I remain delighted with my CW and impressed by the company. It’s more innovative — from the Supercompressor to the Bel Canto — than so many other brands. The build quality is superb, and the Light-catcher’s lovely.

However, a WUS thread left me wondering what on earth’s going on with people

https://www.watchuseek.com/threads/do-y ... h.5486925/

Why do some people use terms like “disdain” towards CW?! It’s bizarre. And entirely unwarranted.

I found this bit of the thread especially funny

“There isn't anything C.W. offers that even attempts to catch my interest. I've always thought of them as a "Yuppie" watch. Don't mean to offend those of you that have them. I picture their typical customer having a man bun, riding their bicycle while perusing which e.v. is the best bang for their buck. Don't scuff the Birkenstocks.”

not sure if this image of the CW enthusiast rings true but it does beg the question, which CW watch goes best with Birkenstocks??

markee wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:05 pm I found this bit of the thread especially funny

“There isn't anything C.W. offers that even attempts to catch my interest. I've always thought of them as a "Yuppie" watch. Don't mean to offend those of you that have them. I picture their typical customer having a man bun, riding their bicycle while perusing which e.v. is the best bang for their buck. Don't scuff the Birkenstocks.”

not sure if this image of the CW enthusiast rings true but it does beg the question, which CW watch goes best with Birkenstocks??

You beat me to it!

I was just about to do a cut and paste of that particular post.

The poster seems rather confused. I do not remember any yuppies with man buns or Birkenstocks back in the 1980s when the term yuppie came into wide use.

No man bun for me, but I do have a couple of pairs of Birkenstocks.

They blue pair work well with the C65 Dartmouth… The thread reminded me why the only time I every look on watchuseek is when someone on another forum links to a thread there.

Neil

Nowadays most comments on CW are positive across watch forums (if we put name and logo to one side). That seems to be very different from 3 or 4 years ago when it was a lot more mixed. There's nothing wrong with not liking the watches but I think a lot of people comment based on their view of where CW were much earlier on in their 'journey'.

The quality of the watches now seem to improve year-on-year.

I run one of the Christopher Ward subreddits. There is a good deal of heat around CW's customer service these days. Other than that you get the dudes in Rolexes on the general Watch forums who have a problem with most things that don't cost in excess of $5,000.

sproughton wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:29 pm Nowadays most comments on CW are positive across watch forums (if we put name and logo to one side). That seems to be very different from 3 or 4 years ago when it was a lot more mixed. There's nothing wrong with not liking the watches but I think a lot of people comment based on their view of where CW were much earlier on in their 'journey'.

The quality of the watches now seem to improve year-on-year.

I got this feeling too when reading through the comments.

I also got the feeling if you put brand X in the question you would get the same thread.

NationOfLaws wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:43 pm I run one of the Christopher Ward subreddits. There is a good deal of heat around CW's customer service these days. Other than that you get the dudes in Rolexes on the general Watch forums who have a problem with most things that don't cost in excess of $5,000.

Confucius say "The more we sell, the more issues we end up having to solve, starting with how to cover the cost of problem-solving".

I sometimes see similar emotion in one or more of the three Facebook Chris Ward groups and usually it runs along the lines of "I sent them an email yesterday, they didn't phone back so I'm never ever buying another CW watch and I'm going to blow out my cheeks to generate a feeling of self-importance."

I get that CW doesn't have an agency call-centre based in another country with seemingly endless ranks of "agents" wanting to put you on hold while they look into your first world problem and that not getting that oh-so-important call back leaves some people feeling impotent. We'd all like immediate, personalised service but I wonder if the unhappy brigade have any idea what the costs of adding even one full time equivalent customer service person would do to the overheads?

Well I guess they're entitled to their opinions.

Fairly sure there was a mentioning from Mike France about how their demographic of buyers were a largely in the IT sector or something.

I do remember some mentioning about 'Peacocks' and those are not their target market.

(Reading the thread ATM, seems mostly positive and weirdly a lot of comparison to Longines)

I wouldn’t be so quick to judge. The stories I’ve read are weeks without replies and mishandled returns & repairs with no response from CW.

It’s ok to admit that a company you admire drops the ball from time to time.

The comment that sparked a lot of fire in that thread was that Christopher Ward is better than Longines and Mido. I don't agree with that, and I also don't think the Swatch competitors leave CW in the dust either. IMO, they're all pretty competitive but I would give the edge to Longines and Mido for having access to Swatch resources and technology.

Christopher Ward has been improving in strides though, and I have no doubt they will have continued success with the progress they've been making. The other brands have head starts consisting of many decades, and Christopher Ward is more than holding its own.

sproughton wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 7:29 pm Nowadays most comments on CW are positive across watch forums (if we put name and logo to one side). That seems to be very different from 3 or 4 years ago when it was a lot more mixed. There's nothing wrong with not liking the watches but I think a lot of people comment based on their view of where CW were much earlier on in their 'journey'.

The quality of the watches now seem to improve year-on-year.

Quite so. I guess perceptions take time to catch up with the higher product quality.

Nonetheless, I’m flummoxed by some of the WUS comments, e.g. saying CW is tasteless because it’s like British cheese.

Can you spot which one is CW’s newest product?

“There isn't anything C.W. offers that even attempts to catch my interest. I've always thought of them as a "Yuppie" watch. Don't mean to offend those of you that have them. I picture their typical customer having a man bun, riding their bicycle while perusing which e.v. is the best bang for their buck. Don't scuff the Birkenstocks.”

They certainly have not seen me, old, plump, and balding.

“WhAt WaS cW dOiNg In 1938?”

Exactly the same thing as the poster of that comment and I'm mystified as to why that even matters.

Ahhhh. The internet constantly challenges my choices until I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. Not long ago I was being lumped in as part of the ‘lentil eating tofu brigade’. Now I’m being accused of being bland* and having a man bun, and the level of debate is no different.

‘Man bun’ commentator and the likes give an awful lot away about their actual level of experience of different watches and tell us very little about the watches they have an opinion on. I did find his image of his perception of the brand pretty well sketched and funny though... I like well expressed opinions even if I don’t agree.

I always wondered about the tag line that CW use - ‘do your research’. But it’s for exactly these reasons. There are a lot of preconceived notions about CW around the place. Many of them untested.


* BlAnD???????????? Can’t be facing accusations of making bland choices in my life!