Will we ever get sick of vintage-inspired watches? Probably not anytime soon, judging from the looks of things. It seems that we can never satiate our desire for the past, especially given the way things around the world. So, in milking the vintage-inspired dive watch genre for all that it’s worth, Christopher Ward has unveiled yet another watch in its vintage-inspired C65 lineup of watches. Meet the new C65 Chronograph.
The case is stainless steel and measures 41mm in diameter – the same as other recent releases like the C65 Super Compressor. At 15mm, the C65 Chronograph is a fairly thick watch for two reasons. The first is that it has a water resistance of 150 meters and the second is because it’s a self-winding chronograph. At the sides of the case are sizable screw-down pushers for controlling the chronograph. It also calls to mind the look of vintage Rolex Daytonas.
The C65 Chronograph is available in just one colorway. It comes with a blue bezel and a blue dial. The individual minutes are marked with long hashes on the bezel and every five minutes has a large Arabic marker. The dial has a similar treatment – long hashes for the individual minutes are punctuated by larger indexes every five minutes.
Punctuating the blue dial are two white chronograph subdials at 3 and 9 o’clock. The latter shows the running seconds while the former is the 30-minute counter. The 30-minute counter also has blue and red regions marked out to show five and 10 minutes. The hour and minute hands are painted with Super-LumiNova Grade X1 GL C1 and so are the ends of the hour indices.
For an added dash of color, the chronograph seconds hand and chronograph minute hands are bright orange, done in the same style as the vintage Breitling Chrono-Matic Ref. 2110. Accentuating the vintage looks is a boxed sapphire crystal. Fans of the brand will be happy to see that the logo is at 12 o’clock. At the opposite end at 6 o’clock, there’s a date window, which, judging from press photos at least, seems to be quite nicely integrated. Surrounding the date cutout is a white box and the entire execution seems to be of an appropriate size.
Inside the stainless steel case is a Sellita SW510 BH a movement. The SW500 family of movements is Sellita’s answer to the legendary Valjoux 7750. As such, it has comparable specs like a beat rate of 4Hz and a power reserve of 48 hours. Owners can admire it through a sapphire display case back. Apart from the custom rotor that has a Colimaçoné finish, it doesn’t look like much else has been done to the movement.
The C65 Chronograph is a logical addition to the C65 family of vintage-inspired watches. After a handful of regular divers, what better way to round up the collection than a diving chronograph? We’ll have to wait for the actual watch to be able to give a definitive verdict. But judging from the images and the information we have here, this looks mighty promising. The Christopher Ward C65 is £1,695 on a leather strap or tropic rubber strap and £1,800 on a stainless steel bracelet. For more information, visit christopherward.com.