The Watch of 2022: Christopher Ward Bel Canto
The Christopher Ward Bel Canto is a horological masterclass in materials and design. A chiming watch for the masses, the C1 Bel Canto is without a doubt the watch of 2022. Sorry, Omega Moonswatch. Tudor, you’ve had a good year. GPHG can pass out awards all they want. Anyone who really understands horology at a basic level should be able to see beneath branding, hype, peer pressure, and appreciate the significance in a watch that sets a modern bar.
Here, you will find some brief context and a variety of pictures. The video is an extended review of the Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto. I discuss all the details, pros and cons, from straps to the complication. The macro view is particularly striking!
If you want background context about chiming watches such as repeaters and sonneries, along with comparisons of modern Sonnerie au Passage watches, refer to my intro post and video on this topic.
The Video
https://youtu.be/LhPOXFTY5oY
Timeline:
- 0:00 Intro
- 2:51 The Watch of 2022
- 5:37 Specs
- 9:02 The Movement
- 10:35 Pros
- 17:26 Design & Function
- 19:44 More Pros
- 23:49 Pro/Con
- 25:12 Cons
- 28:22 Macro View
- 31:14 Final Thoughts
Specs:
- Model: C1 Bel Canto
- Diameter: 41.65mm
- Height: 13.5mm
- Lug Width: 22mm
- Lug-to-lug: 47.75mm
- Weight: ~104g on bracelet/~64g on leather
- 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
- Strap: Grade 2 Titanium or Vicuña leather
- Price: $3,595/£2,995 on leather, $3,975/£3,305 on bracelet
- Warranty: 5 years
Pros:
- Material mix
- Strap options
- Chiming watch!
- Wearability
- Elevated components
- On/Off Pusher
- No logo on face
- Depth
- Cross-brand collaboration
- Grade 5 titanium case
- Bracelet
Cons:
- Legibility
- Pulling crown
- Clasp length
- Need more taper on leather strap
The Movement
CW built the FS01 caliber on top of the Sellita SW200 base. Their previous creation of the JJ01 jumping hour movement provided the technical underpinnings for creating the FS01 featured in the Bel Canto. A mechanism built to jump on the hour can be used to make a hammer strike a gong on the hour.
The Sonnerie au Passage, or Passing Chime, complication of the Bel Canto is designed as a bird with elevated components. This is not to be confused with a skeletonized watch, which many other brands have done, including CW with the C60 Concept that houses their SH21 movement.
Armin Strom, Chronode, and Viquo Deco contributed to the process of creating the components of the Bel Canto. It’s wonderful to see multiple manufacturers participating based on their strengths to create a watch for enthusiasts.
Pros
- Material Mix: The Bel Canto brings together Titanium grades 5 (case) and 2 (bracelet), carbon steel (spring), rhodium (dial), and a positively charged plate/platine that is very hard to do well.
- Strap options: Can have both a dress and sporty look between the straps and bracelet. I actually prefer it on the bracelet.
- Chiming: C’mon, it’s a chiming watch for less than $4k, and not because of sacrificing quality, but because of CW’s philosophy as a watch brand.
- Wearability: The moderate dimensions paired with titanium make this an extremely wearable watch, especially given the complication and design.
- Elevated components: The intentional selection of components to move above the plate, combined with the design factor, is excellent.
- On/Off pusher: I often dislike size, design, or placement of pushers on watches with additional complications. Having the crown at 2, pusher at 4, and keeping a slim but distinct profile for each is one of my favorite things about this watch.
- No logo on face: A hard choice for CW, as having a brand identifier front and center is a marketing pro, but they did the right thing here. About any placement you can imagine would have probably detracted from the overall aesthetic of the face. Like brands such as H. Moser & Cie, sometimes let the design language do the talking.
- Depth: Very cool 3d design that has a lot of depth.
- Cross-brand collaboration: As mentioned above, it’s great seeing multiple manufacturers offer services that led to this watch being a reality.
- Grade 5 Titanium case: Very strong and very light lead to a very wearable watch.
- Bracelet: The only better bracelet you may find would be Rolex. The tolerances are down to just a few microns, screws sit flush, multiple levels of micro-adjust, full links and half links, light grade 2 titanium, taper from 22mm to 16.5mm at clasp and 18.5mm clasp, single end screws make this a pleasure to adjust. It’s a very good bracelet.
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). Typically, I dislike the placement and/or design of crowns and pushers for the same or similar complications on other watches. It’s like brands don’t really care about the overall aesthetic of the watch. CW did it right. The Chopard and Meistersinger are simply ugly.
Cons
- Legibility: The biggest con of this watch is legibility. The dial and hands are already small compared to a typical watch, so contrast is important. With the hands being the same color as the dial and dial bridges, the hands are easily lost and a quick read of the time is difficult. I wish the hour and minute hands were maybe the same red color as the on/off indicator. I understand they wanted to keep attention on particular components and since this is an audible watch it’s sort of exchanging one notion of knowing time for another. But I do think the hands could be modified in some way to help legibility.
- Pulling crown: The crown at 2 is nice, but with that slim profile and placement it can be hard to pull out, especially if you have short nails.
- Clasp length: The only con to the bracelet for me is the clasp length, which is now longer than their past models.
- Lack of taper on leather strap: Since the strap only tapers from 22mm to 20mm and not quickly, the strap fits very tightly against the buckle and is going to result in significant wear on the sides of the strap.
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. I love hearing the chime, both on wrist and as the watch sits on the night stand. Repeaters are great because they are time on demand, whereas most Sonneries can be annoying because it’s too much chiming too often. A single ding that resonates just enough on each hour is simple and subtle and I like it.
The lume is ok, although there is very little due to the size constraints of the hands and markers. The powerful variant of lume used tries to help make up for that situation. Most of the time you won’t notice it much.
Final Thoughts
Wow. Get one.
- If you’re looking for a Chiming complication, or specifically the Sonnerie au Passage, this is the one.
- It’s one of the most wearable watches in my collection. Given the complication and 3d design, that’s crazy if you think about it and do some looking around.
- An amazing mix of materials use and science that blends beautifully into a beautiful watch.
- The chime itself is simple and pleasing.
- The price of $3-4k for what you are getting is unparalleled in the modern market.
- One of the most brilliant designs I’ve seen, regardless of complications.
Christopher Ward has a form on their website if you are interested in future versions of the Bel Canto. The Blue and Green were Limited Edition colors of 300 each and both sold out in matter of hours. However, CW is planning to release other regular production colors in 2023. I think the sky blue and black are particularly nice. Something tells me they won’t be the last.
The biggest and the only con of this watch is legibility other than it is only 30 m WR, so for Melbourne weather or any other European country this watch is not wearable. I almost purchased this watch around 5 times and then looking into the reviews backed away. I probably won’t have sold this watch ever but with these cons looming so massively, I sadly gave it a pass. I am still wishing them to increase the watch more legible. I hope they do in the next 5 years. Let’s see. I will be keeping a watch out for this. If they do, I will probably buy it one of the first.
Fingers crossed.
I get the legibility aspect, some people will want a more quickly distinguishable time. For me, the hourly chime keeps me informed enough for most days. At the end of the day it’s a dress style watch, which checks the box for formal wear and most dress watches across brands are 3atm. Where I live the weather is all over place and I don’t expect any problems, just don’t dunk it in water.
Thx.