Venezianico’s dedication to their Italian heritage led them to collaborate with OISA 1937 to produce a bespoke Italian-made movement for their high end watches. Those watches are the Redentore Utopia and the Utopia II, both of which are produced in stainless steel. Now though, Venezianico have launched a lightweight titanium edition called the Redentore Levius, which translates to Redentore Lighter.
The case is the main focus here, swapping from steel to titanium while retaining the same dimensions of 38mm x 8.9mm with a lug-to-lug of 44.2mm that means despite its relatively petite size, it wears comfortable on wrists of a huge variety of sizes. Titanium has a better strength to density ratio than steel meaning that it can achieve the same level of strength while being much lighter. The case in isolation weighs just 12.9g and once you add the movement and crystal the complete watch head is 40g. With the Italian handmade leather strap, the total is 48g.
Titanium has predominantly been a material used in the tool watch sector of the watch industry, alleviating some of the discomfort that comes from bulky dimensions. When it comes to dress watches, titanium is much rarer – and not without good reason because refined finishes like polishing are much harder to execute than brushing or sandblasting, so the majority of titanium watches have a naturally utilitarian appearance that suits tools rather than elegant timepieces. Outside the Redentore Levius, the only other example of a titanium dress watch I can think of, is the Grand Seiko Icefall. Yet I do think titanium dress watches make sense when executed with the proper finishing because the lightweight property plays into the feeling of refinement.
For the dial, the Redentore Levius features a handmade guilloché engraving in a wind-like pattern called Zefiro. It’s named after the classical god Zephyrus, who commanded the west wind. It’s produced by Linda Renzetti using an antique rose engine, one of the few remaining artisans capable of producing dials like this by hand. The dial has a rich blue colour inspired by Venice’s lagoon.
Inside the watch is the V5000 movement from the first Utopia. The primary difference between the V5000 and the V5001 from the Utopia II is the finishing, so they’ve opted for the V5000 for the silver-tone plate rather than gold – a decision that makes sense when paired with the titanium case. It’s an Italian-made movement with a 60-hour power reserve and 3.5 Hz frequency.
With the upgrade to titanium the Venezianico Redentore Levius costs a little more than its Utopia cousins: it’s €4,750 (approx. £4,070) rather than €4,500 (approx. £3,850). For a watch with a hand-made guilloché dial, interesting Italian movement and lightweight titanium construction, that’s very reasonable value. Within the small category of ‘titanium watches with artisan dials’ it sits almost exactly in between the Grand Seiko I mentioned earlier at £6,800 and a watch like the Straum Jan Mayen at £1,890, although that watch is much more in a 70s sports watch style rather than dress watch. The Levius is available to order from September 25th.
Price and Specs:
More details at Venezianico.
