Over at Watch Crunch, there's a post asking if you had to stick with one brand for the rest of your life, which would you pick? The predictable selections made their appearances: Rolex, Omega, JLC, Longines, etc. One person did say Christopher Ward, and I offered this as a reply:

Part of me wanted to pick this as my answer given my watch collecting roots, but I feel like I'd be lacking something. Maybe because the brand doesn't have much to offer in the traditional dress or dress-adjacent category anymore (which feels like a strange choice given that it's a British brand)?

I do think that the lack of a traditional dress model is part of my reasoning. I would really like to see the return of the Malvern or something like it, but I think there's probably more to my hesitation in picking CW as my answer. I haven't quite sorted it out in my head though. But let me pose the question to an Asylum full of inmates. At this stage in your watch collecting life (I hate the word "journey" in this context), would you pick CW as your Brand for Life?

Peteo wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2024 4:17 pm At this stage in your watch collecting life (I hate the word "journey" in this context), would you pick CW as your Brand for Life?

For the same reason you mentioned but I would expand upon it a bit...
They are still working out their "entire" catalog so I do not (yet) think they can be a one-brand-only collection for life.

I think sometimes people forget (i.e. even the old time CWL enthusiasts) that the brand is only 20 years old and technically has only offered watches for 19 years. Many of these other brands have had far many more decades, or even centuries, to build their catalogs. And many of those "other" longer term established brands could still not meet the requirement of brand for life.

CWL seems to be like a fine wine...just give it some more time to breath.

There are days when I pause and reflect on just how I am so very nearly in this category.

I have been quietly releasing Omegas and Seikos back into the wild: my motivation for so doing is at least partly a matter of what they call "putting your affairs in order" but also partly just coming to terms with declining interest in this or that watch. Numerically the lion's share of my collection are of the CW brand.

A one brand collection based entirely on the brand's offering at a particular date in time seems to me to be rather restricted: get ye into the back catalogue sir!

I imagine if I was forced to pick one , and money was no object it would probably be Omega,.

I do have a penchant for Swiss watches, and I could easily own loads of CWs. Indeed, if I were to pick a model there's assorted C65s I don't have. The black gold, the worldtimer spring to mind. I was perhaps mistakenly thinking I had to control acquisitive instincts.

Well, it’s a hypothetical question, so here is a hypothetical answer:

Sure, why not?

I’ve said before that my black dialled C63 Sealander GMT is, or could easily be, the only watch I need. It doesn’t look out of place in any location that I’m likely to find myself in, from nice restaurants to the sea.

But it’s hypothetical, of course, because no one is going to make me do that.

Actually, I would be happier with a Tank and a Santos.

While CWs form 95% of my collection, I definitely couldn't restrict myself to CW only.

I don't believe anybody who loves watches for the love of horology could do.

'Any brand' as a One Brand Collection, is a most unlikely scenario for me.

Much as I have more CWs than any other brand, I'm at the point in my watch collecting journey that I'm now 'spoilt' by other brands.

However, if I had to go to just one brand, I'm sure I could make CW work for me.

They're good quality, a decent price, and there's a plentiful selection of models in their current and back catalogue, details in the CWArchive, to suit all (my) needs.

Guy

I like too many watches to be so restricted. That being said, though, more than half my watches are CW. And they are a mix of new and used. They range from dressier to toolier. I lean dressy but being averse to divers generally I have a surprising number of CW dive watches. They’re just that nice.

So, CW comes pretty close in my opinion.

I'd pick CW as a one brand collection and be happy to do so. It caters for virtually every watch style I like and I reckon I could easily live with a 3-4 watch CW collection and nothing else;

Dress --> C9 SH21
Dive --> spoilt for choice and have had loads; C65 SH21 and C60 Elite GMT are currently in the box
GMT --> see above or a C8 world timer
Chrono --> Had a C40 Speedhawk (my first CW) but would go for a Bumblebeast now
Tool --> C11 (I had the Extreme)
Moonphase --> I like the C1 Moonglow
Skeleton --> Twelve X
Pilot --> The ceramic Typhoon series were cool
Casual --> Sealander fits the bill
Beater --> Go with a no nonsense C8 flyer
Power Reserve --> any of the SH21's with a power reserve on the dial

The only one watch style CW hasn't yet nailed for me is a white dial diver with black hands, markers and an orange seconds hand (the Sealander came close as the Rolex Explorer homage I'd like to own).

@Peteo - two threads sprang to mind when I read your post.

The first was my own: In search of a dress watch
The second was AVO’s: Show us your early CWs!

In the first I was looking for a dress watch and found nothing in CW’s current range to meet the criteria for what I would consider in a dress watch. The second thread demonstrates quite how many dress watches CW used to produce.

I was thinking at one point about starting a thread along a similar line to your thoughts: Why don’t CW currently produce a classic dress watch? Presumably it’s a deliberate decision but I’m not sure why they wouldn’t given there’s a fair history of producing them.

To answer your question though (as a relative newcomer), CW is an increasingly important part of my collection, but I don’t think I could yet see it as my sole brand. But then I really struggle to think of any one brand I would choose…

CW would certainly be in the consideration for one brand only. I think that they have an extensive range of watches and varying price points. There truly is something for everyone and most people would be hard pushed to go through the current offerings and not find at least two or three appealing products.
Thankfully this is only theoretical as part of what has drawn me Into the horological world over recent times is the vast array of watch producers, their massively different interpretations of a watch and (usually) that they are within the realms of what an average-ish person could afford if they so desired. I know I'm new to watches but it feels like a wonderful time to have discovered this hobby/lifestyle/obsession.
Thanks
Pat

Possible, but unlikely from my perspective.

Over the years I have handled and tried on watches from the following brands (a list compiled from memory and a few phone pics, therefore likely to have forgotten a few).

Alphabetical order and covering a wide range of price points:

ALS
Andreas Strehler
Audemars Piguet
Blancpain
Breguet
Breitling
Bremont
Bulgari
Carl Suchy
Cartier
Chopard
Christopher Ward
CWC
Czapek
Damasko
Dornblüth
Fears
Garrick
Girard Perregaux
GO
Grand Seiko
Heuer
IWC
JLC
Longines
Lonville
Maurice Lacroix
Moser
Ming
Minase
Moritz Grossmann
Newmark
Nomos
Omega
Oris
Panerai
Parmigiani
Patek
Piaget
Pinion
Schwartz Etienne
Seiko
Sinn
Smiths
Squale
Tag
Tissot
Tudor
Vacheron Constantin
Vertex
Zenith
Zero West

For many I have tried on a selection of models on a few occasions and yet I haven’t managed to stray beyond what I consider to be my favourite half dozen brands.

With the high end stuff I have reached the conclusion that the watches are not really for me. I just don’t get the price to quality aspect and I have no interest in buying something just because of what it is.

Further down I look and think that whilst I like many of the watches, I don’t like them enough to displace my favourites from regular wear.

Yes I have watches from more than a dozen brands, but tend to only wear my favourite brands at least 95% of the time.

With that in mind would I ever consider a one brand collection, with CW as that brand?

I don’t think that I would, but I think I am at the stage where I would realistically stick with watches from five brands, one of which would be CW, which would be the most represented of the five.

Perhaps I would even go further and admit that there are some days when I think I would be happy to just wear watches from three brands 90% of the time, including CW.

CW have come along way in the past few years.

If asked the question say five years ago I would have said no way. For me there simply weren’t enough different CW models that I liked. A rather different situation to the here and now.

Neil

timepieces_and_bags wrote: ↑Mon Dec 09, 2024 2:04 am
I was thinking at one point about starting a thread along a similar line to your thoughts: Why don’t CW currently produce a classic dress watch? Presumably it’s a deliberate decision but I’m not sure why they wouldn’t given there’s a fair history of producing them.

I think CW is currently focused on growth. As a consequence they are producing watches that have a good chance of being sellers. However, to your point, if you don't try, you never really know for certain do you. There are some back catalog models ripe for the picking. If you could shave a mm or two off of the C9 5 Day Small Seconds........

Given the breadth of the back catalog I could probably do it. CW is in a dry spell for me personally but these things move in cycles.

The idea of a one brand collection is certainly interesting. It could be done. It could even be done with CW. If I had to do it though I don't think CW would be the brand I chose and not because they don't have a dress watch. I don't wear dress watches and the Bel Canto could surely sit in the dress watch space anyway.

I'd chose Omega as my one brand collection. An easy choice you say and, yes it is, but as the CW design language evolves it evolves away from what I like. The number of CWs in my collection is falling (although there will be a core two or three I won't sell: EVER) and I would only need one more Omega to fill even the dress watch gap.

From thinning my collection by more than half in the last 12 months, I have some kind of visible goal of what I actually want. Despite looking in to this question quite a bit, I cant quite make CW my 1 brand.


If money was no object, Rolex would be the easy choice for me. Theres everything I need and want. And then some!!!

As theres more chance of me stopping drinking than owning about half a dozen or so Rolex, I think CW is possibly the next brand that ticks as many boxes as possible. Certainly cost and practicality wise.

The middle ground between the two imho, would be IWC. In fact as im sat here waiting for my delayed train, freezing my little giggleberries off, im thinking IWC wins out (unless the lottery comes in).