My interpretation of CW branding

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
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Amor Vincit Omnia
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Lawrence wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 3:25 pm I read it on either the CWL website, in a copy of Loupe or some other CWL material. Unfortunately it was a few years ago so I cannot remember the original source. However I did read it so that much is accurate. The London Underground font has changed during the decades so I cannot say which font CWL is referring to but I suspect CWL use Johnston not Johnston100. Johnston100 was introduced in 2016.

There's a link here on the forum to an article online about the switch posted by jtc.
https://www.wired.com/2016/06/londons-u ... gital-age/
Don’t believe all you read. Especially on the Internet. The Johnston 100 typeface, as was the case with the original Johnston, uses a double-storey minuscule. The typeface used by CW employs a single-storey minuscule. QED.

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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by nordwulf »

CW uses the LL Brown font. CW said themselves it has a close relationship to the font used for the London Underground and one of the reasons they chose this font.
LL Brown owes much to the groundbreaking work of both Edward Johnston and Arno Drescher, whose respective designs – Johnston Sans (1916), and Super Grotesk (1930) – are historically among the most influential geometric sans serifs. The Underground Electric Railways Company of London commissioned Johnston Sans, and after having been adopted as corporate typeface for all of London’s public transport in 1933, the typeface is still in use until today. Super Grotesk had initially been less successful, but it enjoyed considerable success in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) after the Second World War, eventually becoming one the most widely used typefaces in East Germany.
Source: https://lineto.com/typefaces/brown/?set ... bout#about

From a 2016 forum chat:
@ Christopher Ward – Thu Jun 09, 2016 9:23 pm

The roots of the new logo are award winning and capture for us the Swiss precision aspect

LL Brown…

but also the English roots too…as it eminates form the London Underground font…
https://www.watchitallabout.com/christo ... chat-2016/
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^Thank you, Frank. :thumbup:
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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Lawrence wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:00 am I read a while ago that the font used is the same as the London Underground. I like touches like that. I also like the name and the watches.
I still like touches like that....
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by hgercek »

I am totally fine with Christopher Ward as a brand name. For native English speakers, maybe it sounds funny, or too ordinary, or not charismatic enough to be a watch brand, but for the rest of the world it is just a name. I think it is much better than some fake names like Maurice Lacroix or Frederique Constant, perhaps even better than Rolex which is a made up word and has no meaning. To me the only downside is it doesn't sound Swiss :)
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^I must admit, I quite liked the very English sounding name when I discovered the brand. It doesn't sound Swiss, agreed, but then neither does that good old Greek brand, Omega. :wink:

On the subject of Greek, the work for watch is ρολόι (ro-LO-i) and several European languages contain mutations of the "rol" syllable (from Latin horologium in their words for watch/clock): horloge; reloj, relógio; orologio. I'm tempted to think that Wilsdorf knew what he was doing when he came up with Rolex. After all, we got Timex over the pond, right? :D
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by H0rati0 »

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:23 am ^^^I must admit, I quite liked the very English sounding name when I discovered the brand. It doesn't sound Swiss, agreed, but then neither does that good old Greek brand, Omega. :wink:
Me too, I just wish they wouldn't use it left justified. Font is no problem, positioning at nine depending on the dial, one line would be the most wieldy, or if it must be on two lines, then centred.

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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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H0rati0 wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 9:53 am ...or if it must be on two lines, then centred.
At 12? Like the Worldglow...SC...C60 Chrono...C65 Chrono...Lympstone? :wink:
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:00 am

At 12? Like the Worldglow...SC...C60 Chrono...C65 Chrono...Lympstone? :wink:
& C8PR. They're getting there.... :D
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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To me the only downside is it doesn't sound Swiss :)
Fair point but I'm not really sure what "Swiss" would sound like, unless it's a place name - German? French? Italian? Romansch? I know the trains often have a combination which would be even more cluttered on a watch face. Anyway, 'Tudor' doesn't sound very Swiss either and they seem to have done all right for themselves.
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by MichaelMD »

I'd prefer they just do the twin flags logo on the dial and that's it.

I know they would never do this since 90% of the public would have no idea of the brand of the watch. So although I'm not a fan of "Christopher Ward" being written on the dial I understand completely why they do it. Free advertising basically. I do wish they would settle on one logo across all their products.
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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hgercek wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:18 pm I am totally fine with Christopher Ward as a brand name. For native English speakers, maybe it sounds funny, or too ordinary, or not charismatic enough to be a watch brand, but for the rest of the world it is just a name. I think it is much better than some fake names like Maurice Lacroix or Frederique Constant, perhaps even better than Rolex which is a made up word and has no meaning. To me the only downside is it doesn't sound Swiss :)
I'm not sure what does sound Swiss - Toblerone? :D

Oh, and Mr Lacroix on the board of the founding company of Maurice Lacroix might question you over the brand name. But Maurice must have sounded better than his own first name, that wasn't used.
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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Caller wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:41 pm
hgercek wrote: Sun Mar 28, 2021 6:18 pm I am totally fine with Christopher Ward as a brand name. For native English speakers, maybe it sounds funny, or too ordinary, or not charismatic enough to be a watch brand, but for the rest of the world it is just a name. I think it is much better than some fake names like Maurice Lacroix or Frederique Constant, perhaps even better than Rolex which is a made up word and has no meaning. To me the only downside is it doesn't sound Swiss :)
I'm not sure what does sound Swiss - Toblerone? :D

Oh, and Mr Lacroix on the board of the founding company of Maurice Lacroix might question you over the brand name. But Maurice must have sounded better than his own first name, that wasn't used.
Maybe I should have said French, like LeCoultre, Breguet or Audemars Piguet. I think French names sound more like established-historic watch brands.

As for Maurice Lacroix, this is what I could find,

"In 1975, Desco started marketing watches under the brand name Maurice Lacroix. There was a member the board of Desco von Schulthess, parent & founding company of Maurice Lacroix, who was named Mr. Lacroix."

I am not so sure, but this explanation for the Maurice Lacroix name on wikipedia sounds a bit fishy to me :)
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

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hgercek wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:38 pm "In 1975, Desco started marketing watches under the brand name Maurice Lacroix. There was a member the board of Desco von Schulthess, parent & founding company of Maurice Lacroix, who was named Mr. Lacroix."

I am not so sure, but this explanation for the Maurice Lacroix name on wikipedia sounds a bit fishy to me :)
I wouldn't disagree with you! :thumbup:
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Re: My interpretation of CW branding

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^I suspect someone got a bit cross.
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