When any entrepreneur starts his microbrand company, it’s reasonable to assume that he’ll be dreaming of Christopher Ward’s model. The British watch manufacturer began as a small watchmaker, a microbrand if you will, but quickly became one of the prominent watchmakers in the low-to-mid price range market, bringing back the great days of watchmaking in Britain and even started producing its own in-house movements. Recently, Christopher Ward introduced its new watch – The Twelve, a new sports watch that joins this crowded category, offering the same excellent quality of Christopher Ward watches at an attractive price tag, as always with Christopher Ward. You’re invited to meet the new watch – Christopher Ward Twelve, with us.
Why The Twelve?
No, we’re not talking about the 12th collection by Christopher Ward or the company’s 12th watch. The name “Twelve” comes from the watch’s bezel, which has 12 sides representing the 12 hours.
The bezel and the watch’s body combine faceted and brushed surfaces with varying slopes that emphasize the watch’s dynamic and sporty appearance. On the watch’s right side, we find the watch’s crown, which at first glance looks like two buttons, but in fact, they are two crown guards.
The watch comes with an integral steel bracelet incorporating polished and brushed finishes. The bracelet has a gentle slope at the ends of the links, with the links ranging in thickness from 6.2mm to 4.2mm. Christopher Ward incorporated links that can be removed with a screw rather than a button, making the bracelet easy to adjust. On the back of the watch, we find a transparent case back with six exposed screw heads that secure it, revealing the mechanism underneath.
Christopher Ward is launching two models of watches in the series – stainless steel and titanium. Both models will come with a 40mm watch case. The stainless steel watches will feature the Sellita SW200 caliber, while the titanium watches will feature the Sellita SW300 caliber, with chronometer certification. Both mechanisms operate at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour, with the SW200 mechanism providing a power reserve of 38 hours while the SW300 mechanism provides a power reserve of 56 hours.
What’s special about Christopher Ward The Twelve?
As you can already understand from the pictures, what you will mainly remember from this watch is its dial. Christopher Ward chose a dial with a texture in the shape of small crosses. It’s safe to say that the company tried hard to avoid a design that would remind people of the Audemars Piguet or the Tissot PRX watches. On the dials, we find wide applied indexes, hour and minute hands in the shape of a sword, and a thin second hand, with a date window at 6 o’clock.
The stainless steel models will have dials in glacier blue, Nordic blue, basalt grey, and arctic white. In contrast, the titanium models will come in astral blue or nebula purple. The stainless steel models come with uniform color dials, while the titanium models come with a gradient color finish, where the color at the end of the watch face turns black, which upgrades the watch’s overall look.
Another difference between the stainless steel and titanium watches is the watch’s thickness – the stainless steel watches come with a thickness of 9.95mm, while the titanium watches come with a thickness of 8.95mm.
The watches come with a quick mechanism for changing straps and bracelets so that you can get them with a strap instead of a bracelet, and the replacement is easily and quickly done without tools.
The stainless steel models of Christopher Ward’s C60 Trident watches will cost $1,225 with a stainless steel bracelet or $995 with a rubber strap.
The titanium models, which come with a chronometer-certified mechanism, will cost $1,825 with a titanium bracelet or if you choose to purchase the watch with a rubber strap.
What do we think about Christopher Ward The Twelve?
Christopher Ward is jumping into the most crowded, competitive, and highest-demand market in the watch industry – the sports watch market. Specifically, the sports watch market with an integrated bracelet, or to be even more precise, the sports watch market with an integrated bracelet that looks like the Royal Oak by Audemars Piguet.
However, Christopher Ward is doing it in a refreshing way, with interestingly colored dials (with an emphasis on their titanium models), excellent finishing, and a price tag that is affordable for everyone. The immediate competitors that come to mind are the automatic PRX watches by Tissot, which have become some of the most beloved watches among watch enthusiasts in recent years. Tissot’s watches have a much more “Royal Oak” appearance than Christopher Ward’s watches, and they come with Tissot’s most popular movement, the Powermatic 80. Some may prefer Tissot’s movement, which offers more advanced power reserve and likely higher magnetic resistance, but it’s important to remember that it’s a movement that cannot be regulated, unlike ETA movements. In addition, Tissot’s movement does not come with a chronometer certification, which may be important for some.
On the other hand, Tissot’s watches are cheaper than Christopher Ward’s watches. We were very impressed with the new watches, especially their titanium models, which offer dials with unique depth and appearance.
What does the internet thinks?
Well, unlike Tissot watches which were loved by almost every watch enthusiast worldwide, Christopher Ward watches have received a lot of criticism this past weekend. Many argue that they are a homage that mixes too many watches in one – with inspirations from Zenith, Omega, Audemars Piguet, IWC, Tissot, Girard-Perregaux, and even Czapek.
It’s important to emphasize that many more people love these watches, but on the other hand, there are many negative voices and reactions that we haven’t seen in previous homage watches such as Tissot watches.
Christopher Ward The Twelve – Bringing It All Together
We don’t want to tell you what to think about the new watches. You know how to decide whether you’re for or against the design and whether you care that these watches combine so many designs within them. That’s what’s beautiful about the world of watches – that everyone can decide what they like and don’t.
For more information about the new watches.
