Chiming Watches and Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto Preview
Once in a while a watch comes along that changes expectations. Quite honestly, it is very rare. Chiming watches are a niche of haute horology inaccessible to most makers due to closely guarded secrets and inaccessible to most enthusiasts due to cost. The Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto changes the equation significantly.
This post and video are an introduction to chiming watches and the Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto. I provide a brief overview of chiming complications, discuss the complexities of their technical design, show examples of my own chiming watches, and then dig into the specifics of the Sonnerie au Passage, or passing chime complication. I include some past and current examples of this particular complication and then briefly discuss the CW C1 Bel Canto.
Some details may be captured in the video that are not captured here and vice versa. The C1 Bel Canto images herein are sourced directly from Christopher Ward. My pictures will follow in the November 2022 review (of course I bought one).
The Video
https://youtu.be/snDNJBkqNh0
Timeline:
- 0:00 Intro
- 2:54 Chiming Watches and CW
- 5:22 Repeaters
- 6:06 Sonneries
- 6:59 The Landscape
- 9:30 Sonnerie au Passage or Passing Chime Complication
- 10:37 Chopard Strike One
- 11:53 Ulysse Nardin Hourstriker
- 13:01 MeisterSinger Bell Hora
- 13:31 Breguet 8978
- 14:07 Girard-Perregaux 1945
- 14:50 Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto
- 16:47 Main Features
- 20:22 Final Thoughts
Specs:
- Model: C1 Bel Canto
- Diameter: 41mm
- Height: 13mm
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Lug-to-lug: 48mm
- Weight: ~64g
- Case: Grade 5 Titanium
- Movement: Caliber FS01, Sellita SW200 base, Automatic
- Accuracy: ±20 sec/day
- Power Reserve: ~38 hours
- Crystal: Sapphire
- Water Resistance: 3atm/30m/100ft
- Lume: Super-Luminova C1 X1 BL
- Price: $3,595/£2,995 on leather, $3,975/£3,305 on bracelet
- Warranty: 5 years
Pros:
- Everything.
Cons:
- If you can think of one let me know.
Chiming Watches
When enthusiasts think of watches with sound, the first thing that likely comes to mind is a repeater, a watch that chimes hours, maybe quarters, and perhaps minutes on demand with a slider or pusher. I suppose people tend to gravitate toward the pinnacle of watchmaking out of a desire to hear time. As CW was dropping teasers in the lead-up to the Bel Canto release, there were a great many references in social communities to it potentially being a repeater. But a repeater was an unlikely candidate, especially at this stage in the company’s evolution.
Though starting off as a watch microbrand and Internet retailer, CW has made great strides in that they have their own in-house SH21 caliber and a number of in-house modules built on top of ETA/Sellita movements. The creation of JJ01 provided the technical underpinnings for creating the FS01 featured in the Bel Canto. Think of it this way: if a mechanism can be built to jump on the hour, that power can be used to make a hammer strike a gong on the hour.
Chiming watches are amongst the most challenging to build, along with complex calendar complications. Generally, chiming watches fall into two functional categories: repeater and sonnerie. As mentioned, a repeater will chime time on demand, whereas a sonnerie will chime some aspect of the time automatically.
Repeaters – Chime On-Demand
- Hour Repeater: chimes the hour (e.g., city bell clock)
- Quarter Repeater: chimes the hour and quarters (1, 2, or 3 chimes at 15, 30, and 45 minutes respectively)
- Five-minute Repeater: chimes the hour, quarters, and five-minute intervals
- Minute Repeater: chimes the hour, quarters, and minutes
Sonneries – Chime Automatically
- Sonnerie au Passage: one chime on the hour (e.g., Bel Canto)
- Petite Sonnerie: chimes the hour only on the hour and then only the quarters (1, 2, or 3 chimes at 15, 30, and 45 minutes respectively)
- Grand Sonnerie: chimes the hour on the hour and then chimes the hour and the quarter on the quarters
- Most sonneries have the option to turn the automatic chiming on/off
My Gallet pocket watches: Minute Repeater, Quarter Repeater, Stopwatch (left-to-right)
Repeaters or grand or petite sonneries don’t just fall off trucks. And when a watch brand produces such, you can expect a 5, 6, or 7-figure price tag. Just look at the new Omega Speedmaster Chrono Chime introduced just a few days before the Bel Canto. The price tag is £450,000. Armin Strom, who CW works with on various models including the Bel Canto, has a repeater that’s around $400,000 in Grade 5 Titanium. The Bel Canto also uses Grade 5 Titanium in a first for CW. Keep in mind these watches also have other complications like a Chronograph and Resonance.
A watch that strikes once on the hour, though having its own complexities, is much more in the wheelhouse of a brand like Christopher Ward to enter the chiming watch market. They already had the experience building modules on common Swiss movements, the tech of the JJ01 Jumping Hour, and helped to create a practical implementation for MeisterSinger with the Bell Hora.
Even though an hour-striking watch may be the simplest chiming watch comparatively speaking, the work to create a good chiming watch of any kind is extremely demanding. Primary factors include design, power, materials, wearability and of course sound. But CW excels at something else…making watches affordable and thus accessible to watch enthusiasts.
Hour-Striking (Sonnerie au Passage) Watches
So how common is a watch that strikes on the hour? Well, like most chiming watches, not very common. Here I provide several examples, past and present, to provide context on price, striking variety, and design. My opinion is that this comparison establishes just how important the Bel Canto is, not only for CW, but for watchmaking more broadly.
The point I want to make with this section is simple. Christopher Ward has perhaps done it best so far in terms of factors just mentioned such as design, materials, wearability, and price. Let’s compare shall we.
Pictured Above
- Chopard Strike One: Fairly ok design, rose gold, 40mm, sapphire gong, $63,000. The best thing about this watch is the fact it’s a sapphire gong, which will give a unique sound. The size is also very good. But rose gold is a soft metal thus less resonance/volume and $63k is too far gone for most people.
- Chopard Tech Strike One: Chopard released the Strike One in 2006 and I picked out a 2009 model. This has a better case metal given it’s Titanium, which helps with sound and wearability, but even an older model demands a steep price tag of over $20,000 and the design is terrible, like really awful.
- Ulysse Nardin Hourstriker: UN has released several variations of the hour striker, but the fully skeletonized look is only for a fraction of enthusiasts. A 45mm diameter is large, as most chiming watches are due to the sheer number of parts, and you know it’s bad when they say “price on demand.” The hourstriker chimes on the hour and half hour intervals and has been combined with a variety of other complications (pictured with a tourbillon). Depending on the specific model, you can find them priced in the mid-10s, so like $40-50k on up over $100,000. Precious metals, in my estimation, are not the best choice for a minimal chime watch when it comes to sound. The price tag and diameter are not accessible and wearable, respectively.
- MeisterSinger Bell Hora: The price is respectable thanks to CW helping to build the module on top of the Sellita SW200 base, but it’s not as good a deal as the CW Bel Canto. Why? Although I am ok with 43mm watches, the size is at my limit. Stainless steel and an exhibition back kill the sound. And I won’t hold back…it’s ugly.
Pictured Below
- Breguet Reine de Naples, Sonnerie au Passage 8978: Has a slightly more complex complication with two strikes for the hour, repeated three times. This 2010 ladies watch has a nice balanced look. But it was over $100k and not the sort of watch most people reading this are probably after.
- Girard-Perregaux 1945 Tourbillon Magistral Sonnerie au Passage: Uses precious metals, has other complications like the tourbillon and retrograde date, which increases price. Impressive 110 hour power reserve but price and design are problematic.
The Chopard does look good for the most part, though the rose gold, crown, and price present significant issues for me. The MeisterSinger brings the price to a realistic level, however the most interesting details have a plain design and are hidden behind a bad dial in a large case.
Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto
Enter the CW Bel Canto, a Sonnerie au Passage watch that looks to me like MB&F meets H. Moser & Cie meets Armin Strom. Make no mistake, this is haute horology for the masses, in watch enthusiast terms.
Bel Canto is Italian for “beautiful singing” and is associated with a form of Opera. Any kind of sound, including a single note sung well can be powerful. This watch is meant to remind the wearer going through a day that another hour has passed, in the pleasing key of D. Also, look really close, the sound pointer is a beak of a song bird comprised of the bridges and gong. Very, very clever design.
With the Christopher Ward logo and word mark being a never-ending point of contention over the years, they’ve done something much more powerful here and foregone any logo on the dial. It only exists on the crown at 2 o’clock used to set the time. The pusher at 4 o’clock turns the chime feature on or off as indicated with the red tip on the face pointing to a wave (on) or flatline (off). The crown and pusher balance very well. I really like the pusher design. Back to the lack of logo, I interpret this as strong statement to the industry: This is a CW and the design DNA says enough.
Imagine Rolex coming out with something like this with their crown on it…seriously. It would cost a fortune, you wouldn’t be able to get one, and then you’d remember that they only design within a certain box, so it would never happen. I’m not saying Rolex is a bad watch, I have a couple, but the CW is a serious level up for the brand.
Yes, I bought one. It will arrive soon and I will provide a full review, including plenty of pictures. I have been privileged to discuss the watch with co-founder and CEO Mike France and to see a preview, hence the post upon public release. I will have more to say in the future, but for the purpose of this preview, let me summarize the main features that I think make this one of the best watches in a long time by any brand.
- Chiming complication, specifically the Sonnerie au Passage. I like that it only chimes once on the hour. If it chimed the hour count every hour that might get annoying through a day when it’s automatic as opposed to on-demand like a repeater.
- Wearability: 41mm diameter, 13mm height, 48mm lug-to-lug, titanium
- Material: Grade 5 Titanium with solid case back. A very hard metal and dense walls means resonance and volume, it’s called physics.
- The sound: Getting the gong and hammer combo right is an amazing feat that took near 100 attempts. This isn’t stuff you look up in book to learn, it’s all proprietary.
- Price of 3-4k depending on currency. Wow. No matter what watch CW develops, they only apply apply a 3x markup, even on something as sophisticated as the Bel Canto. Finally, some mechanical sound is possible for more collectors.
- Brilliant design: Not going full skeleton and instead just raising the most interesting elements of the movement to the surface. Also the re-imagined C1 case looks excellent (compare to the Moonphase and Jumping Hour cases toward the beginning of the post).
Final Thoughts
I have no more words for now except to say that I cannot wait to receive my Bel Canto and do the full review. I have provided the context of chiming watches and specifics on the passing chime complication, which will allow me to focus solely on the Bel Canto in the forthcoming review. Stay tuned here and on YouTube.
