Christopher Ward C60 Sapphire

[DeWar]

I recently sold a handful of watches as I realised that the enjoyment I got from cheaper pieces was as much as from the expensive ones. As a result I’ve started looking at brands like CW and this watch has caught my eye. The movement is run of the mill albeit robust but the thing that stands out is the translucent sapphire dial with blue tint that allows a view of the top of the movement. The pics I’ve seen look really nice. I’ve read a lot about CW over the years as they have been a darling of watch forums but I wonder if anybody here has any personal experience with the brand and/or specifically this watch.

[Timberwolf]

I've had a Trident Pro from the early days when they were a much more obvious GMT Master knock-off homage; I guess probably about 10 or 11 years now. It's been absolutely fine in that time; servicing takes a few weeks to turn around but I gather that's pretty common with watch manufacturers and they seem to do a good job of it. Keeps time well, handles the odd knock or bash, looks decent.

Only thing that puts me slightly off a new one is remembering how cheap they were back when the marketing was purely word-of-mouth, although they do have a lot of sales and vouchers taking decent chunks off the list price.

[DeWar]

Timberwolf said:

I've had a Trident Pro from the early days when they were a much more obvious GMT Master knock-off homage; I guess probably about 10 or 11 years now. It's been absolutely fine in that time; servicing takes a few weeks to turn around but I gather that's pretty common with watch manufacturers and they seem to do a good job of it. Keeps time well, handles the odd knock or bash, looks decent.

Only thing that puts me slightly off a new one is remembering how cheap they were back when the marketing was purely word-of-mouth, although they do have a lot of sales and vouchers taking decent chunks off the list price.

Thanks for that and yes I know enough to know I’m definitely not paying list for one. I’m on their mailing list and the number of “sales” they have puts DFS to shame.

[TorqueDirty]

I have a couple of CW watches - a C60 Trident Pro 600 and a C3 Malvern Chronograph Mk1

The C60 is lovely, well made, solid and stylish. I have the 38mm version. Very smart and an extremely comfortable strap. Mind you, I bought the C60 new for about £400. I see they are £800 now!

The C3 Malvern, even though it is a quartz, is possibly one of my favourite watches. Just a really good looking and comfortable watch. I bought it for about £150 second hand. A bargain of you ask me. Pic below. Not my watch but the same model.

The old pricing made them a great buy. I'd go second hand frankly. I prefer the old logo and I much prefer the price of a good clean used CW vs the new prices today.

[Dolf Stoppard]

It's worth joining the CW forum as there's a For Sale section as well as a Wanted section. At some point I'm going to pick one up just out of interest. Residuals are actually pretty good on lots of models as long as you buy carefully.