Review: Slimline Square

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pantagruel
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Review: Slimline Square

Post by pantagruel »

This is a review of the Christopher Ward C5 Malvern Slimline Square, my first Christopher Ward watch. I picked it up over the summer during the 50% sale, where the watch cost me $315 (US Dollars, including free shipping to the USA). First, let me go through some specs. The watch is 37mm wide, and 8.25mm thick. It is powered by a Sellita SW210-1 hacking, manual wind movement (28,800 vph, 42 hour power reserve). The watch has a 20mm lug width, and is listed as 30m water resistant. The watch has a flat sapphire crystal.

Aesthetically, I think it is a beautiful dress watch. The sunray blue dial shimmers wonderfully when it catches the light. The sword-style hands and applied hour indices are all highly polished, adding to “shimmer effect” of the dial. Due to the dynamic nature of the dial x light interaction, it definitely looks better in person than it does in pictures, where it may appear somewhat plain and static. The dial is sparse in regards to text, and I know there has been debate about the new Christopher Ward logo and its placement at the 9 o’clock position. As a matter of subjective preference, I happen to think the sparse dial is very elegant and fits perfectly with the dress watch motif. The polished case is not a hard, angular square. The corners are rounded-off, and the vertical sides of the case are ever so slightly bowed out. The crown is signed with Christopher Ward’s British/Swiss flag insignia. I don’t typically go for square watches, but this one I find quite attractive, and for some reason, more attractive than the rounded version.

The watch comes on a matte black shell cordovan leather strap attached to Christopher Ward’s proprietary Bader deployant buckle. The straps use quick change pins, instead of standard spring bar pins. This makes it very easy to remove the straps and is a nice way of preventing potential strap change scratches. The buckle itself is very easy to use and quite comfortable. My only complaint about the buckle is when closed, the buckle is not centered on the underside of my wrist. It is skewed towards the inside of my wrist. This does not impact how the strap feels, it simply looks less symmetrical than I prefer.

The exhibition caseback reveals a beautiful looking movement. One of the plates is decorated with a laser engraving of the same British/Swiss flag insignia that is on the crown. There are blued screws on some of the gears, which look very nice.

I have owned the watch for about a month and it is a joy to wear. It is light, sleek, and unobtrusive. It seems to keep excellent time, gaining about 5 to 7 seconds a day after syncing it to atomic time (easy to do with a hacking seconds hand). For $315 I feel it is an excellent value and “bang for your buck.” It is a wonderful dress watch that has quickly become a staple of my collection. I am very happy with this watch and highly recommend it to other affordable watch collectors.
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cegusa
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Re: Review: Slimline Square

Post by cegusa »

Nice review. I have one as well and like it a lot.
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MiniMpi
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Re: Review: Slimline Square

Post by MiniMpi »

An excellent review and well written.
Thank you for taking the time to post it.
I also have this very same watch albeit on the Camel Cordovan Bader strap which works very well with the stunning blue dial.
I unfortunately picked up a bad scratch across the case and crystal from a metal coat button so it's back at CW getting re-cased as we speak. I really can't wait for it to return as I miss it badly.
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Re: Review: Slimline Square

Post by Kip »

Nice review. Thank you. :thumbup:
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fishman
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Re: Review: Slimline Square

Post by fishman »

I really enjoy reading watch reviews from actual owners and this one was very well done.
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Trimadjules
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Re: Review: Slimline Square

Post by Trimadjules »

Great review. This was my first Christopher Ward watch and like you I think it is a great dress watch and very good value for money :D
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