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WATCHES 79
The C5
The Malvern Automatic was our
first design and caused
something of a sensation in the
watch world when launched Christopher Ward
in 2005, as never before
had such refinement and
In His Own Words
beauty been accessible
❜❜
at such an affordable It started with a bet! I wagered an old friend that I could
price level. It remains make “the cheapest most expensive watch in the world”. It
the benchmark for all might sound flippant, but I was inspired by my long-standing
Christopher Ward love of watches and commitment to the principle of ‘quality
models and now that at accessible prices’. It was a challenge to myself and to
this classic timepiece is the commercial world in which, until that point, I had spent
manufactured in my career.
Switzerland, and the
opportunity taken to further Our business model is simple – we sell directly to customers
upgrade the quality, that bar over the web at a price that represents trade cost plus a small
has been raised even higher. but fair margin. That means there are no middlemen or retailers
to bump up the price and we don’t use sponsorship or trade
Prices start at £295 shows to build the brand. As far as we are concerned, the
watch comes first, not the marketing, and we don’t want
customers to pay for the extras that necessarily seem to come
with a huge marketing machine and brand hype.
A Christopher Ward watch is quintessentially English in design.
When we set up the company, we never wanted to be a ‘me
too’ Swiss rip-off organisation. Each model is very distinctive –
whether over time that will translate into an overall Christopher
The C15
Ward handwriting I can’t yet say. All I know is that I want my
Henley
watches to be the perfect blend of function and form.
Automatic
Our brand values are our strength – honesty, fairness, value,
openness and integrity. I try to check every watch before it is
shipped and answer most, if not all customer enquiries myself. If
Our first square design
you call, it’s usually me who answers the phone!
needed to be special
and with the Henley
We think this model may be unique, but I’ve no doubt someone
Automatic expectations
will let us know if it isn’t! Our biggest challenge is to convince
have been exceeded.
the consumer of the perceived value of our watches. We are
The lines of the case are
producing top quality watches with the same Swiss movements
positive yet subtle and
that are used in other well-known Swiss brands, but selling them
beautifully mirrored by
direct to customers for around one fifth to one tenth of the
the two piece dial and
retail price.
finely tapered indexes. For
all its exterior finesse,
So, the quality is equal to (and possibly better than)
however, it is the Swiss
comparable brands, but some consumers may not believe
Automatic Movement on the
that we can really achieve that quality for such a low price. The
inside that will set the pulses
fact is that we can and do, and once people know about us
racing of watch fanatics.
our reputation seems to spread quickly. The catch 22 is that we
actually may sell our watches at too low a price for people to
Prices start at £225
believe us.
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