u/Crispy_p_bacon — 10 days ago
u/Crispy_p_bacon
▲ 80 r/ChristopherWard
I think a lot of the new updates are subjective but most have been good quality of life improvements even if not to some people's preference.
I do think framing the date window ruins the aesthetic/symmetry a lot more because of the border being so much thicker than the indices. This isn't as noticeable on other colours as it is on the white one since it has pvd black indices. The thick border around the date ruins it. I think they should've either matched the thickness or have no framing the date at all like their last iteration.
Would love to hear your thoughts?
u/Crispy_p_bacon — 14 days ago
I stumbled upon Christopher Ward in 2016 (10 years ago today) and instantly loved their watches. Their marketing of x3 price/value proposition felt gimmicky but justified once you held one of their watches in their hands. Over the years, I'd say CW's first mainstream success and their first core model with the trident c60. Whether it's the mk1, mk2, 600 or the slimmer 300, What an amazing watch. The c63 established another victory and then came their lightening in a bottle moment with the bel canto.
What I loved about them was there was something for everything. Like a certain watch but too big or small, it's available in a different size. Prefer a different colour, here's the watch in a multitude of colours to choose from. All of this has been great buT A more sinister looming elephant in the room seemed to be getting bigger. Their QC issues and customer service has seemly gotten worse and worse. With a horror story almost every week on this sub and this wouldn't be fair as all brands have this however Christopher Ward's bad customer service debacles have also became what they're known for as well the amazing watches.
Digging deeper, you start noticing, once the milking the different colour bel canto, loco etc is done, CW has abandoned what the ethos that made them successful. The c60s have sat the same in 2022 since they release. The GMT colours seem to be lacking in different sizes in GMT. Slowly colour options are disappearing and you're left with white or black. The Lumiere is only available in 1 size despite the obvious gap in the ti 39 pelagos competition and they haven't done anything with that since the release. Perhaps this is still part of the c60 line troubles. The c63 line seemed to have similar issues but I suppose it's about to be updated in a few days so I'll spare us the whining on that. It seems CW average watch prices have doubled and yet the ethos of the trident model that gave it it's first success seem lacking Perhaps this is a view not shared by many but a lot of their loupe releases and covers have fallen flat with the community judging from the reaction. The last watch that got everyone excited was the bel canto it seems and the c60 300 before that.
My biggest gripe is still the QC issues and customer services issues. I haven't bought a watch in a while for this reason but out of the 4 CW I did own, all of them needed correcting and the customer services took between 2 weeks - 4 months to resolve. I guess I should give credit that all were resolved but focussing on the weak points would make this brand 100% easier to recommend.
What do you think about Christopher Ward's current ethos? and how sustainable is it going forward?
Needless to say, Christopher Ward's success from boating friends to the current powerhouse is a lovely British success story and I really hope the new c63 release in a few days brings back the spirit of what made CW, CW.
Would love to hear your thoughts?
u/Crispy_p_bacon — 17 days ago