By John Galt
Christopher Ward has made a name in the watch industry by producing homage inspired pieces to many of the watch world’s big hitters, sympathetically designed and mixing build quality with competitive pricing. Christopher Ward over the last few years has been adding complications to their already expanding range. They can boast their own in-house movement and several in-house modifications to existing base calibres, like this, their first Moonphase piece which definitely has a hint of Ulysse Nardin about it but in Christopher Wards way still keeping the price down so accessible to everyone.
The 40mm stainless steel case is polished to give a classic and elegant look and comes with two dial options: midnight blue, white and gold dial or a silver version, personally I prefer the midnight blue option as when coupled with the polished hands it gives a real sense of elegance even though the white dial makes the Moonphase pop.
Christopher Ward has given a lot of thought into the balance of the dial with raised Roman numeral indices and minute indicators on a smooth outer edge with a date window replacing the number 6. Hands are either polished or gold coloured again giving the impression of real classic elegance. Inside you have a bespoke guilloche pattern which evokes thoughts of the tide that is bound to the Moonphase above which is this piece’s master piece.
Christopher Ward’s head watchmaker Johannes Jahnke has added a Moonphase module to an ETA 2836-2 base, the modified calibre is being referred to as calibre JJ04 with the integration of two additional gear systems incorporating four wheels to drive the moonphase and an additional two for the setting mechanism. The Moonphase complication on this piece is accurate to within one day for every 128 years which is no mean feat, personally my favourite part of the Moonphase is that Jahnke has geared the complication superbly so that the moon disc seems to creep round throughout the day by following the progress of the hours the Moonphase is able to achieve above average accuracy. The Moonphase disc itself is 3D stamped giving a sense of depth to the complication which also sports a semi-matte galvanic treatment to it.
Turning the piece over you are greeted by an exhibition case back that shows off the aforementioned modified calibre JJ04 movement with a self-winding mechanism giving a healthy power reserve of 38 hours.
There are a few options to finishing off the piece which include luxury leather straps in either black, blue or brown leather but which can also be upgraded to alligator leather (each with a nice deployment clasp) or even a stainless steel bracelet can be acquired to accompany the piece. The watch is water resistant to 50 meters.
Prices start from £1,295 on leather strap going up to £1,395 on the stainless steel bracelet.
The watch will be officially released during Salon QP weekend, held at the Saatchi Gallery in London, in November.
Conclusion
What is there not to like with this piece from CW? You get an excellent Moonphase complication on an ETA 2836-2 movement which is a perfect workhorse automatic. A case and dial that wouldn’t seem out of place on most high-end manufactures pieces all of this coupled to a price that you have to look twice at to check you saw it correctly the first time as you can’t believe it to be true. Hats off Christopher Ward, you have excelled yourself again. For more info, please visit christopherward.co.uk
JOHN GALT – CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
John Galt caught the horology bug back in 2010 on his first visit to a London watch show and has snowballed since; John has become an avid writer and blogger of timepieces of all kinds, from everyday timepieces to modern Luxury HauteHorology, his favorite brands being HYT and GreubelForsey that push the boundaries of modern watch-making. John keeps a keen interest in the UK watch scene with their many emerging brands and timepieces. John Galt currently contributes watch related articles for online publications in the UK and USA. You can follow him onTwitter Read his articles here
