Modern Christopher Ward and Me

Christopher Ward is one of my favorite modern watch brands, and I like to think of them as the modern vintage rolex, sort of, its complicated. I wasn’t in the watch community when Christopher Ward was first created, but from the few pictures I can find of their original watches, the brand didn’t know what it wanted to be yet, but today in 2023 they seemed to have found their stride, offering great watches that look good, are durable, and functional at really reasonable prices, if we add in the whole British design Swiss made they are sort of like the original Rolex. This is not a review of any watches mentioned and all photos are courtesy of Christopher Ward’s website.

When I first heard of the brand their big new watch was the Bel Canto, which is sort of a faux minute repeater. It offers that functionality but its not as complicated, and as much as this watch went upstream in the market it was still fairly affordable at around $4,000. But it wasn’t something I liked, and the rest of their catalog was disapointing, I didn’t really like most of their designs, sure I knew their watches were great quality but there were no distinct colors or specific design trademarks at the time. I largely ignored them save for a casual scroll through their catalog for “research”, but then, they got cool.

Enter The Twelve, something like their first integrated watch in like a decade. I love this watch, the dial looks incredible, especiallly the purple dial titanium version. There were some critiques about the design, looking a bit similar to the Czapek Antartique, but this watch is bringing CW’s new design language front and center. Even better there is a smaller 36mm version coming out eventually and hopefully in some even cooler colors. But even after this watch the rest of their collection was still boring with bog standard colors.

Now the Sealander has gotten updated, I’m interested specifically in the 36mm version, which now comes with a really incredible looking five link bracelet with a butterfly clasp they call their Consort Bracelet, it definitely looks comfortable and it looks much more dynamic than their standard three link bracelet. Along with this new bracelet they introduced the Mulberry Red color, unfortunately without a color matched date disk but the color is this deep red with a sunburst effect applied that really does look delicious. They also released their gmt in a blue color that I dont care for, but color is color, and this is a good sign for the future of the brand.

Looking back at their history Christopher Ward has finally caught their stride. Incredible value tool watches that are designed to be finished much better than one would assume for their price. Their designs are getting much more interesting and dynamic, compare it to some previous designs, these new watches actually have a personality. And now they have a true logo and are introducing more colors. Add a surprisingly great website and I can confidently say a Christopher Ward is on its way to my wrist in the semi far future.