Hands-On With The Toughest Trident Dive Watch
On May 1st, Christopher Ward introduced their C60 Trident Elite 1000 Limited Edition as well as the C60 Trident Pro 600, and the C60 Trident GMT 600 as part of their Trident 3 collection.
This collection has been updated for the 10th anniversary of the Trident dive watch series. The Trident is a best-seller for the UK brand, and with these new models, Christopher Ward shows what they’re capable of doing. According to Mike France, CEO and co-founder of Christopher Ward. We received the toughest version of the three new models, the C60 Trident Elite 1000 limited edition and gave it a try.
One of the good things of selling directly is that you are also in touch with the customer and get unfiltered feedback.
C60 Trident Elite 1000 Limited Edition
A while back, Gerard did a review of the Christopher Ward C65 Trident where he also gave you some background on the company. You can find his review here. Where his C65 was a more or less a watch with some dive watch influences, the C60 is the real deal if you would like to go into the water. Before I continue with the review, let me share some facts given by Christopher Ward on this new C60 Trident Elite 1000 Limited Edition.
Apparently, Christopher Ward made some updates to all of the C60 Trident collection. Amongst others, they upgraded the lumed parts with SuperLumiNova X1-GL-C1 for better visibility in low-light conditions than before. According to Christopher Ward, this was done based on feedback from their customers. One of the good things of selling directly is that you are also in touch with the customer and get unfiltered feedback. Christopher Ward also came up with some new sizes for the C60, they have decreased from 43mm to 42mm, but also offer 38mm and 40mm sized models. Although I wouldn’t have issues with a 43mm watch myself, I can definitely see a 40mm and 42mm as more versatile. Furthermore, the bezel, case, crown and bracelet and straps have received an update. I can’t comment on the previous version of the C60 as I never had or tried one, so I don’t include a comparison in this review.
Limited Edition
This cream of the crop C60 Trident Elite 1000 is limited to 300 pieces only, worldwide. I don’t want to go into the whole limited edition discussion here, but the reasons that brands have for creating (more) limited editions are relatively simple in my opinion. Either they want to create a certain momentum to offer and sell watches (and make sure people will be after them due to the time pressure), maybe they aren’t able to sell over 300 (I can’t imagine this for Christopher Ward, but surely for some other brands this is applicable), or they just want to offer something special for a limited time for their die-hard fans. I assume in most cases, the first reason is applicable. I learnt not to be really blinded by this. I either like a watch or I don’t, the fact that it is a limited edition doesn’t change that for me, and I also try not to be vulnerable for the time pressure when a new limited edition is announced.
In any case, this is a limited edition of 300 pieces and the number is engraved on the titanium case back. As you can see in the picture below, this 004/300 for example. In the center is this Trident logo in bas relief as well as the brand and model name. Other information on the watch (Swiss Made, Titanium case, water resistance and the reference number) is engraved as well.
Christopher Ward did have the movement chronometer certified (by COSC) to guarantee at least a performance with a deviation no bigger than -4 / +6 seconds per day on average.
Inside the Chistopher Ward C60 Trident 1000 Elite is a Sellita powered movement caliber SW200. You can’t see it due to the closed case back, but apparently, Christopher Ward had a special snailing (Colimaçoné) finish applied to the rotor. The movement has 38 hours of power reserve and is generally speaking a reliable and trustworthy movement. All relevant movement specifications can be found in the specifications overview at the end of this article. On the wrist, the watch kept accurate time and I have no specifics to share with you on this. It just does what it should do, and that’s perfectly fine for a watch in this price range. You just want a movement to perform reliably. Christopher Ward did have the movement chronometer certified (by COSC) to guarantee at least a performance with a deviation no bigger than -4 / +6 seconds per day on average.
On The Wrist
I am pretty used to wearing 42mm watches, but there are only a few titanium watches in my personal collection. Wearing titanium always needs some adopting from my side, as the material is very light-weight and hardly noticeable on the wrist concerning the weight. I don’t want to be or sound snobbish, but since recent years I am also wearing some gold watches and I actually got a bit used to those weights and feel very comfortable with it. Titanium sometimes feels a bit ‘unnatural’ to me, as the weight often doesn’t correspond with the size or dimensions of the watch. But I can also see the advantages, of course. The Christopher Ward C60 Trident 1000 Elite limited edition is made of grade 2 titanium, which is a bit darker than the grade 5 titanium, for example. I do like the colour of titanium, I admit. A common misunderstanding is that titanium is also more resistant to scratches. This is not the case, it might be stronger than steel but it surely is not scratch proof.
I like the blue and orange colour scheme of the Christopher Ward C60 Trident Elite 1000 watch (but there’s a but later). Christopher Ward also made sure that these colours are used in the cordura and rubber hybrid waterproof strap. It feels comfortable on the wrist for sure, and you can actually take it into the water (diving watches on leather straps don’t make much sense to me). It uses a certain structure on the inside that keeps the strap in place on your wrist, even under wet conditions. You will also find a quick release system for the strap, as can be seen below. You don’t need to use (Bergeon!) tools to remove a strap yourself.
There’s a titanium pin buckle to safely lock the strap. I’ve written many times already that I prefer a pin buckle over a folding clasp. Mainly because a strap with a folding clasp tends to become too bulky.
Technical Features
Wearing this C60 Trident Elite 1000 made me quickly realize that there’s quite a bit of detail in this watch. And, perhaps even more important for a lot of folks, some interesting technical details. To start with the latter: it is – as mentioned – made of the corrosion-free titanium material, the watch has a ceramic uni-directional bezel, an automatic helium escape valve, a thick 3.8mm sapphire crystal, high-grade Super-LumiNova lume applied to the dial, hands and bezel, hacking seconds and a screw-down crown. A watch that needs to be water resistant to a 1000 meters, of course, needs to have some of these features, but it is quite interesting that Christopher Ward is able to offer it for €1565,-. I just bought a Seamaster PloProf 1200M myself, and while I am not comparing them 1-on-1, the level of water resistance is nearly the same and some of the features can be definitely compared as well. The difference in price tag is over €6500,- though.
Automatic helium valve included.
Visual Details
As for the visual details, the brushed hands really look nice on this watch, with their polished edges as well as the blue polished dial. The trident logo on the seconds hand is not something I would particularly favour, but I don’t find it disturbing either. The date disc is in a dark tone, so it goes nicely with the dial (instead of a high contrast white date disc and a blue dial). On 9 o’clock you will find the Christopher Ward brand name, which balances the dial layout nicely with the date aperture at 3 o’clock. At 12 o’clock there’s the Christopher Ward logo, barely visible from certain angles.
Here’s the ‘but’ regarding the colour scheme of this C60 Trident Elite 1000 watch. Although I love blue watches (it also took me a while that blue is here to stay), I am not sure how much I will like the use of orange in the future. For now, I think it is nice and looks fresh, but I am not sure if it is truly a classic colour combination that will last forever. It might not have to last forever, as you are buying the watch today because you like it, but the question I always ask myself before ordering or buying a watch is “How likely is it that I will (still) love this watch in 10 years from now?”. To some that might be a silly question, but it is one of the questions that I need to answer for myself every time I buy a watch. I also need to share with you here that sometimes the answer is negative but I still buy it, then it is mainly a matter of price.
Conclusion
Christopher Ward has been able to come up with quite a special piece suitable for professional purposes, like diving 1000 meters. And for a very interesting price tag. There are more watches out there that have 1000m on the dial (a Sinn U1 comes to mind, more or less in the same price range), but Christopher Ward adds the ceramic bezel and titanium case to the game, as well as a chronometer certified movement.
I also will add that I like the finishing of the case. As you can see below, the lugs have a nice polished facet and there’s a recessed crown. The case back has been engraved and doesn’t show the custom finished rotor for example, but I am not particularly a fan of showing the Sellita SW200 movement anyway. It is a solid performing movement, and a nicely decorated rotor is a nice feature but doesn’t make a pretty movement that’s worth looking at all the time. Just enjoy its chronometer certified accuracy.
Is there anything I don’t like? Well, surely no deal-breakers, but the watch is quite thick with its 14.6mm so you need to be a bit prepared for that. I briefly touched the topic of the blue and orange, where my concern is mainly with the orange. There will also be a version of this watch with a completely blue strap, so that already takes away a bit of the orange.
This watch can definitely play with the big boys that are out there, for sure. Based on its technical features, but also on its appearance. One of the things I applaud is that Christopher Ward is using their strong online strategy to actually listen to their customers and adopt (at least some of) their feedback. Kudos for that, still only a few brands out there know how to properly work with e-commerce and ‘data’.
The Christopher Ward C60 Trident Elite 1000 will be available starting July 2019. More information can be found via the official Christoper Ward website.
