WatchUSeek Watch Forums banner

Christopher Ward newbie questions..

5K views 33 replies 21 participants last post by  abdullah8001 
#1 ·
Hi all, I'm sorry if I'm asking something that has already been answered before. I'm doing some research before I buy my first 'proper watch'. I want a dive watch, with a bracelet, automatic movement and I don't want to spend more than £1000. I appreciate I'm entering a very saturated market.
The brand that stands out to me in terms of aesthetics is Christopher Ward. I specifically like the C60 Trident Pro MK3, or the C65 Trident Automatic. I had basically narrowed my search down to those 2. However, I then started reading some posts on the CW forum and noticed there's lots of people complaining about terrible customer service and faults with their watches. This, along with the fact they're a relatively new company, has left me hesitating as to whether I should buy one. Are these valid concerns or am I worrying too much? In terms of style and aesthetics, the C60 MK3 is the best looking dive watch under £1000 I have found. I have found a couple of Longines that I really like, but I don't love. And there's a Hamilton Khaki Scuba automatic that I also really like. But, again, I don't love it as much as the CW C60. That said, buying a Hamilton or a Longines would give me more peace of mind, given that they're established, trustworthy brands.
So what do you think? Should I have any worries with Christopher Ward, or should I play it safe and go with a Hamilton or Longines (or any other brand for that matter)

Thanks for any feedback. Really appreciated.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I have owned C60 Trident Pro Vintage 38mm for a whole year, and I can assure you this watch offer so much for it's price. Also suffered outrageously bad customer service! Operators lied to me with no hesitation! But after all, I am waiting to see when their next big clearance will be to buy new watch from them. By my opinion Trident MK3 is absolute beauty. Especially with 40mm case.

Sent using my telepathic superpowers!
 
#3 ·
I have very positive expirience with CW second hand.

My watch is very solid, keeping good time and easy on eyes.

IMHO aesthetically CW Trident is very close runner with Longines Hydroconquest and much nicer than Hamilton Scuba King.

From movement point of view you have Sellita vs ETA which is very similar movements.



Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk
 
#7 ·
Have a look on Trustpilot where Christopher Ward have over 5,500 reviews with 81% at 5* Excellent.

Less than 10% are below 3* Average.

For the most part complaints seem to focus on the mechanism which, except their in-house SH21, is a bought in calibre used by many other brands. Complaints around the mechanism could therefore apply equally to any other watch brand using Sellita or ETA calibres - i.e.: almost everyone!

You also need to consider that this is an online brand with customers more likely to vent their spleen online whereas conventional retail brands allow their AD to take the flak on their behalf.

Personally I've owned around 6 of their watches and have found both the quality and customer service to be excellent.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#9 ·
Agreed.

I currently own two CW's and am considering a third and I currently have 3 Hamilton's and I had a Hydroconquest, (and I miss it and want to get one again).

I had some trouble with my first CW and they responded so quickly and completely, it was staggering and this from the UK to the States. Note that they have an all inclusive 5 year warranty and a generous return privilege if you need. Where else can you find that???

As mentioned above, they use the same movement brand that Longines and Hamilton do and add the Sellita, which is basically an ETA clone. Any applicable issues to CW movements in the watches that you are looking at would be applicable to Longines and Hamilton, among loads of other brands that use these movements.

The CW's have terrific quality, especially at their price point. My CW's are finished just about as well as the Longines and better than the Hamilton's. What they are doing currently, punches well above their price points.

At this point, to me this is not a quality issue, nor a customer service issue. I say buy the watch that you like and don't worry about anything else.

Have a look on Trustpilot where Christopher Ward have over 5,500 reviews with 81% at 5* Excellent.

Less than 10% are below 3* Average.

For the most part complaints seem to focus on the mechanism which, except their in-house SH21, is a bought in calibre used by many other brands. Complaints around the mechanism could therefore apply equally to any other watch brand using Sellita or ETA calibres - i.e.: almost everyone!

You also need to consider that this is an online brand with customers more likely to vent their spleen online whereas conventional retail brands allow their AD to take the flak on their behalf.

Personally I've owned around 6 of their watches and have found both the quality and customer service to be excellent.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#8 ·
I've had a MkII C60 Trident for almost 2 years. It's been my daily wearer in that time and has hardly ever been off the wrist long enough to run out of power reserve and stop running. No issues or complaints with the build or quality of the watch. A well-made watch, particularly for the selling price. Accuracy has been fine, but not remarkable. Liked it enough that I bought another. I ordered a new MkIII C60 earlier this month. So far, so good with that watch. Very impressed with the quality and finish so far. Feels about a half step nicer than my MkII in terms of overall finishing and details. The only negative experience I had with the second purchasing experience was that there was some kind of weird glitch with their online ordering system where I received an error message indicating that the order didn't go through and I didn't receive an order confirmation email, but my PayPal account was billed and I saw a new order appear in my CW account history. I sent an email to CW Customer Service asking for confirmation that the order had gone through and it took them 3 business days to get back to me, which seems a bit slow to answer a simple question. Then again, I ordered on the Sunday before a Monday bank holiday, so they were probably a bit backed up with inquiries when they got into the office Tuesday. But slow responses from CW do seem to be the #1 complaint on the CW Forums. A sign that they are perhaps under-staffed.

CW has been growing very rapidly the past few years, selling more and more watches each year (I believe I heard they've been growing at a rate of around 20% per year for the past couple of years, which is huge). They have historically had very good and personalized customer service, but the sudden influx in complaints of slow responses and slow turn-around times does lead me to wonder if their customer service department, both in terms of staffing and in terms of operating procedures and systems, hasn't kept pace with the growth in sales to be able to keep up with an increased volume of returns, inquiries, service requests, warranty repairs, etc. All companies will have some quality slips. I'm not sure that, as a percentage of watches sold, CWs are more troublesome than any other brand in their price segment or are faulty at any higher rate than in the past. However, if their defect rate is constant, but sales have doubled, then the volume of repairs will double and you need the staff, processes, and systems in place to manage that increased volume.

I think it's also important to consider the vocal minority. People are more apt to complain vocally when they've had a bad experience than give praise for a generally good or satisfactory one. We expect good customer experiences, so unless the experience goes way above and beyond, you tend not to hear as much from generally satisfied customers as you do from those who had experiences they were in any way shape or form unhappy with (ranging from minor annoyances like slow delivery times to major issues like shoddy product). That said, I've read some of the recent complaints and horror stories on the CW forums and there is one that sticks out as truly, unbelievably bad and after some months it seems it still hasn't been resolved. That said, I've encountered some pretty horrible stories from much bigger and more established brand names. It's never acceptable, but I don't think anyone is totally immune. Most other product or service issues seem like they were resolved satisfactorily, although perhaps not as expediently as the customer had hoped.

That said, Hamilton and Longines are both great brands. Both part of the giant Swatch Group, so they have a huge network of dealers and service centers around the globe. Certainly not a bad choice.
 
#21 ·
Thanks everyone for your responses, I really appreciate it and they've been very helpful. I really love the CW watches and I was hoping you guys would put my mind at ease, and you have. As much as I like the Longines Hydroconquest and the Hamilton Khaki Scuba, I think if I buy either of those I would be happy but I would probably still be thinking of the CW C60 Trident. It sounds as though the vast majority of CW complaints are about their customer service which, as a few of you pointed out, is probably over worked and under staffed. As long as my watch doesn't have any faults then hopefully I will never need to contact them. I live a 30minute train ride from the CW offices, so if I do ever experience any problems with them I'll just chain myself to their front door until they deal with me :D

Thanks again everyone!
 
#24 ·
If you live close enough that you can stop by in person, then even if you do need to engage with customer service, you can at least talk to someone face to face. On the forums, those able to actually stop at the Tower seem to have a much easier time resolving any customer service issues than those of us in other countries or continents who need to rely on shipping our watches back and forth, hoping there are no holdups with customs or lost packages, and stuck relying on email communication because of timezone differences.
 
#31 ·
I bought a C65 gmt and the whole experience was fantastic. They quickly sent the watch with a personalized letter. Plus they have a 5 year warranty n all their watches. Now it is a sub $1000 watch so they may have a few qc issues. Mine was flawless and had some features better than a $4000 watch. Be aware they will drop value pre-owned. You may want to save the money and buy one used
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top