Product Review: Mirtello Night Black & Gold by Weird Ape

I think I have mentioned this on the blog before, I collect watches. Mainly pocket watches (my oldest one was made in 1855) but I also have a decent collection of wrist watches. I was highly delighted therefore, when I was offered a complimentary watch by Weird Ape. Specifically one of their Steampunk range.
You can imagine there was not much arm-twisting involved to get me to accept the offer.

Before I start the review I have to comment on the excellent customer service of Weird Ape. the first watch I got stopped working after three days. It is an automatic watch and the mechanism got damaged, I think during shipping. In any case it is not a problem a watchmaker could not solve, nevertheless, Weird Ape sent me a replacement straight away.

But now about the watch:

First, it came in a very stylish Weird Ape bag:

The watch itself looks great and is definitely not too in-your-face concerning the Steampunk factor:

This is one of the factors which made me choose the Mirtello Night Black & Gold, because I like my Steampunk functional, I want to wear it every day. The Night Black & Gold goes well with my office dress-style (which ranges from casual office steampunk to standard IT/coder black).
I expected the watch to be a bit flimsy. It is not. It feels nice and heavy (but not cumbersome ) around my wrist and the lock of the metal wrist band is also sturdy and well made.

Around my wrist it looks like this:

Being picky about the exactness of the watch I checked it repeatedly against the radio-controlled watch in our living room, it has not even lost or gained a single second since I got it. The mechanical movement inside is doing an excellent job so far. It is a real shame this watch is not really water proof. The warranty only extends as far as rain splatter are concerned but you cannot take this watch for a swim. I guess at a price tag of 39 € /  £29 / $44 for a mechanical watch with that precision, that is nothing to complain about.

One thing I do not like, though: The tiny round dial with the single seconds-hand you can see in both photos above is face. It is one piece of plastic that was put in there purely for decoration. I think it is just distracting and the watch would have been even more beautiful without it.

But this is really the only thing I can complain about. The Mirtello Night Black & Gold offers excellent value for money and has become a permanent fixture of my wardrobe, I have worn it ever since I got it.

8 out of 10 Zeppelins

I have also bookmarked Weird Ape Watches and will pay the site visits in the future, after all, I collect watches, and they have pocket watches, too.