t was there right before our eyes and yet we had perhaps never really seen it. There are brands that patiently wait for their moment (I vaguely remember their advertisement in the EasyJet in-flight magazine, from back in 2016 or perhaps 2017, but then we landed and I moved on to other things...).

Let’s be clear about the fact that when Christopher Ward appeared in 2004, the Swiss watch industry didn’t really take this newcomer seriously. A British brand, sold exclusively online with no distribution network and at unbeatable prices? The idea seemed incongruous in a world dominated by the glamour of opulent showcases and comfortable margins in established networks.

Nonetheless, right from the outset the founding trio – Mike France, Chris Ward and Peter Ellis – laid a cornerstone: to make fine watchmaking affordable. Their promise was a Swiss-made mechanical watch at an unbeatable price, delivered directly to the customer. E-commerce was far from what it is today and Christopher Ward was a pioneer long before the subsequent Kickstarter wave.

Designed around Johannes Jahnke’s JJ01 modular movement, the C1 Jump Hour Mk V, available from €2,400, marks the fifth generation of Christopher Ward’s famous jumping-hour watches, a speciality introduced in 2011 with the C9 Harrison.

Far from the banks of the Thames where the brand was created, it was in Biel – the industrial cradle of Swiss watchmaking – that this vision truly took root a few years later in 2007 when Christopher Ward approached the Synergies Horlogères company founded by Jörg Bader Sr. The youthful British brand was looking for a partner in Switzerland to produce its mechanical watches.

"My father came from the Fossil Group, where he managed licensing. Having grown tired of quartz and private labels, he wanted to return to mechanical movements, to something more authentic”, said Jörg Bader who now oversees Christopher Ward’s production in Biel along with Supply Chain and Merchandising Director Paul Wright. Little by little, the alliance between Christopher Ward and Synergies Horlogères grew stronger, culminating in a full merger in 2015, sealing the union between British entrepreneurial spirit and Swiss technical and aesthetic miracles. This Anglo-Swiss duality continues to characterise the brand to this day – all the way through to its logo!

The formative years

From the 2010s onwards, watchmaking underwent a new transformation, notably including a surge in the number of micro-brands; easier access to Sellita movements that were rapidly gaining popularity; as well as the emergence of online platforms. A pioneer of this trend, Christopher Ward took advantage of it – but wanted to step things up a notch. As Jörg Bader explained: “The real turning point was the SH21 movement released in 2014. It was the first calibre we developed ourselves, with Johannes Jahnke, now at Sellita. We wanted to prove that a brand born online could also create its own movement.”

With its double barrel and five-day power reserve, the SH21 is not just a technical feat but also symbolises the brand’s maturity. However, as co-founder Mike France pointed out: “Having a good movement is not enough. Things don’t work if you don’t have a clear, distinctive identity."

Based in Maidenhead and running its technical operations from Biel, the Anglo-Swiss brand led by Mike France has assembled a young yet highly experienced design team, including Product Director Jörg Bader; Technical Director Frank Stelzer; Design Director Adrian Buchmann; and Senior Designer Will Brackfield.

In 2015, an email changed everything. Mike France tells the story: “I received a message from a young Swiss watch designer, Adrian Buchmann, who had moved to England with his British wife. He wanted to meet us and that was a turning point. In collaboration with him, we finally began to create a true visual signature for Christopher Ward.”

The collections were transformed: cases with a more flowing design, pared-down dials, harmonious proportions. In just a few years, the brand moved away from the mainstream to forge its own distinct and credible identity. The technical efforts made after the merger with Synergies Horlogères were enhanced by this newly defined character.

Trial by fire

Then came the bombshell. In 2022, Christopher Ward unveiled the Bel Canto, a chiming model derived from a jumping-hour module developed several years earlier by Johannes Jahnke and Frank Stelzer at Synergies Horlogères. No one saw it coming, this poetic, expressive watch featuring a musical mechanism and priced at less than CHF 3,500. "It was the right time, the right product and the public was ready”, summed up Jörg Bader.

Success came quickly but proved difficult to manage in a period of rapid post-Covid recovery, when the industry’s supply chains were overheated. “Subcontractors couldn’t keep up, meaning we had to produce components that we hadn’t yet industrialised.”

This year, Christopher Ward unveiled its thinnest integrated watch to date: the Twelve 660, which is just 6.6 mm thick. It also features a new bracelet composed of simple 2.9 mm-high links. The model is powered by a Sellita SW210 movement modified by Christopher Ward.

Mike France confirmed: “The Bel Canto was both a blessing and a test. Its success put our supply chain under severe strain and we had to rethink our entire industrial structure.” In order to cope, Christopher Ward invested in vertical integration by acquiring a stake in Paoluzzo, a CNC machining workshop, as well as recruiting polishers and strengthening quality control in Biel. “Integrating our production was a fairly painful process”, said the entrepreneur.”But this experience consolidated our expertise and our independence."

The result was a transformed brand, rising from the ranks of “micro-brands” to become a serious player in the mid-range market. This milestone also led to much higher expectations. “Today, our Biel site has 38 employees, compared to 15 before Bel Canto and the English team has more than 80”, said Bader. “We now have more than 100 people working in our technical, marketing, sales and administrative departments.”

The battle for volume

Turnover figures are public knowledge in the United Kingdom, where the brand is registered: in its last financial year, driven by American demand, it posted annual sales of around 51 million Swiss francs, putting it right up there with some of the big names in Swiss watchmaking. Operating profit remained stable due to new investments by the brand, particularly in the United States, where it opened a subsidiary and several showrooms.

The new C63 Sealander Extreme GMT is an evolved version of Christopher Ward’s best-selling C63 Sealander GMT. It features an innovative luminescent coating named Globolight®, a sturdy 41 mm case and the brand’s new shock-resistant system. Available from €1,695.

Christopher Ward’s current challenge is no longer so much its legitimacy or recognition, as it was in the past, but rather growth in volume. Mike France summed up the situation: “Some watchmakers may be content to remain in a segment with limited quantities and high average prices – and that’s fine. But for us, the only way forward is through volume. Our motto and goal is to be the ‘people’s premium watch brand’. We don’t want to become exclusive, but rather to offer watches of exceptional quality at a fair price and in large quantities, thereby guaranteeing in-depth industrial expertise and the ability to keep prices affordable.” He also praised the”alchemy" between the members of his team in Switzerland, England and now the United States.

Four 150-piece limited editions of the 36 mm C63 Sealander each feature a natural stone dial: malachite, yellow tiger’s eye, charoite and turquoise.

While there has definitely been a move upmarket and the average price has increased, it has not skyrocketed – and, more importantly, volumes have also increased at the same time: “You can still buy a Christopher Ward model for CHF 800, equipped with a Sellita movement, or a GMT model for CHF 1,000. At the same time, we offer timepieces priced between CHF 3,000 and CHF 5,000. I would say that our scope is broader yet remains consistent.”

The average price is now CHF 2,000, with production expected to reach between 35,000 and 40,000 units this year.

Loco, “the most important launch to date”

Operating between Switzerland and England (where it has become the official partner to Everton Football Club in Liverpool and has a showroom there in addition to the one in Maidenhead), the brand has turned this duality into an asset. In Biel, in the shadow of Swatch Group and Rolex, a new wave of entrepreneurs – often representing the second generation of local family businesses – has revitalised the mid-range Swiss-made quality segment: in addition to Jörg Bader Jr. at Christopher Ward, one might also mention Raphael Granito at Formex and Ben Kuffer at Norqain.

They all know each other. "We respect a form of Biel’s industrial heritage, from which we all originate, but we are each in our own way transforming the notions of brand identity and customer experience”, said Jörg Bader.

Radiating a striking, distinctive aesthetic and presented in April as the brand’s most important launch to date, the C12 Loco introduces the CW-003: Christopher Ward’s second in-house movement endowed with a six-day (144-hour) power reserve. This 41 mm-diameter model notably features a free-sprung balance wheel and a custom-designed hairspring, replacing the traditional adjustment pins. Available from € 4,950.

Following on from the Bel Canto, the new Loco collection presented by the brand as its most important launch to date embodies Christopher Ward’s technical and aesthetic rise to prominence, becoming its most high-end model.

“Our constant challenge is to find ways of offering an original design or a complication perceived as prestigious, at a price that remains consistent with our positioning.” This is done with one self-imposed limitation: “We have decided not to make gold watches. I prefer to focus on a beautiful bridge, a well-polished hammer, or elegant mechanical architecture. Gold is the easy solution. What matters is the idea. A CW must be immediately recognisable. That’s the overarching principle.”

The brand has enjoyed a major advantage since its inception: it remains 100% direct-to-consumer and does not need to factor in partners’ profit margins. As Mike France pointed out: "The showroom in Soho, New York, is on the fourth floor and open by appointment only. There are no shop windows and no ostentatious luxury. It’s a meeting place, not a point of sale – and it’s incredibly profitable.”

Christopher Ward has just unveiled the C1 Bel Canto Lumière, a watch that combines the brand’s famous audible complication with its most advanced research to date in the field of light and luminescence.

The smoky fumé sapphire dial is topped with a blue Globolight® ring and linear-brushed hands, manually set with diamond-polished facets and blue Globolight® tips. The result is a striking visual display that transforms completely at nightfall, when the ring and the tips of the hands emit an intense green glow.

Today, the dynamic Michael Pearson is leading the brand in the United States and increasing its visibility there. It has opened retail outlets in Dallas and Virginia, with more announcements to come. It immediately communicated its tax policy. Launched in England and redesigned in Switzerland, Christopher Ward is now continuing its transformation in the United States.