Aventi A11 Full Review

Dear Hanu,

I’ve had the Aventi A11 for almost a month now. My deepest apologies for not posting a review sooner. I’ve got a new dog and the second ex and my youngest have moved to Canada. That’s no excuse for the delay, but it is an explanation. And then there’s the simple fact that the Aventi A11 is not my jam . . .

The Rolex Oyster Perpetual 39 is my grail watch. Your Aventi A11 has about as much in common with that minimalist meisterwerk as a Lamborghini Aventador has with a Mercedes AMG GTc.

The Lambo is a brash monster, best driven with your hair on fire or parked in front of a strip club. The Merc is a classically proportioned gentleman’s express, best driven with judicious alacrity or parked in front of Jay Leno’s Newport mansion.

You see my problem? I’m not that guy. The fast livin’, Lambo-lovin’, jumbo-watch-wearin’ Alpha. I’m an OFWG who listens to Steely Dan.

Strapping your 55.5mm X 48.5mm X 13mm thick sapphire timepiece to my wrist . . . Let’s just put it this way: I haven’t felt that self-conscious since my talent show stand-up comedy bombed in front of the entire high school.

There was no need to worry, of course. My home boys are used to seeing me wear a different watch on a weekly basis – one of which they compared to a criminal’s ankle bracelet. This one they accepted as take-no-prisoners bling jewelry for ballers.

Right answer! As for the gen pop, take it from someone who occasionally open carries a firearm: people don’t see what they don’t expect to see. The Aventi A11 is nothing if not unexpected.

One thing onlookers didn’t expect from your watch: sapphire. I hate to say it, but more than a couple of people asked if it was made of plastic.

I told them you fashioned the A11’s case from synthetic sapphire – the third hardest substance after moissanite and diamonds. Clocking their raised eyebrows, I considered proving the point by using the A11 to scratch a mirror. But didn’t; I need all the luck I can get in these COVID days.

I reckon the A11’s see-through rubber strap – vilified in a recent G-SHOCK review – triggered the anti-polymer prejudice. Let’s face it Hanu: the clear-cased Aventi cries out for a white leather strap.

I know: overly-tanned Floridian septuagenarians wearing white patent leather Gucci shoes aren’t your target market. But if it was and you went hell for leather, their zimmer frames BMWs would be lined-up around the block.

You’re aiming the A11 at the high-horology-on-a-budget crowd, right? After all, I spy with my little eye . . . a tourbillon!

It’s both an amazing achievement for a $5k watch and another reason why I had so much trouble tackling this assignment.

My antipathy towards tourbillons is well known; I consider them only slightly more useful than a fire retardant paper hat. After wristing the A11 – my first time wearing a tourbillon in the real world – I can now say without hesitation, meh.

Your beautifully crafted spinny thing is nowhere near as mesmerizing as the Humism Rhizome’s dial. But sure, it makes a damn fine seconds hand. And while I don’t “do” horological bragging rights, well, there it is motha’ fukkas.

Mssr. Breguet invented the tourbillon to compensate for the effect of gravity on a pocket watch movement, to increase its accuracy. You and I both know we’re well beyond that; horological stunting and flossing is now the tourbillon’s raison d’être.

Aventi claims the watch delivers +/- 15 seconds per day accuracy. We’re looking into that. Meanwhile, the A11’s 72-hour power reserve is more impressive and more important. Who can be bothered to wind their A11 after a long night of Cristal and cocaine?

I know how hard you and your team worked to make the A11 a practical reality. It’s an astounding technical feat, backed by first-class “concierge” service. And an excellent conversation piece – as long as the conversation doesn’t swing around to “What time is it?”

At most angles, the A11’s gold skeletonized hands are illegible. The asymmetrical bridges don’t do anything to help legibility, and a lot to make it worse. Ah but fortunately, I have the key, to enhance legibility.

If you hit the A11 with a Surefire P2ZX Fury CombatLight LED flashlight, two things happen. First, the light bounces off the sapphire and blinds you for fifteen minutes. Second, it fires-up the A11’s luminescent indices.

Then, by God, the A11 is a timetelling marvel. It all makes sense! All of it. The case, the hands, the bridges, the barrels, the tourbillon – I can practically hear the Coke chorus singing! Hanu, my friend, if you could put the world on a dimmer switch I’d be writing you a check now. (Moving to England doesn’t count.)

Meanwhile, you and I have DM’ed this out before. We both love the free market, where manufacturers can create and sell exquisitely-made products that express their buyer’s personality with unabashed exuberance. I may not like them, but I like the fact that they exist.

You call your watch “a supercar on your wrist.” For me, that’s a bug, not a feature. For others – playas, stunters, Lambo owners – it’s the other way around. Especially for $5k. Who am I to disagree? A blogger who’s happy to lend you his car the next time you’re in town. Just don’t be as late returning my baby as I’ve been with yours.

Model: Aventi A11
Price: $5k

RATINGS (out of five stars):

Design *
Totally not my jam. But it could be yours and that’s fine.

Legibility * *
Perfectly legible at the exact right angle or in the dark after being torched with a high-powered flashlight. Otherwise, not.

Comfort * * * * *
BIG but light and sits flat.

Overall  * * *
Three stars for the A11’s design audacity and construction quality. Zero stars for its appeal to your humble horological reviewer.

-40-

TTAW is a fully independent watch website. Aventi lent us this watch for review.
No considerations were provided.