Romaric André, aka seconde/seconde/, has a sense of humour that meshes incredibly well with British watch design. That’s what makes his previous collaborations with Christopher Ward sell-out successes each time. Most recently that was with the Desk Diver, a humorous interpretation of CW’s Trident designed to help you through your 9 to 5. This time though, they’re ready for summer with the new Christopher Ward C60 Pool Diver x seconde/seconde/.
Where the Desk Diver guided you through a day of work, the Pool Diver is all about relax-maxxing. Nestled just inside the minute scale of the dial, there is a secondary scale that portions out your day’s activities to achieve the ultimate holiday relaxation. At 12 o’clock that starts with some reading, followed by sunbathing, relaxing by the poolside, flexing for the camera, and lastly a nice bit of existential contemplation and reconsidering your life choices.
In the spirit of a proper holiday, it does also include some advice that is, well, inadvisable. The sunbathing section includes a “Nice Tan / Skin Damage (Ratio)” section that is completely made up – if you’re not lobster red raw by the end were you even on the beach to begin with? And instead of a normal date window there’s a martini glass with the inscription “Max units per day”, suggesting that towards the end of the month you’re fine to have up to 31 alcohol units each day (more than twice the recommended weekly limit). It’s all a bit of tongue in cheek fun.
The C60 Pool Diver uses the Christopher Ward Trident Reef as its base, specifically the 41mm version. It has 200m water resistance making it suitable for use in and around the water without going so far as to be a full-on professional dive watch with 300m+ resistance. Hence, it’s best suited to holidays, pools and a bit of snorkelling.
It’s made from steel with a matching solid caseback that features a stylised picture of a diver wearing flip-flops instead of flippers. The oxygen tank is also a tube of suncream and they’re carting a martini in hand. Below the diver it reads “How to decompress from your 9-5” while around the outer edge it says “Please don’t drink and dive” – looks like CW have become the fun police.
Inside the watch is the Sellita SW200-1 with 4Hz frequency and 38-hour power reserve. It’s a classic third-party movement that still sees plenty of use due to its ubiquity and ease of repair due to widely available parts. These days the 38-hour power reserve is regarded as lacklustre and has since been replaced by a modern 41-hour variant by Sellita, but CW are evidently working through their backlog of calibres.
The Christopher Ward C60 Pool Diver x seconde/seconde/ is priced at £895 on a choice of white, blue or orange rubber straps and £1,060 on three-link steel bracelet. For availability, it is a limited edition but rather than having a set quantity, it’s instead available for a limited order window of June 11 at 3pm to June 24 at 5pm (BST). Delivery is expected in mid-July, just in time for the holiday rush.
Price and Specs:
More details at Christopher Ward.
