Compared to Swiss construction, the Finnish have made quite a competitive watch. The case of the Suunto Elementum Ventus is top notch having a “carved not stamped” feel to it. I value the sapphire crystal, but I am frustrated that it is nor glare-proofed neither domed. Thus in a touch, you can use it as a mirror to fix your hair.
The pushers run perfectly, although much lauded “spinning A pusher” looks slightly less than “swiss rugged” in my opinion.
The display…. alright, after years of Swiss wrist watches that flawlessly performed legible negative displays, I don’t “get it” with this watch. Why can’t Suunto create a negative display with sufficient clarity and contrast to compete with the likes of a Breitling, TAG or RADO? Coming from my personal limited comprehension of LCD technology, the main difference between a positive and a negative display is the polarizing filter. There’s not much else with it. So I am just puzzled why this is so hard to read.
I am pleased with the function of the watch. Suunto seems to have sought to make this particular watch as easy as possible! You’ll find essentially 4 modes.The actual main time display that may show either barometric pressure numerically or, inside the same spot, show the dat. The barometric record, which can be utilized by revolving the A pusher counter clockwise and scrolls the baro graph by hour increment. The compass, accessible via the C pusher in all modes with the exception of when the “race timer” is going; and the race timer itself.
The count down chronograph is rather… uncomfortable. It resets to zero by holding the C pusher after it has been halted by pushing the A pusher. When zeroed, it takes on 5 mins as the start time, despite the fact that you are able to swivel the A pusher to regulate this by minute steps. If set to zero, it works as a modest chronograph. Why modest? It counts 10ths of seconds until 1 minute, after that switches to mins and seconds, and to minutes only. As for the last mode, there is no way to detect it’s still operating without catching a digit change. As opposed to the “regular” convention of pulsating the “:” to show a running chronograph, the “:” is static. In addition regrettable is the fact that, when halted, the timepiece will not display the more precise readings. Compare this to an Aerospace Watch, where once the chronograph is ceased, the watch alternates between displaying the minutes and the seconds, so that you can at least access the level of accuracy stored in the watch.