutiger assisted Hannes Wettstein's design team in the creation of a totally new digit-typography on the v-tec liquid-crystal display featuring a with very high contrast and perfect readability, with a built-in back light also at night.
The display is divided into two rows of digits, the upper one indicating time, whereas the functions (Alarm, Timezone, Chronograph and Countdown) are displayed on the lower digit-row. To activate the functions, e.g. the chronograph, the scrolling barrel is pushed. All this is so easy and intuitive that one asks oneself spontaneously, why such system was not invented long ago. In regards to quality, the v-tec standard is on par with the leading traditional Swiss watch brands. Scratch resistant high-tech materials such as the patented «Durinox®» and «Titanox®» give the v-tec collection its unique longevity, the crystals of course being made of sapphire.
Ventura-Chief Pierre Nobs is confident that the market will accept the concept of high-class digital watches. «Just as there is a price range from $10 to $100'000.- and more in analogue watches, there is a growing demand for high-end digital watches» says Nobs and ads: «We at Ventura are fascinated by the design freedom and the possibilities offered by the fact that we are developing and building the watch mechanism urselves. We have invested in Switzerland's first and only «electronic manufacture» and contribute a modern, contemporary product outside of the endless mainstream of tradition».