Is This Brand the Best Bang-for-Your-Buck in Watches?

British watchmaker Christopher Ward continues to surprise. A brand built largely on $1,000-ish homage watches just released a new model that questions what’s possible in the lower end of the price spectrum. The new C12 Loco, part of the “Twelve” family of integrated bracelet sports watches, centers around an in-house movement and a whopping six-day power reserve. Most importantly, the watch showcases its escapement on the dial, which mimics the look of a tourbillon. Available in four launch colorways at just under $5K, it’s an impressive feat of horology without many direct competitors.

Christopher Ward’s C12 Loco is more compelling evidence that the brand isn’t happy just pumping out your ho-hum sport watch fare. The brand constantly pushes what it can pack into a relatively affordable piece. A watch with a dial-side escapement from a watchmaker like Breguet, Greubel Forsey, or MB&F will run you tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. In years past, the brand has put out fully skeletonized dials ($4,725) and even brought the feel of the very grand minute repeater down to earth ($3,795). Pricing for the new C12 Loco is $4,595 on a rubber strap or $4,825 on the integrated bracelet.

All this is done with Christopher Ward’s own machinery. The brand’s new hand-wound CW-003 movement has several distinctive features that are sure to pique collectors’ interest: The escapement, as mentioned above, is visible from the watch’s front, where it sits below an offset time display that dominates the upper half of the dial. Its free-sprung balance oscillating at 28,800 vph is adjusted via tiny screws rather than regulating pins, allowing for a fixed hairspring length and increased accuracy. Held in place with two large bridges, the look is striking—and, again, extremely rare at this price point.

Flip the C12 Loco over and a sapphire crystal allows a peek into the remainder of the CW-003’s impressive design: Dual barrels, which allow for the watch’s massive power reserve, occupy front and center, each secured by another large bridge. The finishing—black plating, mirror-polishing, vertical polishing—looks industrial compared to the fine and intricate work present on a high-end release from a Genevan atelier, but this is arguably part of the watch’s futurist charm. With its bright light blue, white, or orange dial colors, it doesn’t quite look like anything else out there. (It’s also available in black for those with more of a traditionalist bent.)

If the C12 Loco were Christopher Ward’s only foray into inspired, original design at this price point, we might consider it a fluke. However, pieces like the aforementioned chiming C1 Bel Canto released back in 2022 are proof of a hot streak. That Bel Canto, which sounded once per hour, even won a GPHG award in ‘23. A repeating wristwatch with a laser-etched guilloché dial, this sub-$4,000 wonder turned the watch world absolutely on its head. Though it wasn’t a true minute repeater, it nevertheless signaled a sea change in what was possible at these price points.

Christopher Ward’s greatest strength is finding creative solutions to help more audiences experience haute horologie. Minute repeaters typically cost tens of thousands of dollars, but the C1 Bel Canto, technically a “Sonnerie au Passage,” brings a similar vibe for much less cost. While a tourbillon might be out of reach at under $5,000, the brand’s new C12 Loco gets an escapement grooving on the dial at that price level.

The C12 Loco is arguably even more impressive despite its lack of complications. The design doesn’t rely upon a module affixed to a base movement from ETA or Sellita the way it does in the C1 Bel Canto. Rather, it’s a ground-up design with a genuinely impressive set of features married to a sporty 41-mm steel case with an integrated “luxury sports watch” design. If this sort of feature-laden watch is possible for under $5K, it begs the question as to what else Christopher Ward can concoct. But we don’t have to look into the future to consider that Christopher Ward might just be the best bang-for-your-buck in watches in the world right now.