The Borna Bosniak Christopher Ward Bel Canto is the brand’s first chiming complication, brought to life with the help of a base Sellita SW200 and an in-house chiming module. With its incredible price point, this might already be the bargain of the year.
The latest microbrand recently wowed enthusiasts with its high-end complication, the Christopher Ward Bel Canto. Using a modular Sellita base, the British brand adapted an existing in-house jumping hour module to pack a valuable punch with its first-ever Sonnerie au Passage complication. True to its brand, it’s surprisingly affordable, and with the help of some friends, it’s also unexpectedly polished. Finally, don’t worry: although the initial production run sold out in just a few hours, the brand is already planning to make the Bel Canto a regular production model.
About Christopher Ward
Christopher Ward was founded by three men, Chris Ward, Mike France and Peter Ellis, in a “converted chicken coop on a farm in Berkshire” nearly 20 years ago. With the release of the C3 and C5, powered by the Ronda quartz chronograph caliber and the ETA 2824, the brand gained attention on watch forums as it was an unheard of business model at the time. In other words, Christopher Ward was the first entry-level luxury watch brand to sell its products exclusively online, essentially pioneering the microbrand scene.
By 2008, they began to cooperate with Synergies Horlogères in Biel, owned by Jörg Baader, eventually merging in 2009. This relationship would be the most influential, leading to the birth of numerous JJ calibers, named after master watchmaker Johannes Janke. Their construction used Sellita and ETA bases modified to accept all kinds of modules, such as monopusher chronographs, moon phases, jumping hours, etc. It was this jumping hour caliber that ultimately inspired watchmaker Frank Stelzer to try to create the protagonist of today’s story.
A modern sonnerie au passage
The Bel Canto can be summed up as succinctly as possible: it is a watch with a sonnerie au passage complication based on the inner workings of a jumping hour mechanism. Of course, the reality is never so simple. In the FS01 caliber, named after its creator Frank Stelzer, a lever comes into contact with a snail cam that descends at the hour’s arrival, striking a tone spring to record the passage of time. For the jumping hour, the lever comes into contact with a central star wheel, incrementing the jumping hour disc by one. This re-creation of the JJ01 jumping hour movement required 50 new parts but also presented significant design challenges.
Although the name Christopher Ward is well established, it’s not widely recognized among enthusiasts as a master of complications, despite its well-established track record. Instead, the brand’s bread and butter is affordable, high-quality sporty watches, such as the Trident line of diver’s watches and the explorer-style Sealander. The Bel Canto not only challenges this one-dimensional image, it also expands the price range that Christopher Ward has traditionally stuck to.
So what do you get for your money? Housed in a 41mm grade 5 titanium case, the muted tones of the metal allow the dial to shine. With exposed stamping and a three-dimensional bridge supporting the asymmetrically placed components, the Belcanto is a thing of beauty. Personally, it immediately reminded me of the Armin Strom Minute Repeater Resonance (priced at CHF 380,000, for reference). That may not be so surprising, considering that this avant-garde independent manufacturer is one of the manufacturing partners for this project and produces the platinum for the Belcanto. If you thought it was MB&F, that wouldn’t be too far from the truth either. The dial-side elements, with their fine grain and angles, were produced by Chronode, the team behind the incredible Legacy Machine 1.
You will notice that Christopher Ward chose to include the dial while still exposing many of the mechanical elements. This was a smart choice on their part, as it allowed the brand to focus on finishing only the most critical components and do so to a high degree, while the base caliber and its components sit beneath the dial in all their less decorated glory. As far as the specs and operation of the FS01 movement are concerned, the wearer cannot have it chime upon request. Instead, if they want to hear the bel canto voice, they must manually advance the time via the crown, and the striking mechanism dutifully responds with each revolution of the hour hand. The hammer charges and tilts back, away from the gong, almost like a power-up for a special move in a superhero comic book.
However, the wearer can mute the chimes, as indicated by a small beak-like indicator at the 5 o’clock position. In fact, if you look closely, the entire striking mechanism looks bird-like, from the beak to the tail-like gong. Quite poetic, if you ask me. Based on the Sellita 200, it maintains a 38-hour power reserve and a 4Hz beat rate. However, given the niche market that Bel Canto has developed for, I suspect these figures will be of little importance to the final buyer.
Appearance (and availability) matters
We see. Another issue of The Independent features another cool interpretation of a complication from an unlikely brand, available in limited quantities at an unattainable price point. But wait, dear readers. The real attraction of the Bel Canto is that you can buy this amazing watch for the same price as a Black Bay 58, or even less, if you don’t opt for the titanium bracelet. Not only that, it’s not a limited edition either, with deliveries scheduled for around December 2023. That’s an impressive feat, given the incredible demand and high complication.
What surprised me, however, was that Meistersinger developed this watch before Christopher Ward. Using the same movement but revamping it to suit Meistersinger’s signature style, the brand released the Bel Hora about two years ago. While it certainly garnered attention, it didn’t get the same fanfare as the Bel Canto, and for good reason. The Meistersinger is by no means an unpleasantly designed watch, but it doesn’t stand out in the company’s catalog, and its appeal as a niche one-handed watch will certainly alienate some. The Bel Canto, on the other hand, is (pun intended) a great look. A closer look reveals some of the decisions that had to be made to make it more affordable, but at first glance it reminded me of premium independents, especially the aforementioned Armin Strom. For AUD5,000, that’s definitely a good thing.
Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto price and availability:
The Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto is available for pre-order now, with a deposit of A$1,700 required for delivery in December 2023. List price: A$4,995 (leather strap), A$5,495 (titanium bracelet)
Brand Christopher Ward Model C1 Bel Canto Case Size 41mm (D) x 13mm (H) Case Material Grade 5 Titanium Water Resistance 3 ATM Dial Sunburst black, purple, sky blue, salmon Crystal Sapphire Strap Available in a variety of titanium bracelet or leather strap colours Movement FS01, Sellita base with in-house developed sonnerie au passage module Power Reserve 38-hour power reserve Functions Sonnerie au passage, hours and minutes Availability Deposits are being accepted now, with deliveries currently scheduled for December 2023 Price A$5,495 (titanium bracelet), A$4,995 (leather strap)
