As a long-standing buyer/customer of our favourite watchmaker, I have a question...
Should Christopher Ward go all out and all in on The Twelve? Make it their signature watch?
It was released in 2023 to massive acclaim from almost all on this forum and most of the horological 'experts' in the media, especially YouTube.
I like it, I want one, especially now we are going to get micro-adjustment on the bracelet, but, and here's my problem with it... it's a bit limited, in size and the dial design.
40mm is a BIT too large for what is, mainly, a dress watch. Although I'm not averse to keeping it for our larger brethren.
36mm is quite a good size but too big for most women. (And before you get on your high horses, large watches, for both genders, are 'out,' thank goodness).
Here's my idea... several sizes: 30mm, 32mm, 34mm, 36mm, 38mm, and, for the gorillas, 40mm. We don't need titanium, SS is fine.
Plus, and this is important, the option of some PLAIN dials. Black, white, grey, dark blue, without the stippled flags motif. They've done it on the Halo and it looked great.
I'll gladly order a 38mm, with date, in dark blue.

Those screwed in semi-crown guards just scream chrono pushers to me. So, snippy snappy, gimme a chrono XII.

And then borrow FC their Worldtimer caliber and stuff that in there too.

If I were to consider one of these watches, which I currently am, it would be the titanium version. So we need titanium.

At the risk of getting kicked off the forum the Twelve doesn't really do anything for me. If I were to buy one it would be the purple Ti version but every time I look at one I just can't pull the trigger. The Twelve X is out of my budget for now and personally I would like to see a splash of colour in the bridges, blue, purple or something whacky like painting each of the cogs in the mechanism a different colour similar to the Rolex balloon face which looked really interesting.

Personally I would like to see some verity back in the offering, we used to get a different TMB metal art or special edition flyers or JJ movements but the current collection of C60, C63 and C65's are all much of a muchness (in my humble opinion).

I get why CW have gone down this route as the LE flyers didn't sell particularly well and probably cost a small fortune to develop, for the profit they generated given the numbers sold, so going after the mass market with a very competitive dive / sports watch offering makes total business sense.

All in is a dangerous concept, in my opinion.

I don’t think CW is in a place to take a risk like that, but I’d love it for purely personal reasons!

I really want a 12, but after trying on both the 36 and 40, can’t help but feeling 38 would be ideal for me.

On top of that, I’d definitely want Ti, so throwing that out would not be ok with me.

On top of THAT, out of the current sizes, I would choose 36mm, but I don’t like the colors. I much prefer the 40mm Ti colors.

If they just made all colors available in all sizes, I’d have already bought one. Expanding the range to 38mm or beyond would just be icing on the cake.

I now realise that my original post was a bit too strong in its title and content. I blame Red Label.

'All in' is, indeed, a dangerous concept. I also agree that the Trident is probably CW's signature brand.

But a dive watch is inherently masculine and, possibly, a young man's game. They were all I wore for 20 years but now, in middle age, a sports/dress watch is a must. (I wear a Trident Classic LE).

I think what I meant is that CW has a real chance to broaden its appeal and bring in new customers, especially women. I mean, they make up 50% of the population - lets flog 'em some watches. And if you can catch a potential customer when they're young, you may have them for life.

I had my monthly watch meetup last night that has a healthy mix of watch enthusiasts of all levels. A few CW fans thrown in. One comment I heard over and over again was that they liked the watch but were still interested in getting a Bel Canto instead.

Now granted this is a small sample but a very diverse sample (plenty of people in the group have no issue dropping $5k on watch - most can and do spend a lot more).

While I have no doubt that the 12 is a big seller for CW fans I wonder about the impact it has made on the wider market. It doesn't appear to have captured the collective imagination like the Bel Canto did.

I would say that Trident is the signature watch for people who already buy CWs (myself included). Bel Canto and "The Twelve" are bringing new customers to the brand who probably know nothing about Trident. For them I'd say "the Twelve" and Bel Canto are the face of the brand. Nothing wrong with that.

For the twelve to become a signature watch, they would need to introduce other dials, and possibly bezels that aren't so 'distinctive' (being kind here). Might actually be easier designing an alternative? I don't actually like anything about the actual watch whatsover, in particular, the bezel and dials!

And they do the other stuff so well. A choice of a rotating or fixed bezels, a choice of blobs or batons, a variety of dials to choose from, and hey presto, they have, what, three different models?

hadon2525 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 1:55 pm But a dive watch is inherently masculine and, possibly, a young man's game.

Please, whatever you do, don’t say that to my 60 year old female scuba diving friend. She will without question hit you over the head with her chunky 42 mm dive watch.

hadon2525 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 1:55 pm I now realise that my original post was a bit too strong in its title and content. I blame Red Label.

'All in' is, indeed, a dangerous concept. I also agree that the Trident is probably CW's signature brand.

But a dive watch is inherently masculine and, possibly, a young man's game. They were all I wore for 20 years but now, in middle age, a sports/dress watch is a must. (I wear a Trident Classic LE).

I think what I meant is that CW has a real chance to broaden its appeal and bring in new customers, especially women. I mean, they make up 50% of the population - lets flog 'em some watches. And if you can catch a potential customer when they're young, you may have them for life.

Well, this is a dangerously sexist view, but a watch for the fairer sex has a lug width of 16mm or less. 18mm is unisex, 20mm plus is manly.

JAFO wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 7:14 pm Well, this is a dangerously sexist view, but a watch for the fairer sex has a lug width of 16mm or less. 18mm is unisex, 20mm plus is manly.

Not dangerous @JAFO - and not sexist. Just slightly old fashioned?

missF wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 7:18 pm

JAFO wrote: ↑Fri Apr 26, 2024 7:14 pm Well, this is a dangerously sexist view, but a watch for the fairer sex has a lug width of 16mm or less. 18mm is unisex, 20mm plus is manly.

Not dangerous @JAFO - and not sexist. Just slightly old fashioned?

Well I doubt my wife would venture much above 34-35mm, although I know you do to great effect.