FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
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FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by village »

...by village aged nearly 40.

Ok....so the GTG went ahead on the 19th so here is the summary of the day!
We met up with Chris & Wera at lunchtime...there was a good turnout consisting of me,Loddonite(Dom),Mortis(Stephen),Robin CB,IanBlyth,RobCherryUK + his financial controller and Arthur 08 (Paul). The afternoon flew by with Chris & Wera staying till 7pm...they also very generously picked up the tab for the entire meal and drinks (although there will be some donations to the RAF Benevolent Fund turning up in recompense).
There was much discussed:
Chris & Wera bought along a few boxes of goodies for us to root through. There was a box full of strap samples,a box full of prototype dials for the power reserve and GMT,a working example of each of those watches,C5 Aviator MKII dial,C8 MKII dial + movement,Battle of Britain dial. The GMT dial has a snippet of the Thames across the face which is the bit around Richmond...The potential prices were also discussed with Chris revealing that the mvt for the power reserve costs 300 Swiss Francs. :shock:

Chris also alluded to a ‘mystery’ watch the so far only Hans,Kip & Yoda are privy to.......... 8)

Another discussion related to the proposal that watches are packed and posted straight from Switzerland. This wouldn’t cost the customer any more nad would cut out the unpack/repack bit by CW. The down side would be the loss of personally signed letters.

QC was also discussed....Basically,as i understand it,the cost of employing more staff is basically far more than the cost of the small amount of returns due to actual QC issues (as opposed to ‘i don’t like it’ or ‘ive damaged it’),and would also add to the cost of the watches.

Another interesting comment by Chris was that there are thoughts to open an actual bricks & mortar shop in the Maidenhead area. Basically,CW offices get people dropping in/wanting to come in and there are security & safety issues associated with this,but with a shop to handle returns and face-to-face purchases the risk would be removed. Essentialy only 1 watch need be sold a day to cover the rent!

Chris also asked how we felt about a ‘modern’ pocket watch? Apparently he does get requests from Doctors & Nurses because they can’t wear wristwatches...in fact,Paul revealed that he is a nurse and often uses a pocket watch.

What else???? There were many other watches brought along by everybody...these included Seiko,Glycine,Rolex,Boschett,Hamilton,Omega,Stowa,Orient,Parnis,Tag,Accutron,Traser,RLT,Timefactors,Lum Tec,Oris and many more...not to mention Ian’s enormous CW collection! Not joking...he had a suitcase with him! You should have seen his face however,when Wera revealed how any watches were on her desk waiting to be shipped to Kip. :D There were 3 2009 LE’s on display as well.

Talking of Kip,he sent me a little mssive to read out at the GTG which i dutifully did....Kip,you will be glad to know you made Wera go a little red. :D

A convivial and constructive time was had by all.....Chris even got a pre pre order and a suggestion.:wink:

After Chris & Wera took their leave then there was a short break till the evening meal kicked off.....again,well attended and with a different mix of people. Here we had Me,Monkey,Rick,Loddonite,IanBlyth and Robin CB. Everyone except Robin had their partners with them who apparently all think we are mad. :lol:
Again,good conversation and food led to a pleasant evening (and the wine of course)...another table full of watches to look at including some Tissots of course.
Rick’s Breitling definitely had Ian watering at the mouth...i think he is in love! :liebhab:

Most interesting watch of the day was Robin’s Rolex which was his Father’s and has had an interesting life...it’s worthy of a thread all to itself (hint hint)

Best question of the day was from Chris to Ian..”So,what CW watches do you have then” :lol:

Most unlikely situation of the day...someone (i forget who i’m afraid) asked Ian if he could look at a specific CW watch to which Ian replied he didn’t have it!!!! :shock:

From my point of view i really enjoyed the day and it was great meeting some more people from the Forum and putting a face to the name. It's a shame Kip,Hans & Yoda were not able to make it but hopefully next time .....
Once again,thanks to Chris & Wera for putting up with us,buying us lunch and to Wera for putting up with my constant emails. It was also great to meet Wera at last and discover that yes,she does sleep.......sometimes :lol:

So there you go. Ta for turning up. Who’s organizing the next one?


Following are some pictures.....i haven't put up any with faces in them becasue the majority consensus was for a preference not to.If anyone else has pictures then please post them!

The man himself....i know,it's a face,but i figure this ones ok 'cause there is a picture of Chris on the CW website. The saintly Wera shall remain annonymous 8)
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by androo »

Thank you for sharing the pics with us. Glad you all had a good time. Shame my work is being an arse and not letting me have the time off but then they pay me well so i can buy watches. Do like the power reserve. GMT looks good but the Thames going into the date looks a bit like a swimmer if you know what I mean. :shock:
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by arthur08 »

Excellent write up Andy, makes me want to do it again next week :)

There were some lovely watches on display and I've added about ten to my wish list. Once again thanks for the organizing and if you need someone to keep an eye on those Seiko's at the next gtg just let me know :lol:
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by downer »

Nice report. Thanks. :D

Like the look of the C8 MkII.
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by rcherryuk »

Andy,
It was a great GTG, well done.

It was good to put faces to names (especially Wera) and to see what is being planned by CW himself.


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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by ctafield »

Good write up! Sounds like a cracking time was had by all.

That's supposed to be the Thames on the GMT? Have to admit, I thought they were swimmers too :lol:
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by danny_n »

Thanks for taking the time to post the report and the pictures -sounds like a good time was had by all. Some very intersting pieces there also.

Think I'll aim to help boost number for the 'next' one!
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by rcherryuk »

ctafield wrote:That's supposed to be the Thames on the GMT?
CW explained that the Date is meant to be Greenwich and he's still trying to get the river to fit correctly, I think one problem is that the main view of the Thames is now synonymous with EastEnders, maybe it could do the 'Doof Doofs' at midday :D
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by ianblyth »

A great day and thanks to Andy for all the organisation behind the scenes to make it happen.

It was great to meet Chris and Wera and I can honestly say that they are really nice and charming to talk to. Chris was very open and frank and answered our questions.

Some bits that I remember on top of Andy's comments.

The Swiss post question did come up as Andy mentioned and the first question back was what about VAT and postage. Chris said it would not cost us any more but would be more efficient as they would not have to ship to the UK and then post. The Swiss factory could do the QA before it went out. Interestingly Chris said that he would not sign any letters unless he had checked the watch. But as he said you can miss things no matter how hard you look. So far all of you with signed letters from Chris I would suggest you hold on to them as there will be less in future. I think it would be a benefit as you receive the package with a Swiss stamp. Makes it feel more genuine.

The other thing he mentioned was the boxes and what people felt about them and did with them. Well we all keep them just in case we do want to sell the watch later but that is its only use. So in effect we store them all. He was considereing doing away with the presentation box and shipping it in a 2 watch travel case. We liked that idea. I do think that it may be detrimental to selling the watch on as a travel case is something that you would use and may want to keep.

Chris also asked if any of us would be interested in a Bell and Ross square style watch. It was an overwhelming no from the people there.

He said that they would continue to do women's watches but they would clear the existing lines and start again in Autumn but they were not sure with what yet. So there may be some bargain women's watches in the offing in time for Xmas. :)

The black/white date wheel issue. He did say that if you started to get specific the delivery times shoot up and so do the prices. In the short term he can not see that changing with the current volume.

He told us a bit about his background, how he met up with Wera and how they dedided to get into selling watches. Very interesting. I like the bit about the first ads where they tried out three price points - £99, £279 (or £299) and about £859. He said they sold a few at the high prices and did not get returns which showed the quality was good but almost none at £99 (which he said was just as well) as people thought that it was too good to be true so the around £300 price came from that initial advert where the most watches were sold.

He brought with him the watch used in the film, which I can not remember. The watch had been taken to bits and drilled as in one scene the guy pulls a garrotte wire from it. As well as the samples he was wearing the first CWL watch - serial no 0001.

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The watch that started it all.
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There were a lot of watches on the table and I think that the staff were getting a bit impatient that we did not seem to be ordering anything. :lol:

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The last one was my Robert Dyas £9.99 tool box that I saw the other week and thought that it might be good for storing watches. It is and it made transporting them easier as well. A few people rather liked it which I was surprised about. But all my CWLs are safely back in the winders and none the worse for their day out.
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There were Seiko Monsters (mine Black and Loddonites Orange)
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A C5 Mark I and II Aviator side by side
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Andy got to see a C40 which he said looked better in real life. Where have we heard that before? And I got to see the new C40 Black which looks better than I thought. Touche.
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And with a black C4.

And I get to see one of Andy's 70's Seiko's and add to my wish list.
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"Oh look. Someone's actually bought a Sector watch". Yep that would be me and side by side with the UK one that Chris brought along.
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Those vintage stars
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And some CWL new stuff. :D 8)
Some empty mock ups.
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Some dials
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Lots of dials!
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I am liking the early C9s.

And Maratac straps got 2 new admirers. Loddonite like the tactile feel of the strap and Rick thought that it looked right on the blue C600.

Loddonite also like the quality of the Oceanauts and I showed Chris the strap on the Oceanaut Baltica which he thought was more like a knuckle duster. :lol: It is thick and heavy.
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A great day and a lot of fun. And yes I did like the Breitling. And a lot more. But I am going to have to save up for some more CWL's.

But the day has to go to the watches of which there were many and varied.
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by rcherryuk »

ianblyth wrote: The other thing he mentioned was the boxes and what people felt about them and did with them. Well we all keep them just in case we do want to sell the watch later but that is its only use. So in effect we store them all. He was considereing doing away with the presentation box and shipping it in a 2 watch travel case. We liked that idea. I do think that it may be detrimental to selling the watch on as a travel case is something that you would use and may want to keep.

Umm, not to brag,but this was actually my suggestion, luckily both Chris & Wera were interested and didn't laugh at me (Ok, not out loud!).

Chris also asked if any of us would be interested in a Bell and Ross square style watch. It was an overwhelming no from the people there.

To be fair B&R are mostly circular dialled in square cases, however it did seem that no one was very excited about the idea.

He said that they would continue to do women's watches but they would clear the existing lines and start again in Autumn but they were not sure with what yet. So there may be some bargain women's watches in the offing in time for Xmas. :)

Wera did explain that they don't sell many 'smart' womens watches, but they also get a high number of returns from the Splash line,possibly due to it's size, however they are looking at the possibility of doing his n hers sets (i.e. for weddings etc).

The black/white date wheel issue. He did say that if you started to get specific the delivery times shoot up and so do the prices. In the short term he can not see that changing with the current volume.

Sorry Chris, I tried :D , it's just the luck of the draw, if CW specified the colour it would double the delivery time :shock: so they don't specify a choice and get what they're delivered!

He brought with him the watch used in the film, which I can not remember. The watch had been taken to bits and drilled as in one scene the guy pulls a garrotte wire from it. As well as the samples he was wearing the first CWL watch - serial no 0001.
The film is Wild Target, a low budget UK film with 3 ex Harry Potter 'stars' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1235189/


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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by Monkey »

Looks like that lunchtime meet was interesting with all those CW bits there to look at!!

It was nice to meet everyone who made the evening bit, where there was some interesting conversation, some nice food and some nice watches to look at :D

Roll on the next one :)
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by Kip »

Thank you ever so much Andy for the report and Ian for the follow up.

It really sounds like you all had a great time meeting Chris and Wera as well as each other. A great opportunity to talk about watches in general and be with others who share the disease.

Thanks for all the photos. I especially like those C9 dials. As I have said before. I do believe the C9 series shall be a great one for CWL.

To Wera if you see this, I am sorry if I embarrassed you, but only the truth was spoken. No exaggeration needed.

A special thanks to Andy again for taking it upon yourself to get this GTG put together.
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Visit the CWArchives for everything CW. Historical, specs, manuals and resale. It is all there.
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by Will Bogor »

Sounds like lots of fun and thanks for the great posts.

If the new C9 dials - and they look quite amazingly good - are the new C9, does anyone know what has happened to the other C9 face designs that were the subject of a sneak preview thread, and in similar form appeared on the website a couple of days ago.

I take it no Trident yet on show?
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by village »

Will Bogor wrote:Sounds like lots of fun and thanks for the great posts.

If the new C9 dials - and they look quite amazingly good - are the new C9, does anyone know what has happened to the other C9 face designs that were the subject of a sneak preview thread, and in similar form appeared on the website a couple of days ago.

I take it no Trident yet on show?
The ones that appeared for minutes on the CW website weren't supposed to...it was the accidental toggling of an on/off sort of switch by the web blokey. He is currently in solitary confinement being fed a diet of Irn Bru and stale crisps.
Personally i thought the power reserv looked especially good although Chris agreed that the handset needs addressing....the thick stubby ones on there at the moment don't really work.
No Trident as yet i'm afraid!
My recommendation to everyone would be to stick some pennies away 'cause i think there are going to be a few watches appearing over the later course of the year that will be crying out to be bought!
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Re: FORUM GTG -The 'Official' Report

Post by Will Bogor »

Andy

I quite like the "Portuguese" C9s (ie the "Harrisons"), but these new ones are in another league. Love the numbering and the colouring. Great size too. Agree the hands aren't quite there.

I will wait with expectation and credit card poised.

Thanks and greetings from sunny Sri Lanka.......
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