British watch business Weird Ape has smashed its most recent crowdfunding target for a fresh range of skeletonised watches for 2019.
A Kickstarter campaign to raise £10,000 in pre-sales for the collection was exceeded in just 27 minutes.
It has now raised raised almost £160,000 from pre-orders, with 932 backers paying £97 each to secure a watch that is expected to be delivered in September. Hundreds of other backers chose to pay in advance for two or more watches.
Weird Ape has been on WatchPro‘s radar for more than two years, and has seen the brand tap into a growing demand among younger customers for mechanical watches, particularly skeletonised models that show their inner workings.
The 40mm steel watches are also appealing to an increasing number of female customers who are increasingly wearing the same size and style of watches as men.
The 2019 watch, known as Ape-X, has a clear case back for the first time, and a range of quick release leather straps and steel bracelets.
“Mechanical watches are a reminder of a simpler, less technology obsessed time. When a watch was a work of art, not just a timekeeper,” Weird Ape says in its Kickstarter promotion.
The design of the Ape-X was inspired by the industrial architecture and history of the company’s home country of Yorkshire. “This is what gives the Ape-X its polished steel edges and industrial style,” the company adds.
The Kickstarter campaign ends on June 6.
I’m not sure their retailer network will be happy about this as they have invested in a brand that is now going ‘all out’ to sell direct! They’ve been selling their current watched @50 % discount through social media.