I host two local watch enthusiast meetups each month. We’re located in Salt Lake City, Utah, but we’ve hosted meetups all around northern Utah. Well, one of my wonderful members invited Drew, the owner of Mount West Watch Co., to one of our meetups in late 2025. I was not familiar with Mount West, as they are a very new brand, and were working on getting their first production models out. Well, Drew offered a few pre-production watches for me to test and evaluate, and this is the review of them! So what makes the Mount West “Summit” line so unique?
Note: I’ve not been compensated in any way from Mount West for this review. I was loaned the watches, and was not given any freebies or handouts by the company in exchange for a review.
Mount West Watch Co. (which I’ll be calling Mount West for most of the review) is an extremely new, Utah-based watch company. They aim to make interesting, practical watches, with an eye towards designs rooted in nature and the Wasatch mountain range of Utah. The owner and founder of the company, Drew Zayach, is a snowboarder and musician, and a bonafide watch nerd. His experiences in nature have absolutely shaped the design of the watch, and his creative background has lead to a pretty neat feature on it too.
The Summit line is the only available series from Mount West at this time, but I’ve been pretty impressed by it. It is a stainless steel diver, but with an extremely unique, patented dual-bezel design. Before I hop into the nitty gritty, lets cover the colorways on offer, and the dimensions of the watch.
For the launch of the Summit series, Mount West has 4 colorways:
While companies provide their measurements, I prefer to take my own. These were done with a pair of digital calipers, and weighing via my scale:
Price is $1450 directly from Mount West for the Abyss, Treeline, and Obsidian colorways. The Snowfall is a bit more expensive at $1675, with the increase in price coming from the fully lumed dial. Watches will start shipping in March of 2026.
Before hopping into the review proper, I do want to mention that the watches that I tested were pre-production samples. These were pretty early pre-production samples too, and they had a fair bit different than the production models, so I want to cover all of the changes.
The Summits that I tested are about 75% of the same as the proper production models. However, the following changes will be happening for the production models:
The 4 pre-production watches that I was loaned were not perfect. They had some quirks that come with being early models, like wonky power reserves and some alignment issues. However, that will not be present in the proper production run. These are a lot of changes coming to the production models, but the core of the watch is still very much there for my review.
As a note, once the production models are available, I’ll have an addendum in this review to share how those models stack up.
Breaking my normal format, I want to highlight the most distinct parts of the Summit line first, rather than starting with the movement. There’s a lot to discuss here, and I want to jump right into the most unique feature of the Summit; the Bezels.
The Mount West Summits have an extremely unique, patented “Dual Uni-Directional Bezel”. Essentially, we’ve got two external bezels on the watch. When we rotate the outer bezel counter-clockwise, both bezels will move. When we rotate the outer bezel clockwise, the inner bezel stays, and the outer moves. What this gives us is two independent bezels for timing things! The outer bezel is 120 clicks, and is a 0-60 minute register, while the inner is 60 clicks, and is a 12 hour dual time register.
Now, this is something that may or may not have a lot of utility for you. For me, I’ve found it to be really handy for a lot of things I normally do. During my testing, I’ve used the bezels for cooking (timing two separate dishes at the same time), doing automotive work (timing drain time for a Civic’s CVT), and as a reminder mark on the watch (kind of like a silent alarm).
The bezels can also be used for tracking multiple time zones, register time (tracking elapsing from one time to another within an hour), down time and decompression for diving, sunset and sunrise, and a whole lot more.
The outer bezel has a classic, sharp coin edge to it, and is very easy to grasp. The pre-production watches have a little softer bezel action, but the production ones will be a little more clicky. That said, these early models are still very tactile, and very satisfying to use. With the ratcheting style on them, you can kind of just fidget with it and not get bored. It’s also quite unique, and is something that really hasn’t been on a watch before. I really dig that.
Now, the bezel system is very unique, but the case design is very distinct too.
The case design was directly inspired by the Rockies out here in the American West. As such, the case is a very angular design, with lugs to match.
With a name like Mount West, it makes sense that the mountains of the West play a part in the design. There is a mix of polishing and brushing on the case itself, which I think brings a great mix of complementing and contrast with the bezel and bracelet.
The lugs are shaped to be like a valley when worn with OEM bracelet, but I’ll cover that down below in a bit.
The case is a very wearable size, which is extremely important. The short lug to lug, minimal thickness for a diver, and overall contour leads to a comfy watch on the wrist.
The case looks great, but how about the caseback on the watch?
All of the Summits ship with a screwed-in caseback, which provides 200m of water resistance (as long as the crown is screwed-in too). Aside from the utility of the water resistance, Mount West has a lumed engraving of the North Star, and the two constellations that form around it. I think this is very neat, and is certainly cooler than an exhibition caseback.
The case is a neat design, wears well, and looks cool. How about the dials? Do they live up to the other elements so far?
The Summit Collection is launching with 4 dials, and I think that there’s pretty much a dial for everyone out there.
Mount West’s blue dial is the Abyss. It’s a dark, deep blue, and looks pretty solid. I love me a good blue dial, and I think that the Abyss provides that quite well.
The fumé pattern works well too, and really reminds me of some of the cloudy days out here in Utah. With Salt Lake City being in a bowl-shaped valley, we get some pockets of weather than can just linger here. We’ve got a lot of days (especially in the Fall and Winter), where the crepuscular rays (the beams of light that poke out through the clouds) are potent, with the dark, blue sky behind them. I won’t get too Hemingway with the description, but I like this blue dial, especially with the Utah connection.
Treeline is the green dial for the collection, and offers something a bit different than a lot of other green-dialed watches. The starburst fumé goes from very dark to still pretty dark, and I like that it leans into that. There are a lot of light green, or almost champagne-green watches on the market, and something a bit more distinct is cool to see.
Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m not generally a big fan of a green dial. I do like how the Treeline looks, and I think that the combination of colors works really well. It really truly does come down to preference. If you like a green dial, I think you’ll probably like this one. If you aren’t a fan of the color green, well, I don’t think any green dial watch watch will be able to win you over.
Rounding out the normal dials is the Obsidian. This is a solid black dial, and it is a deep black at that.
I think that the black-white-red combination really works on the Abyss. A black dial is a classic look, and is very utilitarian. Of the three normal dials, I think that Obsidian is my favorite. I feel like you just really don’t see this type of pitch black dial on watches, and I think that makes it the most distinct to me.
While the Obsidian is my favorite among the traditional dials, the Snowfall is certainly my favorite of the bunch. The Snowfall is a white dial, but a fully lumed white dial at that.
I’m a sucker for a fully lumed dial, and this one may be the best that I’ve handled so far. I love the lume, but also find that the daytime color of the white just really works well for me. I’ve come around to liking more white dials over the last year (between a tiny TAG 1500 and a Rolex Explorer II), and the Snowfall may be my favorite execution of the dial color so far.
I’ve mentioned the lume, so lets get right into how well it performs.
The lume is fantastic. Drew and Mount West have managed to put high quality, long lasting lume on the Summits.
The lume on the normal dials is quite good. Plenty of big lume block on the applied indices, bezels, and hands. The production models will have more lume on the hands, but I still think it was pretty serviceable here. The lume lasts for about 5-5.5 hours on the standard models, for good nighttime legibility. I think that the increased lume on the hands will probably bump that up to 6-7. However, this holds no candle to the Snowfall.
The Snowfall just has wonderful, excellent lume. It is very attractive lume too, with the indices acting as a negative marker, which gives great contrast for legibility. I was getting between 6.5-7 hours of useful lume out of my tester Snowfall, and had to stop wearing it to bed after about a week, as it was keeping my partner up at night! It’s fantastic lume, and it is a big reason as to why the Snowfall is my favorite dial of the bunch
Now, you can’t have a dial without a crystal, so lets cover that.
The Summits are capped by a slightly domed sapphire crystal. The crystal has a light layer of anti-reflective (AR) coating on the outside of it, which leads to a very clean viewing experience.
From most angles, the Summits are very clean and clear to see the dial through. For my photography, I basically had to put the watch into my lightbox at strange angles to see how the crystal looks when it isn’t fully clear. I think that the smaller dial (and by extension, smaller crystal) gives a lot of leeway here for that viewing angle grace. It’s a simple crystal, but I think it’s the perfect choice for the Summit.
What’s the movement powering the watch?
All of the Summits are powered by the Swiss manufactured Sellita SW200 automatic movement. This is a workhorse movement, and shows up in quite a few watches these days. The Markwell “datematic” and Glycine Combat Sub both used this movement, and it’s a tried and trued one. It has a 38 hour power reserve, accuracy to about plus or minus 10 seconds a day, and features 3 hands for seconds/minutes/hours, and the date. It’s also a hacking (second hand stops when you pull the crown out) and handwinding movement, but still has the automatic rotor for powering the watch. My example was running about plus 3 seconds fast a day, which is well within expectations.
This is a pretty normal movement to see, and makes sense for the watch. It’s pretty thin, it’s not too wide, and the complication that Mount West wanted to use works fine with the SW200. I like the movement, but I also like the less expensive Miyota 9015 (used in the Islander Port Jeff that I reviewed in 2023) a lot too. I’m always in favor of using a good movement that saves the watch company and the end-user some money, and I don’t think the 9015 going into the watch would hinder my enthusiasm at all.
All that said, it’s a solid movement, and one that you’d expect to see at this price. How well does the crown work with the movement?
The Summit uses a nicely serrated crown, which is a little larger than normal. I like this design quite a bit, as it made it very easy to use. There are two small crownguards above and below it, which have a very-Omega design.
Using the crown is pretty simple. Unscrew it fully, and you’re at the handwinding spot. Pull out one position, and you can set the date. Pull it out all of the way, and you can adjust the time. Some of the Summits I borrowed had stiffer crowns for setting the date and time, but that was a pre-production quirk that should not be present in the production models.
The crown may be an overlooked thing by most, but it is an integral part of the watch. I think Mount West made a good one here.
I’ve covered the core elements of the watch, but how do you attach it to your arm?
All of the Summits ship on a stainless steel bracelet. It’s a bracelet that mates extremely well to the watch, and features an adjustable, on-the-fly micro-adjustable clasp.
The bracelet has a unique look, and I really dig it. It will be changing to have more articulation with the links, which will aid in getting a comfy fit to your arm. That said, I have no qualms about the fitment of the pre-production bracelet.
The bracelet is sized via screws, which is handy too. I’ve grown to hate the pin & collar of a lot of other bracelets, so a simple small flathead is much nicer to work with.
The clasp uses a double-button deployant mechanism to open, and has an external micro adjust. There’s also another tiny micro adjust in the small portion of the clasp too. With the ability to size with links and two micro adjusts, it’s going to be pretty easy to size this watch to most wrists. You can also adjust the watch on the fly, without removing it from your wrist, which is a massive plus for me.
Before I move onto how the watch wears, I want to highlight the endlinks on the Summits. They mate to the case extremely well, and create a mountain & valley look. Again, it goes back to the great design work that went into the watch.
The Summits have 20mm lug width, so you can certainly swap to a strap pretty easily. I never felt the need to, but I bet these would work great on a nice rubber strap, or a NATO. How was the general wrist-feeling of the watch?
The Summits wear very well on my wrist. The short lug to lug mixed with the short height of the watch (12.3mm) leads to a very comfy wear. The bracelet hugs the wrist well, and I’ve got no real complaints about it.
For sizing, I would say that the Summit line is good to go if you have at least a 6.5″ wrist. If you’re under that, it may wear a little big, but that short lug to lug is like a magic trick to make it wear well. The external micro adjust is also an excellent feature here, as you can upsize or downsize the watch on the fly. This feature matters a lot to me, as my wrist & arm swell a bit while doing physical activities (weightlifting), and when going from hot to cold. This may sound niche, but with it being winter in Utah, I find that my wrist changes in size by about an eighth of an inch to a quarter of an inch was the weather changes.
How did the watch do with everyday wear?
I wear a watch every day, for nearly 24 hours a day. My watch really only comes off when I go to hop in the shower. As such, I had the Snowfall on for about two weeks straight (aside from the nights during the second week due to the bright lume), and intermittently during my photographing process. During my testing period, I had the watch on for the following:
Now, I did not go out of my way to beat on the watch. I wore it like how I’d normally wear a watch, which means keeping it on for most of what I do. The thinner profile and close fit with the bracelet lead to a good experience for a busy lifestyle.
I will pull my watch off if I need to wedge my arm into a tight spot (on the side of an engine bay or behind a cabinet), but otherwise I did not find the Summit to be a hinderance for doing things. In fact, the double bezel helped a ton with a lot of what I did with the watch on. From timing drain time of a transmission, to baking, to marking an interval while lifting, I found the utilitarian uses for the watch to be excellent.
The lume was certainly handy too. While I joke about it being bright at night, that’s a quality that I want. Good lume is something that should be a given on a practical watch, and I’m very thankful that it’s great on the Summits, and especially on the Snowfall.
Now, I found this to be a great on-wrist experience. However, with anything, I’ve got things I really like, and a complaint or two.
Overall, I really like the Summit line. To give a quick summary of what I like about it:
I think that the Mount West Summit is an awesome watch, and a great one to launch the brand with!
This section will be rather short. I had some quirks with my pre-production tester watches, but those are things that won’t appear in the production ones. No complaints there, that’s just how the pre-production process is.
I have two preferential things I’d like to see down the line.
I’d like to see the Mount West logo appear on the crown, and the clasp. I think that these are pretty likely to happen, and general consensus among our local watch group is that it would be nice to have it. Some folks are sticklers for it, where as I’m not as hardline on it.
In the “Movement” section, I mentioned that I’d be fine to see other, lower cost movements appear in this watch. I think a Miyota 9015 would work great in here, and maybe even a quartz, mecha-quartz, or solar quartz movement down the line. The Swiss SW200 movement does bring a bit more value into the watch, but as an enthusiast, I’d be just as happy with the 9015. As a quartz nerd, I’d love to see a Solar Summit down the line too, and I think it just makes a lot of sense for a mountaineering watch.
All of that said, it’s really just my personal preference. The SW200 is a great movement, and it works great in this watch.
I think that Mount West has a winner on their hands with the Summit line. A mountaineering-diver is a great combo, the dual-bezel system is unique and practical, and the general form factor of the watch works great. The overall level of finishing applied to the watch is excellent too, and the attention to detail cannot be understated.
Of the bunch, the Snowfall is my favorite, and I’m just a sucker for a full lume dial. Of the normal dials, the Obsidian is at the top for me.
Now, the verdict. I really do love these watches, and feel the design just calling out to me. I moved from the ocean to the mountains, and the Summit line feels like a combination of what I like with water, and what I like with mountains. There’s a solid chance that I’ll be picking up a Snowfall in the very near future.
While the article here is comprehensive, I’ve also got a video review too.
While writing is my primary way to provide you with information, I’m also making videos over on YouTube. You can find that work over at my channel, linked here.
If you liked this review, check out some more of my watch articles:
I’d like to thank Drew at Mount West for allowing me to borrow, test, and review his watches. He took a leap to loan them to me, and I’m very thankful for it.
If you’d like to support me on Patreon, I’ve got the link for that here. Nearly everything that I do on Primer Peak is paid for out of my own pocket, and my content is not shilled or driven by manufacturers or companies. If you decide to donate, I’d really appreciate it, as it would allow for me to continue to bring you quality work.
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