A visit to CW Towers

JAFO · Post by **JAFO** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:58 pm

Congratulations on the BC

I take it the BC was a pre-order that you intended to collect during your visit.

Like a lot of things, it probably just takes a bit of getting used to. It's growing on me, the more I see pictures of the BC.

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:25 pm

downer wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 9:56 am Interesting report, Neil. Thanks.

The Bel Canto is absolutely not my cuppa but I must admit the bronze Aquitaine looks great!

I can’t deny that my particular liking of the rose gold YM on oysterflex, may have influenced why I find the bronze Aquitaine attractive.

I am certainly not entertaining thoughts about getting a YM. That ship has sailed.

Neil

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:36 pm

missF wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 1:16 pm The Bel Canto on bracelet? It confounds my expectations and looks amazing IRL. You wear it well.

Thanks Lindsey.

Well now that you have mentioned the bracelet…

A conversation in a residential household, somewhere in the south east of England:

Me - would you like me to explain what the watch does?
Mrs nbg - no not really, isn’t it just like most of your other watches.
Me - no it is completely different. It chimes every hour.
Mrs nbg - well it just looks like all your other blue watches on a bracelet.

I have concluded that this means my watches are either categorised as JLC Reverso on strap or steel watches on bracelet (the others).

Neil

MiniMpi · Post by **MiniMpi** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:38 pm

Congratulations on the Bel Canto Neil

Delighted for you, also it's always a great occasion to visit the showroom even if someone wasn't buying anything, just for a good up close look at models you might have ruled out from first glance etc.

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:42 pm

JAFO wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:58 pm Congratulations on the BC
I take it the BC was a pre-order that you intended to collect during your visit.

Like a lot of things, it probably just takes a bit of getting used to. It's growing on me, the more I see pictures of the BC.

I paid for it a few hours before the live launch on the website.

CW could have sent it out to arrive by Christmas Eve and offered to send to where we were staying. I decided that was in the too difficult box, particularly as even DPD deliveries weren’t running like clockwork just before Christmas. I agreed with Mike F that they would hold it, until I requested delivery, or scheduled a visit.

Neil

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:46 pm

MiniMpi wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:38 pm Congratulations on the Bel Canto Neil
Delighted for you, also it's always a great occasion to visit the showroom even if someone wasn't buying anything, just for a good up close look at models you might have ruled out from first glance etc.

Thanks Ferg. I am really pleased with the BC.

As you know a visit is also handy to get a better insight about forthcoming models that have been trailed in previous editions of Loupe.

Neil

Bahnstormer_vRS · Post by **Bahnstormer_vRS** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:07 pm

nbg wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:36 pm A conversation in a residential household, somewhere in the south east of England:

Me - would you like me to explain what the watch does?
Mrs nbg - no not really, isn’t it just like most of your other watches.
Me - no it is completely different. It chimes every hour.
Mrs nbg - well it just looks like all your other blue watches on a bracelet.

I have concluded that this means my watches are either categorised as JLC Reverso on strap or steel watches on bracelet (the others).

Neil

Perhaps Mrs nbg will take notice when she hears it chime during the night.

Guy

MichaelMD · Post by **MichaelMD** » Thu Jan 05, 2023 4:08 pm

nbg wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 2:44 pm
MichaelMD wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 1:44 pm Great pictures, thanks for posting. One of these days I'll get across the pond again and hopefully get the time to visit "the towers"

What were you thoughts on the green Trident 300? That blue on blue Trident looks really good.

Agree on the bronze Aquitaine. I need to see one of those live, but it sure looks good in your photos
I think that all of the Trident 300s worked well. I liked the green, but would probably wear it less than the other colours. The shade of green did look dry slightly different to that on the 36mm LE Sealander.

Neil

Thanks Neil. Yeah "dry" is a good way to describe it. I've thought the same thing from pictures, like it looks slightly dull. But I really do need to see one in the metal if at all possible. The Aquitaine dials seem more glossy from the photos I've seen with a sunburst effect.

Mikkei4 · Post by **Mikkei4** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 9:35 pm

nbg wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 8:57 am As I arrived a fellow forumite had just finished his visit. We knew that we had booked back to back sessions and it was good to put a face to another long term forumite.

I think it is fair to say that, there are further watches to come this year that I am keen to try on.

If I do decide in the future to go for a Trident Pro 300 I will pick the 40mm. I had thought I might pick a 38mm, as an alternative to the other 39mm-42mm dive watches that I have.

Prior to seeing the actual watch, my view (based on pics posted on the forum) was that I didn’t like the Ombré style dials. Seeing a watch and trying it on has changed my mind.

I also don’t like bronze watches, or so I thought. I am not a full convert, as I don’t think I would go for one with a bronze bezel and let it become dull and grubby. However I do think I would happily wear the bronze Aquitaine and ensure that I kept it from developing too much patina.

Overall the absolute favourite that I tried on, was the one that I came home with.

Neil

Hi Neil, It was good to meet you at the Showroom and I'm glad you finally got your Bel Canto. My apologies for not responding to your post earlier but my laptop was away for repair and I got it back just this morning. Thank you for adding photos as they are way better than mine would have been and I hope you don't mind me adding some thoughts here from my visit.

Like you, it's been a few years since my last visit so I was there to get up to date with viewing and trying on the present CW portfolio to see what attracted me, especially what colour dial of the Sealander GMT I preferred and how it compared against the Trident 300. Declan is always a great host and quickly found the Showroom demo BC for me to try on. The blue leather strap it was on is a lovely strap and it could be appearing in 20mm size in the future. The BC Is not a design for me but I can appreciate the design and work that such a piece took to create so I'm sure you and others will enjoy owning it.

Again like you, after trying on most if not all of the watches in the display cases, I was a bit surprised by my thoughts about various watches. I quickly eliminated the Trident 300 because I prefer my MK2 38mm Trident C60s, 1 of which I was wearing. The 38mm 300 looked smaller than my 38mm C60, the 42mm looked too big so for me the 40mm would have been the best size.

I've not been sure about the Aquitaine range from viewing the CW website. To me, the photos make the sapphire bezel look a bit plasticky but I really liked the blue dial/blue bezel steel version. After trying on all the Sealanders another watch that surprised me was the green Ombre dial Sealander as I liked it more than I thought I would.

So what watch is marked for a potential future purchase? The Sealander GMT with white dial on a strap but I didn't buy anything there and unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to pick up either the old-logo or new logo'd versions that briefly appeared in the early moments of the Sale.

You'll normally be given some hints re. future releases on a visit to the Showroom - I'm sure CW know they'll get passed on so I'll do that here.

The Trident 300 is selling very well and outselling the 600, maybe that's not surprising as the 600 still has the 9o'clock logo and CW have already hinted about the MK4 600. The success of the 300 has CW thinking what the new 600 should be and it could well end up not just being a thicker 300 with an increased WR rating, might get the Sh21 movement and could replace models like the Elite as "serious" diver watches.

The Sealander case is being considered to provide a "finer" version with a different style bezel, possibly fluted or just thinner/finer to create a "dressier" option. It's likely that further colour dials will be released in the 36mm size.

Chronographs will be released - Panda, Evil Panda and not just in black, white/silver so expect some colours.

So as always I'll recommend attending a Showroom visit and if you are thinking of driving there they have spaces available so no worries about parking.

birdfeeder · Post by **birdfeeder** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:24 pm

Are there any rumours on when the MK4 600 is due? Hopefully it retains the date at 3.

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 11:00 pm

birdfeeder wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:24 pm Are there any rumours on when the MK4 600 is due? Hopefully it retains the date at 3.

Not sure.

Although I know a couple of releases are in early February and May, neither of which are the Mk4.

The date window on recent releases has been at 3. That may be the new normal?

Did you end up buying anything in the sale?

Neil

birdfeeder · Post by **birdfeeder** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 11:31 pm

nbg wrote:
birdfeeder wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:24 pm Are there any rumours on when the MK4 600 is due? Hopefully it retains the date at 3.
Not sure.

Although I know a couple of releases are in early February and May, neither of which are the Mk4.

The date window on recent releases has been at 3. That may be the new normal?

Did you end up buying anything in the sale?

Neil

Thanks for the reply. No, nothing in the sale unfortunately - a lot of it was 38mm and much of the rest had the name at 9 or domed saphhire. I was hoping for a C60 Trident Pro 300 in white or black but didn't see one.

I still have the Bel Canto due later in the year but do want something before then and a new 600 would be really nice.

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Sat Jan 07, 2023 11:40 pm

^^^ Ah based on posts on the other forum, I think that 38mm would be too small.

Neil

birdfeeder · Post by **birdfeeder** » Sun Jan 08, 2023 12:09 am

nbg wrote:^^^ Ah based on posts on the other forum, I think that 38mm would be too small.

Neil

38 is definitely too small for my thigh sized wrists. I did have a WTB up on the other forum for a Sinn but figured CW would scratch the same itch for less money.

Hopefully we're talking about the same other forum!

nbg · Post by **nbg** » Mon Jan 09, 2023 1:24 pm

Mikkei4 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 07, 2023 9:35 pm
nbg wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 8:57 am As I arrived a fellow forumite had just finished his visit. We knew that we had booked back to back sessions and it was good to put a face to another long term forumite.

Hi Neil, It was good to meet you at the Showroom and I'm glad you finally got your Bel Canto. My apologies for not responding to your post earlier but my laptop was away for repair and I got it back just this morning. Thank you for adding photos as they are way better than mine would have been and I hope you don't mind me adding some thoughts here from my visit.
No apologies required Mick.

Also good to hear your thoughts on the visit. It is interesting that we both went there with a rather lukewarm (at best) view of the ombré dials and came away deciding we liked the green ombré dial on the Sealander.

Neil

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