Christopher Ward (watchmaker)

Christopher Ward (London) Limited

Industry	Watches
Genre	Founder of Christopher Ward (London) Limited, British Watchmaker
Founded	2004
Founder	Mike France, Peter Ellis, and Christopher Ward
Headquarters	Berkshire, United Kingdom
Key people	Mike France, Peter Ellis, and Christopher Ward
Products	Wrist watches
Website	christopherward.co.uk

'Christopher Ward (London) Limited is a luxury watch company founded in 2004 by Mike France, Chris Ward and Peter Ellis. France and Ellis had previously established the Early Learning Centre brand in the UK and the idea to create the new watch company was agreed by the three co-founders while on a boat trip on the River Thames.

Christopher Ward was incorporated in England and Wales and the company name is Christopher Ward (London) Limited with its Registered Office at 1 Park Street, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1SL, United Kingdom. Website: www.christopherward.co.uk

In 2014, the company’s 10th anniversary year, the company merged with long-standing Swiss contacts Synergies Horlogères SA, a specialist watch developer led by Jorg Bader, to create Christopher Ward London Holdings Ltd. The merger was inspired by the long and effective relationship between the two companies in developing a series of innovative new models for Christopher Ward. This culminated in the launch of Christopher Ward’s own in-house movement, Calibre SH21, on July 2, 2014 in London. The first model to house the new movement was the C9 Harrison 5-Day Automatic. Conceived and developed by the company’s master watchmaker, Johannes Jahnke, Calibre SH21 was presented to the media as ‘probably the most significant development by a British watch brand in the past 50 years’.

From its launch in 2004, the company was established as the world’s first pure online luxury watch brand, retailing exclusively online, and has since added a showroom at its headquarters in Maidenhead, England.

Differentiating themselves from most other watchmakers, their business model revolves around the direct selling of watches and optimizing the effectiveness of the brand’s marketing and advertising campaigns, particularly in digital activities. Having learned from insiders in the Swiss watch industry just how much of the cost of a typical luxury Swiss watch is marketing, the three co-founders decided to turn the traditional model on its head. Their new business model challenges the traditional reliance on expensive advertising and celebrity endorsement campaigns by the major luxury brands, whereby a far greater proportion of the price of a conventional luxury watch is attributable towards marketing activities than a reflection of the actual manufacturing costs. The brand’s combined emphasis on technical quality and value included the early advertising phrase of ‘the cheapest most expensive watches in the world’.

Throughout its history the brand has avoided the conventional marketing approaches taken by the major luxury watch brands, particularly in Christopher Ward’s strong focus on online communication, including Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, and in developing online awareness of its models among influential bloggers, digital magazines and watch enthusiasts’ forums. In 2006 a group of watch enthusiasts who admired the brand set up an independent forum www.christopherwardforum.com. In 2014 the forum was bought by Christopher Ward but its independence has been fully maintained.

Christopher Ward operates its own UK design studio, designing all its own watches, and incorporating a number of themes that reflect the company’s English roots, including British racing heritage and the natural beauty of the classic English landscape. The company has its own workshops based in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, and every model is guaranteed ‘Swiss Made’. The brand’s portfolio of watches includes Dress, Motoring, Aviation and Dive collections and is led by the premium Harrison Collection, the most technically advanced expression of the brand’s timepieces. The Harrison Collection includes the three JJ Calibres, created by the brand’s master watchmaker, Johannes Jahnke: the C9 Jumping Hour (JJ01), the C900 Harrison Single Pusher Chronograph (JJ02) and the C900 Worldtimer (JJ03).

In 2014, Christopher Ward celebrated its 10th anniversary. The company merged with long-time Swiss production partners Synergies Horlogères SA, led by Jorg Bader, to create Christopher Ward Holdings Ltd. In July 2014, through the newly merged company, Christopher Ward launched the brand’s first in-house movement, Calibre SH21. The company retails directly to the customer via its website, phone sales and its own showroom and does not retail through retail outlets. The Christopher Ward website details the whole Christopher

Recent History

Collections

Through the company website, www.christopherward.co.uk Christopher Ward present an extensive range of models across its Dive, Dress, Motoring and Aviation themes.

Latest Models

In July 2014 Christopher Ward launched the C9 Harrison 5-Day Automatic, the first model to house the company’s first in-house movement, Calibre SH21. The COSC certified chronometer uses twin barrel construction in a series connection, incorporating a 120-hour power reserve. It has full tungsten automatic rotor with ball bearings, Continuous central second, Stop-second hacking mechanism and a Galvanic sun-ray one-piece metal dial with raised nickel indexes and nickel hands. The series of recent launches also includes: C900 Harrison Single Pusher Chronograph in rose gold (the original model was short-listed for the award of European Watch of the Year 2013); C9 Harrison Jumping Hour Mk III (with Arabic numerals) C11 Titanium Extreme 1000 (water resistant to 1,000 metres); C30 Malvern Chronometer (COSC certified)

References

External links

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