Thoughts & Advice Please

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
TPS10
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Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by TPS10 »

Dear forum members
I’m after your thoughts and advice please on a situation I have come up against. I’m not quite sure if it’s a case of **** happens, my fault or whether I’ve been let down by Christopher Ward.
I’ve been on the search for a blue dial watch for a while now and had narrowed it down to a few options. After a bit of research my main target was the Christopher Ward C65 Trident Classic Mark1 LImited Edition. But it needed to be on the brushed steel bracelet, predominantly based on photos seen below ( thanks Kip)
E1F0F82F-AC0F-442F-A08B-BFE981F2423D.jpeg
739D6A7E-867C-4A47-A3E5-8894CE6A01C8.jpeg
Knowing this was limited to only 175 pieces, I knew I’d have to be patient, but I did see a couple come up on eBay, but with leather strap. So I wanted to know from Christopher Ward whether I could buy the bracelet from them. A quick online enquiry to Christopher Ward resulted in the below response, confirming I could purchase the bracelet, with a link to it.
A17647D3-D565-45DB-A688-E6986A4D461E.jpeg
Fantastic, so all I needed to do was buy a watch on leather strap, buy the bracelet direct from Christopher Ward and fit it myself. I’ve fitted several bracelets before including resizing without any bother, so it wasn’t going to be a problem. So found a watch, ordered on eBay, ordered bracelet and was ready to go. The bracelet arrived the Friday before Christmas, so great, an early Christmas present for myself. I resized the bracelet, no problem, but was really struggling to fit it. I’d never had this problem before and had only a few weeks earlier fitted my titanium bracelet with ease. In my desperate frustration to succeed, all I managed to do was scratch the watch!
248832C1-5B13-44A0-8B78-390497078D6B.jpeg
So before I caused any further damage, I gave up and thought I’d take it to a jewellers the next day to get fitted. I took it to two different jewellers and neither of them could fit it, both questioning if it was the correct bracelet. I assured them it was, as this was the bracelet I’d been advised to get by Christopher Ward directly.
So rather disappointingly i didn’t have me early Christmas present. So on Christmas Eve I called Christopher Ward to tell them my troubles. No problem, they said, we’ll send you a returns label, send the watch and bracelet to us and we’ll fit it for you. Great, at least it was going to get done. Anyway, a week later I get an email to say this is the wrong bracelet supplied but we can fit the correct one, but unfortunately it isn’t brushed steel, as they no longer make that.

A feel disappointed that I can’t get what I want, but I’m not sure whether it is just **** happens, whether I should have been more thorough in confirming I could get the correct brushed bracelet for this watch, or whether Christopher Ward have let me down with incorrect information. My gut feeling is that I’ve been let down, but I’m being told there is nothing that can be done. I’m quite an easy going person and don’t usually kick up a fuss, so wanted some thoughts and views on what I should do and what my expectations should be and if anyone has a genius solution to solve this issue.
Apologies for the length of this post, but would appreciate views from other forum members.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by StrappedUp »

You could find a watchmaker/jeweller who may be able to brush the bracelet for you.

Alternatively, if you're feeling brave, you could use a Bergeon or 3M pad and brush the centre links yourself.

I've used the 3M pads on quite a few bracelets now and you can get excellent results with some patience and graft.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by FloridaPhil »

If you don't want to brush the bracelet center links yourself (easy job), any half-decent jeweller can do it for you for not a lot of money. I recently brushed the PCL on my C60GMT and it only took about 30 minutes, going slow. It took me longer to refit the bracelet to the watch to be honest.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Mikkei4 »

Looks like maybe you were given the incorrect info providing that the question you asked gave CW the full details of the watch. Not much you can do about that so looks like the only way forward is to brush the polished links.

My memory is crap - who was it on this Forum that brushed their bracelet themselves and from their photos looked to have done a decent job?
There's a whole thread on it IIRC.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Thermexman »

^^^Several people have done it and Guy (Bahnstormer_vrs) might have been one of them I think.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

CW have, I believe, been 'out of stock' on fully brushed bracelets for the C65 Classic for some time, and whilst the bracelet they suggested to you will fit, it is not the correct one from an atheistic or original specification point of view. Clearly very frustrating.

As has already been suggested, the practical thing to do is to get the bracelet you have, with polished centre links and sides, brushed.

For you to do it, there is the Catch 22 situation that you need to remove the bracelet from the watch and refit it afterwards. A task that I feel you'll be reluctant to carry out.

A number of forum members have brushed their bracelets, myself included. It is not a difficult task if you work methodically and carefully. I wrote a thread on it - C60 - Brushed Bracelet.

It might also be worth contacting @gregstar who has, in the past, offered to brush or polish bracelets, when he is home on leave.

Food for thought.

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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

Thermexman wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:41 pm ^^^Several people have done it and Guy (Bahnstormer_vrs) might have been one of them I think.
Yup; that's me, Steve.

I was typing a post when you posted this.

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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by StrapMeister »

Mikkei4 wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:20 pm ...looks like the only way forward is to brush the polished links.

My memory is crap - who was it on this Forum that brushed their bracelet themselves and from their photos looked to have done a decent job?
There's a whole thread on it IIRC.
It was tempus fugit (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48598)

Also, these bracelets do come up for sale every now and then...last one for sale/sold - viewtopic.php?f=42&t=50942
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Ttf23 »

StrapMeister wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:56 pm
Mikkei4 wrote: Fri Jan 04, 2019 11:20 pm ...looks like the only way forward is to brush the polished links.

My memory is crap - who was it on this Forum that brushed their bracelet themselves and from their photos looked to have done a decent job?
There's a whole thread on it IIRC.
It was tempus fugit (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=48598)

Also, these bracelets do come up for sale every now and then...last one for sale/sold - viewtopic.php?f=42&t=50942
That one was actually the new C65 vintage diver which I sold. But the old ones do come up and coincidentally I bought the last one offered for sale for my 316L.
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=49604

Bad luck - I can see how the misunderstanding happened, CW should have been clearer.

Still, a cracking watch you have there and at least some ways to resolve, if not ideal. Good luck in getting sorted.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Ttf23 »

Oh by the way, your other option might be to buy a standard C65 classic on a bracelet off eBay as they do come on fairly frequently, exchange the strap and flip it. Buy well and the cost could be pretty modest.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2276380265
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by richtel »

IMHO, buying a second hand brushed bracelet might well require a quick brush to bring it back to standard. Therefore you might as well buy a new one with the polished centres and go the whole hog and brush it. There are several at a really good price in the Jan sales at the moment.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Bounce »

richtel wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 10:10 am IMHO, buying a second hand brushed bracelet might well require a quick brush to bring it back to standard. Therefore you might as well buy a new one with the polished centres and go the whole hog and brush it. There are several at a really good price in the Jan sales at the moment.
I agree a new one is better than second hand as it will have marks on it.
Brush the new one yourself, simple task & great satisfaction.
I really don't think it would hurt CW to even brush one for you as it was their error.
Good luck whatever you decide.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by TPS10 »

Thank you all for your responses, I will certainly investigate further brushing the bracelet myself. I’m quite happy to try my hand at things like that, and it looks like there’s a fair bit of information on how to do it on this forum alone. I can imagine it’s quite satisfying to do it yourself.

Just to clarify, the question I asked Christopher Ward was “ Can you please confirm which SS bracelet is required for the C65 classic Mk1 ltd edition”
Their response was this following link: https://www.christopherward.co.uk/22mm- ... l-bracelet which is a brushed bracelet, but actually does not fit this watch.

Do you think my question was unclear or incorrectly worded, or have they given me incorrect information?

Whilst I’m not averse to trying to brush the bracelet myself, I’m not sure if I should be taking this risk, or whether I should be pushing Christopher Ward further to come up with a solution themselves.
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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »


TPS10 wrote:Thank you all for your responses, I will certainly investigate further brushing the bracelet myself. I’m quite happy to try my hand at things like that, and it looks like there’s a fair bit of information on how to do it on this forum alone. I can imagine it’s quite satisfying to do it yourself.

Just to clarify, the question I asked Christopher Ward was “ Can you please confirm which SS bracelet is required for the C65 classic Mk1 ltd edition”
Their response was this following link: https://www.christopherward.co.uk/22mm- ... l-bracelet which is a brushed bracelet, but actually does not fit this watch.

Do you think my question was unclear or incorrectly worded, or have they given me incorrect information?

Whilst I’m not averse to trying to brush the bracelet myself, I’m not sure if I should be taking this risk, or whether I should be pushing Christopher Ward further to come up with a solution themselves.
I think someone at CW got their 'classic' mixed up with 'diver'. The link you have given is the bracelet for the new C65 Trident Diver.

Image

Your watch needs a bracelet for the C60 Trident Pro which is only currently available with polished center links.

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Re: Thoughts & Advice Please

Post by Mikkei4 »

TPS10 wrote: Sat Jan 05, 2019 12:43 pm
Just to clarify, the question I asked Christopher Ward was “ Can you please confirm which SS bracelet is required for the C65 classic Mk1 ltd edition”
Their response was this following link: https://www.christopherward.co.uk/22mm- ... l-bracelet which is a brushed bracelet, but actually does not fit this watch.

Do you think my question was unclear or incorrectly worded, or have they given me incorrect information?

Your question looks perfectly clear to me.
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