Tonight we are gonna take a look at a brand called Meia Lua. The Meia Lua brand was born in Lisbon, Portugal. Their whole watch collection is inspired by the night and moon. The version we have here is inspired by the moon, night and Aurora which colours can be seen in the dial. Only 350 units are available (25units for each version) coming in three different dial colour variations: “Moonmetal Dust” (grey/ black case, cosmic grey dial), “Deepmoon Black” (black case, black dial) and “Boreal Moonrise” (grey/gold case, green dial).

The watch arrived in a very nice box. Inside the box, you can see that the watch comes separate of the strap, but don’t worry, the strap has the quick release spring bars which are very easy to use and put on the strap. The watch itself looks pretty good. My first thought was that it has a similar design to pilot’s/field watches, but with that bronze gold case, it gives it that dressier look. But I have to say, bronze gold and green dial together look killer. The style maybe isn’t for my taste, but I have to say,, there is something appealing about the watch.

The case of the Boreal Moonrise is made of 316L stainless steel coated with this bronze gold colour. The machine work looks very precise. All the angles and lines are sharp. On the case you find two finishes: satin brushed and polished. The whole case is brushed, but the fixed bezel and the crown grip is polished. The case diameter is 42mm, the thickness is 13mm with crystal and from lug to lug it measures at 49mm. The size, in my opinion, is good, it isn’t too big or too small, on the wrist, it wears very comfortably. The almost conus shaped push-pull crown is at 3 o’clock. The crown is signed with a moon logo which is deeply engraved and looks pretty cool. Goes with all the moon theme that the watch is inspired from. The screw in exhibition case back is in stainless steel colour, that is done because if it was coated in a bronze gold colour, it would rub off after some time. On the case back you will see some specifications and Meia Lua logo. The crystal on the case back is flat sapphire. On the front of the watch, you will find a slightly domed sapphire glass. The only thing I would like to add is that they should put some AR coating at least from the outside as it reflects light like crazy. The water resistance is 10 ATM (100M) which is a common wr on watches with push/pull crowns. I wouldn’t recommend swimming with it, but it can withstand rain, handwash and things like that without a problem.

The dial has a very interesting colour. The dial has two layers, the first outer layer has green sunburst, but the inner portion where also the 24h subdial is, it has a blue sunray, but all together it looks like the whole dial is green. They chose those colours because as you know it is inspired by the borealis. The dial is done in this pilot watch style with that small triangle on top and dot hour markers. There are also present different size hour markers with Arabic numerals in the same rose gold colour as the case. In my opinion, the dial has too many details, I would take off the Arabic numerals so there is more space to see that beautiful sunray dial. At 5 o’clock we have a date window with a black date wheel. I know I usually complaint how many companies don’t match the dial colour with the date wheel as it costs more to make, but Meia-Lua at least took the black one. I know some companies have beautiful and colourful sunray dials which are ruined with date wheels that don’t match. Around the dial, there is a matte green chapter ring with minute indices every 5 minutes. The small arrow-shaped subdial hand is red. The hour, minute and seconds hands are kind of Dauphine shaped. The hour and minute hands are white with rose gold outline. The second’s hand is red. There is a Superluminova on main markers and hands. The lume isn’t maybe the best, but it does its job well.

The movement that is inside the Boreal Moonrise is Miyota Caliber 821A. It has 21 jewels, it beats at 21,600 BPH and the power reserve is 42hours. The movement is automatic, but you can also wind it with the crown. The movement is pretty precise, my example runs at +8 to +9 seconds a day which is pretty good. I have many watches with this movement and they run very well, they are reliable and don’t look that bad as it has a pretty nice finishing with those Geneva lines. And surprisingly this one has a pretty silent rotor as Miyotas are known for noisy rotors.

The strap that comes with the Boreal Moonrise is super nice. Mine came with “Cocoa” brown leather strap on the pictures it looks much lighter than it is in real life so it looks like the other brown strap that they have on their site. The leather is very nice to touch and it is very supple. The stitching is done pretty good.  The underlining is in beige colour and is very soft so the watch will sit very comfortably on your wrist. The strap has a tang style buckle in the same colour as the watch, just brushed. The buckle is signed with Meia Lua logo. The straps come with built-in quick release spring bars which as you all know is one of my favourite things, as it makes strap change 10x faster than usual.

Overall the watch is pretty good, maybe the design of the dial isn’t my cup of tea as I don’t like those Arabic numeral markers, there’s just too much happening on the dial. But any case the watch is very well built and for the price, it is pretty good. You get an automatic movement, sapphire crystal, great machine work on the case and a very nice leather strap that is super comfortable. Right now they have discounts on all of their watches so you can get yours for just €369 €258!

Price: €369 €258 @ meialuawatches.com

– Limited Edition: 25 units only

– Dial: Two Tone | Main dial: Green/Blue Sunray; 24h Subdial: Blue CDray; Superluminova on main markers and hands

– Case: Bronze GOld SS316L – 42mm | Mixed finished – Bezel: Polished, Body: Multi-directionally Brushed

– Crystal: Sapphire – Double and Domed with inner AR coating

– Movement: Miyota – Mechanical (Automatic + Handwound)

– Strap: High-Grade Calf Leather; vegetable tanned | Lug: 22mm; Buckle: 20mm

– Water Resistance: 10ATM (100m / 330 feet)

– Weight: 80g (incl. strap)