CHRISTOPHER WARD C63 Sealander ELITE

Christopher Ward debuts a new sports diver with hidden talents! A first for the Anglo-Swiss brand, the newest model from Christopher Ward makes use of a retractable winding crown – which btw is said to be one of only two or three of its type in use in the watch industry. The crown of the new C63 Sealander Elite has been neatly recessed into the side of the watch’s case thus maintaining its silhouette but more importantly increasing comfort because naturally there is no possibility of the crown riding against your wrist.

Another key feature of this elitist little pseudo diver is its brand-new 40mm Light-catcher™ case which has been crafted from Grade 2 Titanium making it a featherweight, weighing in at a mere 45g. 

In addition to the aerospace material the case is also said to very wearable owing to is ergonomic design.

The new case and crown technology is backed up by a finely detailed, hand-finished dial which sports a set of cut-out ‘windows’ around its perimeter allowing you to see through the watch and into its inner-working but also reducing weight at the same time. 

Seriously; weight saving? Hmm, I wonder just how many milligrams were shed?

Meanwhile a subtle black date aperture can be found at 6 o’clock on this intriguing new dial which btw is finished in a utilitarian, texturized (sandpaper-like) matte black. 

The dial is also fitted with high-visibility hands. The indices and hands – have been directly influenced by those found on the C60 Trident diver’s watch range – and have been filled with Super-LumiNova® Grade X1 BL C1.

Being an “elite” variant, this Sealander is powered by an elaboré-finished Sellita SW200 automatic chronometer movement with a Colimaçoné-decorated rotor which can be viewed through a Sapphire exhibition case-back. 

Water-resistance btw is limited to 150m as this isn’t technically speaking a diver.

Thoughts? Crowns can dig into your wrist but honestly I’m not sure I’d want them to be tucked away into the case. Imo a watch silhouette that lacks a protruding crown is a bit of a bizarre look but then again so is also true of so called (by me) big-f#ck-off crowns. 

With that said I certainly appreciate the innovation and obvious attention to detail lavished on this neat little watch. It’s all very nice but perhaps more suited to snowflakes than shark wranglers! 

But what do you think; CW certainly hasn’t allowed the grass to grow under their feet – they are steaming ahead.