Introducing : Christopher Ward C1 Worldglow

Most everyone would agree that “2020 was the year of suck”. Maybe, just maybe 2021 will be better, a new hope as it were. Christopher Ward seem to think that 2021 will be better. They have started the year quickly with a new watch release the C1 Worldglow.

The C1 Worldglow fits in the Christopher Ward dress watch selection and it is a GMT watch featuring a lumed map of the world and GMT functionality. Christopher Ward have offered world timer watches since 2013 when they introduced the C9 (900) World Timer which was followed up in 2018 with the C1 Grand Malvern World Timer. This new model takes the idea of a lumed feature from the C1 Moonglow and applies it to the World Timer. Will it light up your world? Let’s take a look.

Design

Christopher Ward has been introducing its lightcatcher case design throughout their range. The C1 Worldtimer is the latest iteration of this design. It is a large case with a diameter of 43.5mm. This takes it far outside the YouTube/watch media sweet spot of 38mm or less. It’s a large watch with a lug tip to lug tip length of 51.9 mm. This will limit the number of people who will be able to wear the watch. I doubt that it will fit properly on my 6.75 inch wrist.

The case itself is highly polished and features lightly curved lugs which flow smoothly and seamlessly into the case. The polished bezel falls away from the domed sapphire crystal. In this highly polished form the C1 lightcatcher case is simply beautiful as the angled surfaces, transition between bezel and case and smoothly flowing lugs reflect light in subtle but exciting ways. The watch is paired with a black leather strap and a Milanese Mesh bracelet. The lug width is 22mm there should be a variety of straps available to suit every taste.

The case back is sapphire which allows the JJ03 to be seen. Surrounding the sapphire case back is more polished 316L stainless steel. The crown is the standard C1 crown with no crown guards which lets the lugs flow into the case limiting the visual size of the watch. The overall case height is 11.6mm and is another element which allows the watch to look smaller than it might otherwise.

The dial is a complex work of art. Moving from the case inward the first element is a lumed ring, inside that is a minute track and then another ring which features 24 cities in printed white text except for London which is in red. The city names contrast nicely with the black dial. The black dial itself is a departure from the existing C1 Worldtimer which features a blue dial. Inside that is a ring of lumed numbers from 1 to 24. This ring of numbers surrounds another plain lumed ring which encloses the Cartesian map of the world viewed from the North Pole. This means the UK is just under the central pinion but is still visible. The dial itself is made from domed brass. The Christopher Ward logo is at the 12:00 o’clock position and is also lumed.

The cities ring is adjustable from the crown and is designed to work in conjunction with the disk that carries the radar time zone indicator. This has been a constant feature of Christopher Ward Worldtimer watches and allows the second time zone to be easily read and is a worthwhile alternative to the fourth hand common to many GMT watches. The hour and minute hands are feature a slight taper and have some textured finishing below the lumed section. These are relatively simple hands for a modern Christopher Ward but the detailed finishing of the C60 hands would be lost on this watch. The seconds hand is also a simple baton with a red tip which pairs very neatly with the London marker.

Calibre

Before Johannes Jahnke became technical director for Selitta he created four modified movements for Christopher Ward. The JJ01 was a jumping hour movement, the JJ02 was a single pusher chronograph, the JJ03 is the Worldtimer and the JJ04 is a moonphase calibre.

As a world timer this watch features the CW JJ03 movement. This is a modified Selitta SW330. The original JJ03 movement was a modified 21 jewel ETA2893. The current version has 25 jewels and powers a disk which carries the radar time zone indicator. The movement is visible through the sapphire case back and also features the twin flags logo on the rotor. It makes for an attractive case back which is something that Christopher Ward have quietly worked on for this generation of watches.

How to use

The JJ03 is not a “true world timer”. The second time zone indicator is moved to adjust the second time zone. This is in contrast to a “true GMT” where the hour hands are adjusted to local time and the 24 hour indicator remains fixed.

The 24 hour hand is set using the crown. If the crown is pulled out to the second position the 24 hour ring can be adjusted by rotating the crown clockwise. If you want to set a third time zone then rotate the crown anti clockwise and the sector ring will move to highlight a given city. This way you can see the time zone in your local time by the hour hands, a second time zone by the rotating 1 – 24 hour ring and a third time zone using the sector disk. Christopher Ward has a simple video on how to use the time zone functionality on their website page for this watch.

There is quite a lot of snobbery associated with true or ETA-style GMT watches. I own examples of both and find them both to be convenient. As I have a number of watches I find that resetting a true GMT after it hasn’t been worn for a while to be a painful exercise. Because the date is associated with the independent hour hand you have to keep adjusting the time until the correct date is set and remember if you’ve got the AM or PM setting correct. Additionally you also have to synchronise the GMT hand to the correct AM or PM setting. This can be quite a pain. If we lived in a world where you could spend time in different time zones during one day then the true GMT is slightly easier to use. However under normal circumstances the ETA approach where the 24 hour hand is moved is just as convenient and easier to set up.

Conclusions

At the end of 2020 Christopher Ward seems to have had a cull of their various watch lines. The C1 Worldtimer and the C1 Moonglow survived this effort and have now been joined by the C1 Worldglow. This is a bit too big to be a true dress watch. The lack of a bezel, lightcatcher case and black dial will conceal its size and make it easier to wear. However nothing will be able to disguise the 51.9mm lug tip to lug tip dimension. It should fit easily under a shirt cuff but it may well be too big for many wrists, mine included.

This watch is really about the GMT functionality and the lume. There’s so much lume. It is a lume lover’s delight. The plain, white world map will glow in the dark like a beacon of hope for the New Year. This was a surprise launch from Christopher Ward which was timed to coincide with the latest edition of their in-house Loupe magazine. It is a welcome addition to their dress watch line and is an elegant world time watch that will delight anyone who sees it both in daylight and at night.

The C1 Worldglow is available for purchase now from Christopher Ward’s website and is priced at $2,050/£1,800 on the mesh and $1,995/£1,750 on the black cordovan leather strap.