The Arsenale Automatic is a tribute to the Venetian shipyards of yore

John Biggs
Updated

In advance of the last warm weekend I present a pretty cool crowdfunded watch that might be worth a look. Called the Arsenale Automatic it pays tribute to Venice's proud sailing history and looks just brutish enough to remind us of her violent, pestilence-filled past.

The watch comes with a Miyota or ETA movement - either Japanese or Swiss - and comes in a brush polished steel or aged PVD. The bezel rivets - with numerals at noon, three, six, and nine - are reminiscent of another Italian brand, Panerai, but they're supposed to represent porthole rivets.

The watch will cost about $600 retail. For now you can get it on the crowdfunding page for $338.

Why is this special? It's rare to find a crowdfunded watch with the right balance of features. This one is particularly interesting because of the heritage - I've never seen a Venetian watch - and the design. It might not be as fancy as an Omega or a Breitling but for less than $400 for a nice three-hander you could do worse.

https://tcprotectedembed.com/protected-iframe/9d0cf292619ead76b6db8855ddab4852-24588526-12084649 ( function() { var func = function() { var iframe = document.getElementById('wpcom-iframe-9d0cf292619ead76b6db8855ddab4852-24588526-12084649') if ( iframe ) { iframe.onload = function() { iframe.contentWindow.postMessage( { 'msg_type': 'poll_size', 'frame_id': 'wpcom-iframe-9d0cf292619ead76b6db8855ddab4852-24588526-12084649' }, "https:\/\/tcprotectedembed.com" ); } } // Autosize iframe var funcSizeResponse = function( e ) { var origin = document.createElement( 'a' ); origin.href = e.origin; // Verify message origin if ( 'tcprotectedembed.com' !== origin.host ) return; // Verify message is in a format we expect if ( 'object' !== typeof e.data || undefined === e.data.msg_type ) return; switch ( e.data.msg_type ) { case 'poll_size:response': var iframe = document.getElementById( e.data._request.frame_id ); if ( iframe && '' === iframe.width ) iframe.width = '100%'; if ( iframe && '' === iframe.height ) iframe.height = parseInt( e.data.height ); return; default: return; } } if ( 'function' === typeof window.addEventListener ) { window.addEventListener( 'message', funcSizeResponse, false ); } else if ( 'function' === typeof window.attachEvent ) { window.attachEvent( 'onmessage', funcSizeResponse ); } } if (document.readyState === 'complete') { func.apply(); /* compat for infinite scroll */ } else if ( document.addEventListener ) { document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', func, false ); } else if ( document.attachEvent ) { document.attachEvent( 'onreadystatechange', func ); } } )();