Review: Christopher Ward C65 Aquitaine Bronze COSC
Quick recap to how we got here: I hadn’t paid any attention to Christopher Ward. Like, at all. Then they released the Bel Canto and The Twelve and promptly blew both my shoes and socks off. So, I felt like I should spend some time going through the back catalogue. And this is the outcome of that exploration, the C65 Aquitaine in bronze. Should I be questioning ownership of my Tudor Black Bay?
Background
What particularly slapped me upside the head about the Bel Canto and The Twelve was the build quality. Subsequent research and general questioning of life choices and the order of things has revealed that that’s basically Christopher Ward’s whole deal. Supply chains and other such boringness. You don’t have to understand it or even care about it, so long as you know the outcome is paying less for more. I’m sure that’s something we can all get on board with.
For the longest time, however, what Christopher Ward didn’t have nailed was the design. I’ll be completely frank. It wasn’t that the designs were bad necessarily—although some really were tragic—it was more that they were so tediously boring they literally left no imprint in my brain whatsoever.
But no matter. There’s some new watches to try and fix that. Of course, they can’t all be absolute diamonds like the Bel Canto, but every album needs those filler tracks in-between the singles. Question is, are these Pink Floyd fillers or are they Drake fillers?
The C65 Aquitaine—a name that sounds a bit like made-up medicine: “Get me 65ccs of Aquitaine, stat!”—throws a few little tricks into the mix to get this track off to a good start. Bronze, for one. A sailor’s favourite metal, bronze has been used for all kinds of nautical purposes from diving helmets to propellors, and everything in-between. It’s so good they named an age after it.
Whilst none of us are wondering about the impacts of permanent submersion in a salty liquid for decades on end, we do have other aspirations towards bronze. It starts off all shiny and fresh, almost indistinguishable from rose gold—and then all briny hell breaks loose. Our favourite breathable, oxygen, comes along and goes nom nom nom or something and then—BAM—green.
I’m no scientologist, but I do know this slow aging process is what gives bronze its longevity, coating it in a protective seal that looks like the inside of Davy Jones’ wallet. Some people think its nasty, other people think it’s cool AF. If you’re in the latter camp, Christopher Ward will have piqued your interest with this particular C65. If a rusty watch isn’t your thing, there’s a steel version too.
In fact, the C65 comes in a whole load of different variations. If you choose the bezel-less version, it starts at £750. That’s the Dune. Chuck the dive bezel on and the price bumps up to £795 in steel and £1,185 in bronze. That’s the Aquitaine. There’s an Aquitaine GMT too at £1,350, a chronograph at £1,395, a Super Compressor for £1,150—so on and so forth. It’s a bit of a minefield. I picked this C65 Aquitaine Bronze option to review because I liked the look of it, but looking again there’s others I would like to see as well. That makes choosing hard. I like it when choosing is easy.
Whichever you choose, however, it’s always going to be a considerable amount cheaper than a Tudor Black Bay. The absolute cheapest Black Bay is the rubber-strapped 54 at £3,030. The Ranger starts at £2,370. I’m no mathematologist, but those numbers are all considerably higher than the Christopher Ward, even in fancy-pants bronze. In case you were interested, just as I was, the raw material bronze costs 25% more than steel.
So, Dillemmasville, population you. Is the Black Bay worth all that extra cash? Or can Christopher Ward save you some green with its soon-to-be-green watch? Let’s take a closer look at this nifty little diver and find out.
Review
Let’s get some hard stats out the way first. The C65 Aquitaine measures in as a 41mm watch, but don’t sweat it, it wears smaller than that. The bezel sits quite proud of the case, which is, unless I am very much mistaken, the same as the C65 Dune’s at 38mm. That should reassure those of you a little frailer of wrist.
Speaking of bezels, that’s a domed sapphire disk with lumed markers. It’s got that full Fifty Fathoms boiled sweet vibe about it. Doubled up with the domed sapphire crystal covering the dial and it’s got real eye appeal. By that I mean it feels nice on your eyes when you look it. By that I mean it looks good.
Very much unlike Uncle Tudor, Christopher Ward has gone to extra efforts with details like these to make them, one, not derivative anymore, and B, technically impressive. Here’s some examples. What they call the “light-catcher” case—anyone else immediately get Chitty Chitty Bang Bang flashbacks?—is divided up into a number of different angled sections that alternate between brushed and polished finishes to add crispness without being fussy.
Take a look at the bezel. The insert doesn’t just sit flush with the knurling. There’s a secondary lip to it that’s just one of those inexplicable things designers do that makes stuff look better even if I don’t understand how.
The net result is that the slab-sidedness of a Tudor Black Bay appears really pretty lazy. Sure, they want that historical accuracy, but the C65 demonstrates that you can still have a simple case design without it looking like they punched a hole in the raw material, stuck a movement in and said, “See you in the pub.”
The dial is equally as well-considered. The sunburst blue matches the bezel, of course, and is set with case-appropriate dial furniture. The gladiatorial handset makes a nice change from the various iterations of Mercedes logo people seem to use, even if Poseidon’s cutlery might be a little too much on the nose. It’s a dive watch, geddit? It’s all in the details. The marker surrounds are tapered, the hands gently curved. The date is centred at six—thank you—and the proportions of all that don’t feel too crowded or too open. Seems like an insignificant thing to point out, but take a look at the Tudor Ranger to see what happens when it’s not quite right.
The logo does look a bit like a tobacco company trying to stealth-advertise in F1, but take that as a compliment. It’s a nice-looking shape, even if you don’t think so. You probably didn’t like the new F1 logo either and I think it looks great. We’ll agree to disagree.
Here’s a complaint, the same mistake Tudor made up until the recent Pro and 54. The crown knurling is too small. Especially for the size. Stick a big crown on with small serrations and it looks like a tin of tuna. I know it’s Rolex-y, but stick big, Toblerone-shaped grooves on it and be done. It’s just better.
In the engine room is a hardy Sellita SW200. It’s no masterpiece, but being based on the ETA 2824, it’ll run longer than you will and will be easy to service when it doesn’t. It’s like a Honda engine. You can treat it like Disney is treating Star Wars and it’ll be fine. Unlike Star Wars.
In the bronze Aquitaine it’s also COSC certified—a surprisingly costly thing to have done—and that’s cool I guess. If you have a habit of cutting it fine by around fifteen seconds, maybe the COSC movement is a good idea for you.
Put all that together and you have a watch that isn’t going to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, but it’s going to be perfect for a Saturday afternoon performance on the Park Stage. The C65 Aquitaine doesn’t currently match the Tudor Black Bay for in-house movement-ness and will never come close to its legacy, but pound for pound, it’s a very impressive offering. It probably isn’t a one or the other situation, really. The Christopher Ward is significantly cheaper enough to be considered by people who don’t and won’t have the money for the Tudor. But those who have the Tudor might think long and hard about adding one of these alongside it.
What are your thoughts on Christopher Ward and indeed the C65 Aquitaine here in bronze? Fancy a look or still nonplussed? For me, it’s certainly caught my eye in a way I hadn’t anticipated. There’s plenty to love, not much to hate, and a price that gets the mind wondering. There are cheaper watches with this movement in, and a Seiko diver can be purchased for half the price again, but I’ve got a feeling the quality of the C65 can see it hold its own. Maybe I should compare it to a Seiko next time? What do you think?
