More quartz watches to come?

abeardsley2020 · Post by **abeardsley2020** » Mon May 13, 2024 5:36 pm

The C63 valour has been launched as a quartz, i have one incoming. Do you think it’s likely we will see more CW watches being launched in quartz? I would personally be a fan as I like the convenience of quartz.
Thanks

exHowfener · Post by **exHowfener** » Mon May 13, 2024 6:12 pm

I've no idea really, but I would guess that it depends on the reception of the "Valour" and whether that translates into sales. If the valour sells strongly, then why not? Some people aren't keen on quartz, but there's enough people who are to make more models viable. After all, Grand Seiko seem to be capable of selling quartz watches at a strong price. I'm not saying CW are GS competitors, but clearly there is a market there.

ralfybaby · Post by **ralfybaby** » Mon May 13, 2024 9:03 pm

Not to my house

golfjunky · Post by **golfjunky** » Mon May 13, 2024 9:31 pm

I’m going to say no

Cooperman · Post by **Cooperman** » Mon May 13, 2024 9:35 pm

Nor to mine

Post by **rkovars** » Mon May 13, 2024 9:47 pm

The military collection is unique in that there is a price cap imposed by the MOD. So CW cannot offer watches over the cap. This is the reason that the Sandhurst Bronze was never offered for sale with the bracelet as a set. You always had to buy the bracelet separately because as a set they would be above the cap.

The only way that CW could get a chronograph under the cap would be to go quartz. This would imply that they wouldn't release any in the main collections.

However, CW has continually shown that if something is popular statements to the contrary don't count and they will mine that vein to the very nub.

RichM · Post by **RichM** » Mon May 13, 2024 10:56 pm

^^^ I didn't know there's a cap set by the MOD.

I expect that's why Bremont always had such a good price when sold exclusively through the Military line, somewhere around £700 to £800 I think when the civilian equivalent might have been £3k or more.

Why is the cap imposed d'you know?

Post by **Bahnstormer_vRS** » Mon May 13, 2024 11:08 pm

RichM wrote: ↑Mon May 13, 2024 10:56 pm ^^^ . . . . . . .

Why is the cap imposed d'you know?

It's part of the Licencing Agreement CW has with the UK MOD, however why I don't know.

Thinking aloud perhaps to ensure there's no overlap with other brands that have a similar Licence with the MOD.

Guy

WileyECoyote · Post by **WileyECoyote** » Tue May 14, 2024 1:40 am

Aside from the cap imposed by the MOD, my intuition tells me that a quartz model makes the most sense for a chronograph. As a general rule, mechanical chronographs cost more. Christopher Ward has done a few in recent years but they have tended to cost more than their other product lines. I am only guessing but I figure the mechanical chronographs lagged behind the sales of their C60 divers & Sealanders. One problem with past CW automatic chronographs was case thickness. They didn’t call them ‘the Beast’ & ‘Bumble Beast’ without reason. A quartz chronograph like the C63 Valour is a sharp looking watch being sold at a very accessible price with a more wearable slimmed down profile. I like mine & hope that they sell well for CW. But, for the reasons like the MOD cap, price & thinner watch, this may have been a special case. I am doubtful that CW plans to introduce very many quartz models. As Christopher Ward has matured, they seem to be moving in the direction of higher end, higher priced releases like the Moonphase, Twelve Ti & Bel Canto. I think it would be more likely that they will try a pricier mechanical Chronograph in the future, if they can manage a thinner case than in the past. That said, I am glad that CW returned to the world of quartz to give us the C63 Valour. Not everyone wants one but I am happy with mine.

Delmar

abeardsley2020 · Post by **abeardsley2020** » Tue May 14, 2024 7:30 am

Thanks for reply how is the alignment of the ticking second hand? Noticed on the 1 video on YouTube the second hand was hitting inbetween the indices rather than on them.

WileyECoyote wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 1:40 am Aside from the cap imposed by the MOD, my intuition tells me that a quartz model makes the most sense for a chronograph. As a general rule, mechanical chronographs cost more. Christopher Ward has done a few in recent years but they have tended to cost more than their other product lines. I am only guessing but I figure the mechanical chronographs lagged behind the sales of their C60 divers & Sealanders. One problem with past CW automatic chronographs was case thickness. They didn’t call them ‘the Beast’ & ‘Bumble Beast’ without reason. A quartz chronograph like the C63 Valour is a sharp looking watch being sold at a very accessible price with a more wearable slimmed down profile. I like mine & hope that they sell well for CW. But, for the reasons like the MOD cap, price & thinner watch, this may have been a special case. I am doubtful that CW plans to introduce very many quartz models. As Christopher Ward has matured, they seem to be moving in the direction of higher end, higher priced releases like the Moonphase, Twelve Ti & Bel Canto. I think it would be more likely that they will try a pricier mechanical Chronograph in the future, if they can manage a thinner case than in the past. That said, I am glad that CW returned to the world of quartz to give us the C63 Valour. Not everyone wants one but I am happy with mine.

Delmar

cmpic · Post by **cmpic** » Tue May 14, 2024 9:18 am

Actually one of the issues with quartz is not the movement, it's the fact that the nice watches are generally not quartz. Grand Seiko and a few other exceptions aside (some Omegas, etc) quartz is overlooked by most except on the cheap end. I'd personally buy more quartz watches if the actual watches were as good looking as their mechanical counterparts, especially for daily wear when I can't be bothered to wind, set the time, etc. I actually made a shortlist of 8-10 quartz watches, bought a Hamilton Jazzmaster but then sold it - mostly because I didn't really gel with the looks of it in real life but actually loved the movement (accurate to about 1 second per month).

So I'd be keen to see more CW offerings with quartz movements.

PS. Oh, and finally, surely they can make all quartz movements have a sweeping second hand, like Seiko has it on one movement (I forgot the reference)

abeardsley2020 · Post by **abeardsley2020** » Tue May 14, 2024 9:23 am

I agree I would like more high end offerings of quartz it’s a shame for example that the aquaterrra was discontinued in quartz. I like mechanical watches but as you pointed out cannot always be bothered with the winding setting etc.

cmpic wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 9:18 am Actually one of the issues with quartz is not the movement, it's the fact that the nice watches are generally not quartz. Grand Seiko and a few other exceptions aside (some Omegas, etc) quartz is overlooked by most except on the cheap end. I'd personally buy more quartz watches if the actual watches were as good looking as their mechanical counterparts, especially for daily wear when I can't be bothered to wind, set the time, etc. I actually made a shortlist of 8-10 quartz watches, bought a Hamilton Jazzmaster but then sold it - mostly because I didn't really gel with the looks of it in real life but actually loved the movement (accurate to about 1 second per month).

So I'd be keen to see more CW offerings with quartz movements.

Post by **rkovars** » Tue May 14, 2024 11:13 am

cmpic wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 9:18 am PS. Oh, and finally, surely they can make all quartz movements have a sweeping second hand, like Seiko has it on one movement (I forgot the reference)

Spring drive is a completely different animal. In most quartz movements the second hand stops in order to save battery life.

Some high frequency quartz movements have a more mechanical tick 8-10 movements per second. I think the 9F does this. Some Bulova Precisionist movements do too. In general these have much shorter battery life specs (around 3 years) and have a larger battery. Average quartz movements will have 5-7. I've seen digital quartz as high as 11 years but there are no moving parts there.

What is super interesting is that almost every Casio I have seen hits all of the markers bang on. Even my Marathon with a high accuracy high torque ETA movement tends to drift. I don't know what secret sauce Casio has but it is pretty amazing.

albionphoto · Post by **albionphoto** » Tue May 14, 2024 11:33 am

A thinner chronograph would most likely require a different movement. CW want to keep their "Swiss Made" status and so they can't look too far for new movements. It has to be Swiss. They also have a strong relationship with Selitta who are their partner for most of the CW movements (SH21 and the JJ and FS calibres aside). Selitta's mechanical chronograph is based on the Valjoux 77XX architecture and that's a big movement and so you get thick watches as a result. There may be other manufacturers who can make slimmer chronographs but that would mean some business risks and costs for CW that aren't worth taking. It also seems that chronographs aren't a core part of the line-up and never have been. CW sell a few certainly but they are not a chronograph company like Zenith and so all things considered if you want a chronograph from CW it's going to be a "big boy" or a quartz.

albionphoto · Post by **albionphoto** » Tue May 14, 2024 11:37 am

cmpic wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2024 9:18 am Actually one of the issues with quartz is not the movement, it's the fact that the nice watches are generally not quartz. Grand Seiko and a few other exceptions aside (some Omegas, etc) quartz is overlooked by most except on the cheap end. I'd personally buy more quartz watches if the actual watches were as good looking as their mechanical counterparts, especially for daily wear when I can't be bothered to wind, set the time, etc. I actually made a shortlist of 8-10 quartz watches, bought a Hamilton Jazzmaster but then sold it - mostly because I didn't really gel with the looks of it in real life but actually loved the movement (accurate to about 1 second per month).

So I'd be keen to see more CW offerings with quartz movements.

PS. Oh, and finally, surely they can make all quartz movements have a sweeping second hand, like Seiko has it on one movement (I forgot the reference)

There are some folks on here who own Citizen "The Citizen" Chronomasters that might disagree with you about nice watches not being quartz

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