Hands-On Review of the the Aventi A-10 Tourbillon
Along with the perpetual calendar, the tourbillon is the holy grail of watch complications. Normally reserved for extremely high end pieces, recently brands have popped up offering tourbillon watches at much more affordable prices. This is because the tourbillon is sourced from China and not from Switzerland. This is something a potential buyer must know before deciding whether an Aventi is the right piece for them.
Aventi blasted on to the crowdfunding scene, raising close to $800,000 USD from 540 backers. It Is obvious that this project had interest. And why wouldn’t it? Tourbillons represent a grail watch to many collectors, but something that is just isn’t possible due to their typically hefty pricetags.
Enter the Aventi A-10 Tourbillon - With prices in the low thousands instead of hundreds of thousands. In other words, Aventi offers an “affordable” tourbillon. This comes with two very large caveats: (1) you are purchasing a Chinese made watch with a Chinese tourbillon movement, and (2) tourbillons are extremely difficult to service/work on to the point where most watchmakers refuse to touch them.
It is true that Chinese Tourbillon watches have existed for quite a while now, and many for under $1,000 USD. With the A-10, Aventi has attempted to depart from the standard fare and take the Chinese tourbillon up a notch. I believe they have had some success with this.
The Aventi A-10 is not a small or understated watch by any means. The team behind Aventi is clearly going for the Richard Mille-esque aesthetic. They claim their watches are “inspired by supercars,” which I’m not sure if true, but the team clearly spent time custom designing every aspect of the watch - from case, to strap, to buckle and the even packaging. That is where the A-10 differentiates itself from other Chinese tourbillon watches. Apart from the movement, you really feel like you are getting a high-end sporty timepiece.
The movement is pretty cool to look at too. The whole dial is “skeleton” or “see through” and will surely impress your friends that are not watch literate. People notice when I wear the A-10 a lot more than when I wear my Daytona or Royal Oak (that doesn’t mean I prefer it to those classic timepieces).
The Aventi A-10 is definitely a big wear. Measuring in at 48.5mm x 13mm, the Titanium case, although lighter than steel, is still very noticable on the wrist. Not that it’s too big, or doesn’t look good, but the A-10 is definitely not for anyone shy about what’s on their wrist. Never-the-less, it wears well. Yes, the watch is loud - and large, but it’s also fun.
Now let’s talk about the lume: As someone who appreciates some good lume detailing, Aventi went above and beyond. Not only is the dial on the A-10 lumed, but the case has accent lume around the sides and even the eponymous logo is lumed. This much lume doesn’t work on every watch, but it does on the A-10. You can definitely see the super car influence below:
An Aventi buyer is someone who likes loud watches, like Richard Mille or Franck Muller, but can’t justify the cost for whatever reason. If that’s you, go for an Aventi, it’s a well constructed and unique piece that so far appears to be retaining its value. Hats off to Aventi’s marketing team on that one.
Finally, I could not talk about Aventi without talking about the A-11, their sapphire case offering. We have seen sapphire case watches from brands such as Hublot, Richard Mille and even Girard-Perregaux and Bell & Ross. Watches with sapphire cases command a premium price due to the difficulty of manufacturing sapphire cases. Sapphire is not only expensive but prone to cracking, causing a lot of waste during the manufacturing process. For that reason the A-11 is between 2.5 and 3 times the price of the titanium cased A-10. This is still less expensive than most watches with sapphire cases, especially when considering it has a tourbillon (even if it is a Chinese movement).
How much does an Aventi Watch Cost?
The Aventi A-10 tourbillon in titanium retails for $2,000 USD while the Aventi A-11, which has a sapphire case, retail for between $5,000 USD and $6,000 USD.