Compared to Swiss building, the Finnish have made an incredibly competitive watch. The case of the Suunto Elementum Ventus is top notch having a “carved not stamped” sense to it. I enjoy the sapphire crystal, but I am let down that it’s neither glare-proofed or domed. Consequently in a touch, you should use it as a mirror to fix your hair.

The pushers perform very well, even though much lauded “spinning A pusher” looks somewhat less than “swiss rugged” in my experience.

The display…. okay, after many years of Swiss watches which perfectly pulled off legible negative displays, I do not “get it” with this particular watch. Why can’t Suunto make a negative display with sufficient clearness and contrast to contend with the likes of a Breitling, TAG or RADO? Coming from my personal limited understanding of LCD technology, the main difference between a positive and a negative display will be the polarizing filter. There isn’t much else into it. So I am perplexed why this is so hard to read.

I am satisfied with the function of the watch. Suunto seems to have sought to make this particular watch as easy as possible! There are basically four modes.The actual main time display which could show either barometric pressure numerically or, within the same spot, display the dat. The barometric record, that is utilized by revolving the A pusher counter clockwise and scrolls the baro graph by hour increment. The compass, available 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 quite… uncomfortable. It resets to zero by keeping the C pusher after it has been halted by pressing the A pusher. As soon as zeroed, it takes on five minutes as the start time, while you are able to rotate the A pusher to modify this by minute steps. If set to zero, it really works like a modest chronograph. Why modest? It counts 10ths of seconds until 1 minute, and then switches to mins and seconds, and then to minutes only. When it comes to last mode, no one is able to detect it’s still operating without catching a digit change. In contrast to the “standard” convention of blinking the “:” to show a running chronograph, the “:” is static. Additionally unlucky is the fact that, whenever ended, the watch won’t show the more precise readings. Compare this to an Aerospace Watch, where when the chronograph is ceased, the watch alternates between showing the minutes and the seconds, so that you can at least gain access to the degree of accuracy kept in the watch.

Mario Bosemon is a long time wrist watch enthusiast and knows few things about them, specially the outside/activity ones. So his opnion on Suunto Elementum and especially his favorite Suunto Elementum Aqua may be considered before purchasing one. For more information: http://suuntoelementum.com/