The brand Christopher Ward was created in Summer of 2004 by three friends: Mike France and Peter Ellis, who would both look after the retailing, and Chris Ward, who brought in the watchmaking know-how. Read the Timezone interview.
Their aim was to create “the cheapest most expensive watches in the world” by harnessing margins without compromising quality. With prices positioned between 200 and 1000 USD, all Christopher Ward watches feature Swiss movements and are assembled in Switerland to comply with the Swiss Made label affixed on dials.
After the success of the first classical collections, they tackled the Aviation watch genre and are now coming with new sports models. After consulting with visitors on the forum they created, the developers created several new models that take cues from vintage timepieces. Pictured here, some collection preview published on their blog for reviewal and market study:
There are several things to be liked about this brand: not only the founders are very humble and do not take themselves seriously (as do many other entrepreneurs discussed on this blog), they take the time to listen to forumers.
They regularly publish a magazine and maintain a forum where brand enthusiasts can contribute with ideas for new collections. The result modern watches tastefully designed with a je ne sais quoi retro look.
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Being based in London, UK, the brand also names some collection after the country’s legendary watchmakers (John Harrison). Christopher Ward also has special collections dedicated to various regiments of the British Military.
