2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
misc720
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by misc720 »

Finally received mine yesterday, a long way from home!

I have to say, even after spending countless hours browsing the CW website, the magazine is a really nice way to view the whole collection. I even found myself appreciating the women's line, something I've never bothered to look at online. This will be good for showing the collection to friends who have noticed/commented on my CW watches but were somewhat put off by the "internet only" vibe.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by Kip »

misc720 wrote:Finally received mine yesterday, a long way from home!

I have to say, even after spending countless hours browsing the CW website, the magazine is a really nice way to view the whole collection. I even found myself appreciating the women's line, something I've never bothered to look at online. This will be good for showing the collection to friends who have noticed/commented on my CW watches but were somewhat put off by the "internet only" vibe.
I agree the catalog adds credibility to CWL. After all, it is still a relatively unknown company outside the watch world.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by st-rider »

What is this catalog you speak of? Nothing received here.
I have seen online a version on the CWL web site (together with the recent two mailshot brochures).
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by dj7 »

misc720 wrote:Finally received mine yesterday, a long way from home!

I have to say, even after spending countless hours browsing the CW website, the magazine is a really nice way to view the whole collection. I even found myself appreciating the women's line, something I've never bothered to look at online. This will be good for showing the collection to friends who have noticed/commented on my CW watches but were somewhat put off by the "internet only" vibe.
Agree with misc720 there. In fact I found the magazine more interesting and it adds a bit glamour to the nice watches. Whereas I found the website a bit clinical but with more information. The two complement each other well.

I just have two issues with the photos on the website.

1. The zoom roll over feature allows you to see the details of the watches nicely, but it is difficult to get an overall view of the watch as a whole.

2. The C5 gold on the website looks the same as the photo in the latest catalogue on page 7. However, the C5 gold on page 74 looks completely different. Is that a different gold model of the C5? If not then which one is more accurate?
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by dj7 »

Jttuck wrote:Most of the retail and/or resale value of a watch is dependent on marketing and name recognition. That is the honest truth. You are not paying as much for the "actual" watch as you would think you are. Yes you will pay a premium for quality and for movement complexity/innovation, but marketing is the lion's share of the price. When I speak of marketing I am thinking in terms of a brand name associated with exclusivity. I spoke with a distributor for a big name watch company and they were pulling back the number of stores that they would allow to carry their watches. He said their goal was to reduce the availability and thus increase the appearance of exclusivity. Exclusive brands can demand a higher price point. Sometimes the fact you demand a higher price adds to the exclusivity and thus increases customer demand. This doesn't only happen with watches, it happens with other products as well. With the recent downturn in the economy luxury car companies were taking a bath. I can't remember the particular company in question, but they were hurting big time in North America. They figured their luck wouldn't fair much better in Asia since China had put such a heavy tax burden on their product it effectively tripled the price of their vehicle. To their surprise their BEST sales took place in China. What they soon discovered was the fact the car was sooooo expensive made it a status symbol to own one in China. The car wasn't build any better than the other luxury cars, but people were willing to pay the price to look wealthy. Back to the topic at hand, watches that will appreciate in value more than CW watches will do so based more on exclusivity and name recognition than they will based on quality. If you want a watch that is affordable yet comparable in build and make to the big name companies CW fits the bill. If you want a watch that will go up in value to the point you can retire when you sell your collection... CW is not your brand. For this to happen CW would have to change its marketing approach, and if they did most of us probably couldn't afford to buy them.
Well said. I know this thread is not about how to market CW in China or anywhere. But just like to say, there is no way CW could be marketed in China (or a large part of Asia) as is. To sell a "cheap" Swiss Watch in those market, people there would just think you are making fakes.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by lostguy »

dj7 wrote:
misc720 wrote:1. The zoom roll over feature allows you to see the details of the watches nicely, but it is difficult to get an overall view of the watch as a whole.
Right-click the picture and open in a new tab or window. It will show a large picture. If that's still not big enough, click the picture again to ginormasize it :D

Even better than the above is to find the watch in the Gallery. Real life pictures are much better.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by Loddonite »

lostguy wrote: ginormasize
Excellent.
The English language needs more people like you. :up:
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by MiniMpi »

I received my catalogue today in the post :)
It looks very well indeed and my father loved it too!!
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by SparkUK »

shrink wrote:
littlejohno43 wrote:
shrink wrote:my copy went in the bin without being opened. Need to remove myself from the mailing list for it TBH. Its unfair of them to waste money sending me lovely glossy magazines i wont open.

apart the forum LE in feb/march, my interest in CW's is exhausted and has reached an end. Happy to have the models I have already, and i'm looking forward to the LE, but not much else fills me with excitement any more.

Going to look at some alternatives, and possibly treat myself to something a bit more notable.
Any reason for change in particular ?


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yeah, a few reasons TBH...

I got my first CW because i had wanted my first decent watch, and it was a gift from my mum at the time, bought with money from my gran passing away. As a result, the first CW i ever got, a C5 aviator, has a sentimental attachment. But I got carried away, and bought a few watches i didnt love, because they were cheap, or seemed like a good idea at the time.

The reality is, i'm not sure about some of the CW models, have had a variety of quality control and organisational issues with regards to orders in the past, and this whole Chr.Ward thing is the cherry on a cake that i don't want to eat. That and every year that passes, CW seem like less and less good value, and are starting to get seriously expensive. A C700 is a good example of a hell of a lot of money for a name that 99% of people will never have heard of. I couldnt justify it, given that unlike an omega, it'll just lose value over the years, and lots of it.

I'll get my LE, as that'll be a good watch, which again, has sentimental value (i got serial 30 to mark my 30th birthday). But i'd like to invest now, in some of the more high end brands. Because there are more of those that have a model that suits my tastes. E.g. the longines master moonphase, the oris TT1 and the Omega Speedmaster.

I'm with you. I bought into the Chris Ward brand. The brand has changed. I no longer buy into it. The watches are not as minimal and attractive as they once were, and the prices are getting stupid considering the original ethos of the company. You're in Oris territory with some of them. And frankly, they make nicer watches. Christopher Ward represented well designed, great value watches. Chr. Wd. represents gaudy, overpriced watches. And the 'Elizabeth Duke' style brochures only go to reinforce this feeling. You think they look classy? Take a look at what the top end watch guys are doing. Or Bentley, or even BMW. The design and typography of the Ch. W. Ctlg. reek of a cheap fashion brand trying to look classy.

I'm oot.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by lostguy »

Loddonite wrote:
lostguy wrote: ginormasize
Excellent.
The English language needs more people like you. :up:
"Would you like to ginormasize your popcorn sir?"

It has a ring to it, except the portions are huge already :shock:
SparkUK wrote:
shrink wrote: yeah, a few reasons TBH...

I got my first CW because i had wanted my first decent watch, and it was a gift from my mum at the time, bought with money from my gran passing away. As a result, the first CW i ever got, a C5 aviator, has a sentimental attachment. But I got carried away, and bought a few watches i didnt love, because they were cheap, or seemed like a good idea at the time.

The reality is, i'm not sure about some of the CW models, have had a variety of quality control and organisational issues with regards to orders in the past, and this whole Chr.Ward thing is the cherry on a cake that i don't want to eat. That and every year that passes, CW seem like less and less good value, and are starting to get seriously expensive. A C700 is a good example of a hell of a lot of money for a name that 99% of people will never have heard of. I couldnt justify it, given that unlike an omega, it'll just lose value over the years, and lots of it.

I'll get my LE, as that'll be a good watch, which again, has sentimental value (i got serial 30 to mark my 30th birthday). But i'd like to invest now, in some of the more high end brands. Because there are more of those that have a model that suits my tastes. E.g. the longines master moonphase, the oris TT1 and the Omega Speedmaster.

I'm with you. I bought into the Chris Ward brand. The brand has changed. I no longer buy into it. The watches are not as minimal and attractive as they once were, and the prices are getting stupid considering the original ethos of the company. You're in Oris territory with some of them. And frankly, they make nicer watches. Christopher Ward represented well designed, great value watches. Chr. Wd. represents gaudy, overpriced watches. And the 'Elizabeth Duke' style brochures only go to reinforce this feeling. You think they look classy? Take a look at what the top end watch guys are doing. Or Bentley, or even BMW. The design and typography of the Ch. W. Ctlg. reek of a cheap fashion brand trying to look classy.

I'm oot.
The C700 is an automatic chronograph-- they don't come cheap. £800 is great value! Steinhart's chronos start around £800 too (another brand good value for money). I don't think you can compare this to "Oris territory" as you'll barely be looking at a basic non-chrono at that price (and a 1/3 mark-up because it's not sold directly). Different watches, different markets.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by SparkUK »

Ok, but you get my point. The difference is, Steinhart and Oris still make attractive watches. And the price isn't all that different. Ch. W. d. used to make good looking watches. Most of the new ones are ugly overpriced fashion trinkets. And the ones that aren't are twice as much as they used to be.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by lostguy »

SparkUK wrote:Ok, but you get my point. The difference is, Steinhart and Oris still make attractive watches. And the price isn't all that different. Ch. W. d. used to make good looking watches. Most of the new ones are ugly overpriced fashion trinkets. And the ones that aren't are twice as much as they used to be.
Don't know, Steinhart seem to be busy making sub look-alikes :lol: That range is their biggest seller. I think CWL's designs compared to their's are a little more refined and prettier eg compare the C60 Trident to their subs. The CWL is a bit more unique and gets my vote.

I also like the C9 GMT. It's £550 but it's a GMT so again that's not an unusually high price. It's elegant and stylish.

Maybe CWL have just expanded their range to fit more tastes?
I dont know, I just think it's easy to say they are expensive but when you go out and look at the alternatives you do find that CWL is quite well priced. Watches are generally increasing in price.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by xtriple »

My Steinhart is definitely a "sub-u-like" and none the worse for that :D But, just to join in the arguement ('cos I like joining in) I still stand by my earlier comments re CW. The more you look around, the better the prices of CW's appear. There is naff all around for £365 that's any good and not quartz - fortunately, I like quartz so the world is my oyster - but CW have a fair few around that price with good automatic movements. There are few in the current range that I want to buy however, as the one I really fancy is the C60 and I've already got an order in for the 2012 FLE so two would be overkill.

I think CW are just moving up with the market as everything has got much more expensive - look at the way Omega are "re-placing" themselves in the market place, right up there with Rolex on prices. Incidentally, prices of those two brands have increased dramatically this year, more so pro-rata than CW have.

I am a fan of CW's but not to the extent that I'm going to end up with 27 (or 70 odd! :shock: ) and I really think that if you want a quality Swiss made timepiece then you can do a lot worse than look at "our" range.

As for the catalogue: I was really rather impressed with it. At least I didn't have to pay for it to be delivered this time :evil: which was a good start. I guess I could be the target audience as I'm not a WIS, just a watch fan in general and so the catalogue and the new re-branding appeal to me.
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by SteveM »

I received my catalogue today. As a newcomer to the ChristopherWard brand, I quite enjoyed flicking through the pages today. I realise that I am new to the brand - and have yet to actually buy one... but I have to disagree with some of the comments. My impression so far is a brand with some fairly well defined house styles and there is a wide range of choice across different price bands, so the VFM piece comes across well.

I am an Oris and Omega wearer, and I have been drawn to Christopher Ward because I like the look of some of the pieces (the C11 drew me in) and I'm also attracted by having an 'English' Swiss watch. From what I've seen so far, it won't be long before I'll be wearing one - especially with Christmas and then my birthday around the corner. Don't get me wrong, I don't see Christopher Ward watches as the only option from now on - there's still that Speedmaster that I want for my next significant birthday - but until then, I've been impressed with what I've seen.

So the summary from an impartial newcomer; drawn in by an advert, liked browsing the website, decided to get advice by joining the forum and have enjoyed reading the catalogue... I'd say their marketing is working well so far!
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Re: 2011 - 2012 Catalogue

Post by Jape »

I'm a new 'fan' of CW, and maybe not familiar with the older models. But, in my opinion, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the newer models. On the contrary, the C11 is great, for example. The C90 is stunning, the C60s are great, same goes for the C9s etc. I'm not sure what the older models are but if they look better than these above, they must be stunning.

I also liked the catalogue. However, it's now in shreads as our 7 months old doggy had got hold of it during the day (thanks to the missus for moving it to a place the dog could reach). :(
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