WeirdApe Excelsior Magnum Gold – Mechanical Skeleton Watch
WeirdApe have chosen some really creative designs that go really well, you’ll be spoilt for choice. As they all look pleasing and can go with many outfits. You get the choice of many colour sets along with strap colour and material. Some of their designs are in every sense of the word – WEIRD.
First Impressions: Wow what a piece of art!
Design
Once you catch the Excelsior in your eye-sight it automatically makes you go for a double look, you get a craving to want to peer inside it. The kid inside me came out when I first took it out the packaging, I wanted to see it ticking away with all the mechanics moving around.
The design is simple, gold and silver with a black synthetic leather strap. Anyone could see that the designs at WeirdApe are well thought of while at the same time being kind of crazy. The choice of gold and silver is well combined, for example the gold could be seen on the buckle, head, time-winder and inner clock work. The the silver stainless steel is then added to help make those small details stand out and be easily visible.
With the gold skeleton design you can see right though the background into the inner clock work, allowing you to see the magic behind how the clock maintains its time. Seeing the magic is my favourite feature, it just amazes me. Undoubtedly most watches in this sort of design will cost you into three figures.
The clock work can be viewed from the front and back, as there is a clear glass which allows you to look in. Now although it is so cool to have a watch were you can see the clock work, there really isn’t much you can actually see. Still amazing to look at none the less, on the first observation as the WeirdApe have put a skeletal background with static dials and gears to help enhance this feature.
General Use / Description
The watches dials consist of a hour, minute and second ticker which can be set from the pin on the right hand side. The pin also needs to be used to wind up the clock work as this watch is not battery powered. This can be done by twisting the pin clockwise. You know you are doing this right when you can see the gears moving in the back. Its important to point that out as it did take me a little time to work out how to actually get the watch ticking. I must admit for the first twenty minutes I thought I had been sent a broken watch. Now this function is really unique and gives an old fashioned feel to the watch, however I’d rather just have a battery or even better, a decent watch that ticks away with out the need for batteries or a daily wind-up.
This is my first mechanical powered watch, I’m not a fan. I’m not sure if this is the norm but since the watch does not have a battery or self winder, the mechanical wind up itself will only last around two days. In a way its still impressive and gives you the chance to crank it up when putting the watch on in the morning. That however is being really positive, in reality I can’t be asked to check the time on my phone then crank my watch up and get it to work accordingly.
Occasion
Upon getting this watch I was really excited to wear it and did hope to wear at on any occasion. I soon realised that this was not the case and the watch is really just a show piece, to grab peoples attention and rake in the compliments. This mainly is because of the type of style along with it being mechanically powered, which will get annoying when you forget to crank it back. I wore it wherever I could and showed many people to get their opinions on it, the compliments came flying in and people assumed the watch was an expensive timepiece. So thumbs up on the reasonable price tag.
Durability and Quality
For the average price tag of a non branded watch, you get a beautiful crafted watch made out of stainless steel with a high grade synthetic leather strap. Only shame for me was that the strap was very stiff and tough from new and even after wearing the watch after a week, it still struggled to fit my hand snugly. I will definitely be replacing the strap with a genuine leather strap. WeirdApe, if you’re reading, fix the straps, they’re horribly uncomfortable.
Conclusion
I really do love this watch and putting the obvious downfalls aside, I would highly recommend getting one for the watch collection. At only £35, you can’t go wrong. The WeirdApe Excelsior is not a watch to wear on a daily basis but it is a great go-to watch when looking to switch things up and grab a few compliments. As a first watch, I’d steer clear and get a reliable watch, but to add to the collection.. Perfect.
