Yeh I saw that thread also and posted on it. (Dolle Dolf).
People are so image and label conscious that the forego a good value when they see one
Although I prefer the shall we say "old esthetics" of the CW brand they still make a terrific watch for the money.

ralfybaby wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 8:23 pm Yeh I saw that thread also and posted on it. (Dolle Dolf).
People are so image and label conscious

Some of the people on that thread seem more conscious of the label than the product’s quality.

Although I reckon CW’s brand equity is rising, catalysed by high-quality products and innovation.

Prior to the 12 and the BC I actually thought CW was doing great at staying away from the reputation of just creating homages.

golfjunky wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:26 am Prior to the 12 and the BC I actually thought CW was doing great at staying away from the reputation of just creating homages.

Greg mate I award you 6/10 for low level trolling….

You know you will get pushback with that type of talk.

It is rather weird that CW seem to attract a high number of folk with bunker mentality when folk criticise the brand. There are even mild mannered upstanding folk who become attack dogs if someone has a go at CW.

If someone has a go about any of my favourite brands, I just look at the watch I am wearing, whether JLC or CW and the four others in between and chuckle to myself and think “whatever”.

Neil

nbg wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:46 am

golfjunky wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:26 am Prior to the 12 and the BC I actually thought CW was doing great at staying away from the reputation of just creating homages.

Greg mate I award you 6/10 for low level trolling….

You know you will get pushback with that type of talk.

It is rather weird that CW seem to attract a high number of folk with bunker mentality when folk criticise the brand. There are even mild mannered upstanding folk who become attack dogs if someone has a go at CW.

If someone has a go about any of my favourite brands, I just look at the watch I am wearing, whether JLC or CW and the four others in between and chuckle to myself and think “whatever”.

Neil

Haha, I mean it. i really liked the Sealander (yes the GMT was a EXP2 copy) it even made me a customer again. The leopard and blue C63 are lovely looking watches and the evolution of the Trident away from the sub has been great. The moonglow and others have all been nice CW watches and not ones that i have thought are copies of others.

I love a healthy bout of ding dong between us casuals and the fanboys.

Im with you on the weird folk that get tribal

nbg wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:46 am It is rather weird that CW seem to attract a high number of folk with bunker mentality when folk criticise the brand. There are even mild mannered upstanding folk who become attack dogs if someone has a go at CW.

I’m trying to think of another watch brand that attracts a similar following. It slips my mind for the moment, but it will probably come back to me.

golfjunky wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:26 am Prior to the 12 and the BC I actually thought CW was doing great at staying away from the reputation of just creating homages.

Ouch! Shirley you can't been seeing any homage in the Bel Canto G? Okay, you got a nibble.

Can't disagree on the 12 however. I like it, but after my initial excitement died down, only the price is keeping me (vaguely) interested, and that's not enough anymore. Just another integrated bracelet watch, probably because it's been released a few years too late.

StrappedUp wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 9:17 am

golfjunky wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 8:26 am Prior to the 12 and the BC I actually thought CW was doing great at staying away from the reputation of just creating homages.

Ouch! Shirley you can't been seeing any homage in the Bel Canto G? Okay, you got a nibble.

Can't disagree on the 12 however. I like it, but after my initial excitement died down, only the price is keeping me (vaguely) interested, and that's not enough anymore. Just another integrated bracelet watch, probably because it's been released a few years too late.

Who are you calling Shirley! BC = MB&F LM2. the only difference i see with them is that you can actually tell the time with the MB&F

I like the 12 too and am similar to you that with a sleep and some reading my enthusiasm has dwindled slightly. saying that i still might.

If you want bunker mentality and not accepting any criticism of the brand at all, you want to head to the Zelos pages on Facebook. I’m sure they have a large wicker man somewhere to house the non believers.

golfjunky wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 9:03 am
Haha, I mean it. i really liked the Sealander (yes the GMT was a EXP2 copy) it even made me a customer again.

I just had a good look at the Rolex Explorer II GMT and see what you mean.

Aside from the hand set, indices, date position, cyclops, case size, bracelet style, thickness of bezel numbers, crown guards, print font and logo, they look identical!!

I think the black/white dials and orange GMT hand are the real giveaways.

Seriously though, At a quick glance, and true differences aside, The C63 GMT does bear a resemblance.

I appreciate your responding as above.

One of the bad things about the internet is that once its out there it will always be there. As much as i hope CW can plough their own path things like the below are still all too common for CW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XecQGDxa1Uw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDDX7xnIBhc

@golfjunky

golfjunky wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 9:03 am
Haha, I mean it. i really liked the Sealander (yes the GMT was a EXP2 copy) it even made me a customer again.

Okay Greg.

Let's keep it simple and, as is said 'a picture paints a thousand words'.

You believe one of theses watches is a copy of the other.



Photo by @ItsAliveJim




Photo by @Internaut


I think I need to go to Specsavers.

Guy



Sent from my XPERIA 5 III using Tapatalk

Ok, I'll play your game but i'll compare apples with apples.

Emphasis wrote: ↑Thu Apr 13, 2023 9:34 pm
I'm curious, what were your bad experiences?

One of my own biggest criticisms is product longevity and parts availability long-term. Although Christopher Ward seems to have taken steps towards improving in that regard. It's still a relatively young brand, and overall I do like the direction CW is heading.

My last 3 purchases, some years back now were as follows:

- C60 Orange face - arrived with a 'ding' on the underside of the lug, and the wrong manual. £100 discount offered for the ding (which seemed a nice gesture), but it took over 2 months and umpteen frustrating phone calls and e-mails to get both the correct manual sent to me and that partial refund.

- C70 Ascari. Ordered 2 (they were on at a good price), only 1 was sent but I was charged for the 2 I ordered. I phoned and spoke to somebody who said something along the lines of "Yes, I think we run out of those"...I then had to raise the point that they'd charged me for 2, which then took several phones call (by myself) to finally get the refund organised. They were not pro-active at all, and failed many times to return my calls and keep their promise that they would call me back.

- Cxx (like the Morgan chronograph, but without the Morgan logo - can't remember the actual model number). They sent the wrong watch head, but was oddly on the correct strap - in a head/strap combination they don't even sell. After raising it with them and desperately trying to get them to see sense and correct the issue, they claimed that I had simply ordered the wrong one and needed to send it back and order the right one. Even though they had technically sold me a watch design (i.e. head+strap) that isn't on their website. After several frustrating attempts to get them to admit it was wrong, I gave up and just got a refund - they were blinkered in their view that the correct watch HAD been sent.

The customer service on all of the above experiences was severely below par, slow, frustrating, and generally gave the impression that they had no clue what they were doing. It completely turned me off the brand altogether. Then Mike France appeared to increase the marketing waffle and numerical hyperbole* that now emanates from their PR marketing machine, and it just makes me cringe and glad that I said goodbye.


(*one such example is where Mike France said something like "their sales during the first year of Coronavirus were 800% more than they expected" - what exactly does that mean?!?!?!. Ok then, they expected to sell 1 watch, and they actually sold 9?)

Yes to us geeks there is a number of differences but i know that Joe blogs from across the bar would think im either wearing a bad fake Rolex or even worse a Copy of a Rolex.