British adventure watch design has been stuck in the 1940s for a long time. Our heritage of military timepieces from brands like CWC and the Dirty Dozen has dominated the field and adventure watch arena. However, a new breed of British ‘go anywhere, do anything’ watches has started to emerge. And this charge is being led by some brands you wouldn’t necessarily expect with the Fears Redcliff ES and the watch I’m hands-on with today, the new Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Extreme GMT.
To be clear, Christopher Ward is less of a surprise than Fears as they have a history of producing versatile tool watches unlike the Bristol brand. But recently CW has been more engaged in their integrated bracelet designs courtesy of The Twelve and their accessible haute collections like the Bel Canto and Loco. Sure, there’s been a handful of divers interspersed but it has been a while since we’ve seen a proper daily beater designed to tackle any and everything like the C63 Sealander Extreme GMT.
It’s designed to be a more rugged interpretation of the standard Sealander GMT, upgrading the steel 24-hour bezel to high tech ceramic. Ceramic is more scratch resistant, making it more resilient to bumps and scrapes, both from actual adventurous terrain like rocks as well as the more mundane but equally dangerous door knobs. I like the fact that it has a fixed bezel because that follows in the footsteps of watches like the Rolex Explorer II, the archetypical adventure GMT. It means there are fewer moving parts and therefore less places for sand and grit to penetrate.
On the wrist, the watch is incredibly comfortable. At a 41mm diameter it sits proudly without being overwhelming and the 11.65mm thickness keeps it suitable for day-to-day wear in the office. The circular brushed lugs are quire long, giving a lug-to-lug of 48mm so it’s not built for super slim wrists, but most people should be able to pull it off. Those lugs are attached to a nylon strap with Velcro fastening; a new design CW have designated the V-Strap.
The new strap does make the watch incredibly lightweight, which is great for an adventure watch. But I do find it suffers from the same set of issues as the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch Velcro strap that led to the aftermarket being proliferated with alternatives. It’s a bit bulky due to the way it has to fold back on itself, and I worry about its longevity in the way Velcro can catch on the material of your sleeves or God forbid, your arm hair. I wouldn’t want to necessarily swap to the steel bracelet option though – it’s ripe for a rubber strap or even just a standard two-piece nylon with pin buckle instead. My instinct is to avoid a NATO but if James Bond can put a Submariner on one, then it should be fine here if you really wanted to.
Focussing in on the dial, this is one of the primary reasons I referenced the Fears Redcliff ES earlier. It’s very similar with a grainy black (or alternatively khaki green) base with applied Globolight hour markers and matching Globolight hands. Globolight is produced by CW’s partner Xenoprint and is essentially a type of ceramic that incorporates lume into its material composition, making the entire block of material glow in low light conditions. The C63 Sealander Extreme GMT even shares the same accent colour as the Fears with its orange-tipped seconds hand and fully orange GMT hand. They at least have their date windows in different places, with the CW’s at 6 o’clock.
When it comes to the movement, the two watches diverge as Christopher Ward are continuing with their signature philosophy of making Swiss-Made watches accessible. That means rather than a pricy LJP movement it uses the Sellita SW330-2 automatic with 56-hour power reserve. That’s the same movement as used in the standard Sealander GMT, so its use here makes a lot of sense as it’s a perfectly respectable movement.
Undoing the V-Strap and taking a look at the caseback, it’s a solid steel number with an engraving of the world’s time zones, reflecting the fact this is a GMT watch. There’s also the inscription of 15 ATM water resistance, which is equivalent to 150m. As it’s not a purebred diver that’s also acceptable as it’s not designed to live in the water but likewise, it will cope with the occasional dip or particularly heavy downpour as you dash from the office to the car this winter.
The Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Extreme GMT is priced at £1,295 on V-Strap or £1,450 on steel bracelet. You’re essentially paying between £200 – £400 extra compared to the original Sealander GMT for an upgraded ceramic bezel, new Globolight display and larger case. Is that worth it? Very possibly, if you like the bolder, ‘Extreme’ aesthetic.
Price and Specs:
More details at Christopher Ward.
I have one of these, bought to replace a CW Anthropocene – that was a nice watch but the face made it difficult for me to read in low light. The C63 Extreme is better in almost every way – the face is very clear, readable in any light conditions aided by the superb lume. One feature your article doesn’t mention is the rubberised anti-shock system that virtually free-floats in the casing.
If there’s one more thing CW could have done to perfect this model, it would have been to apply hardening technology to the case and bracelet – there are several microbrands that do this eg Beaucroft and Traska and claim much higher scratch resistance than the standard 316L stainless steel.
On a final note, I think CW’s new watch strap is a step backwards. I admit to a life-long hatred of velcro, but the strap looks as if it will become tatty pretty quickly. They should have stuck with the composite strap which was both attractive and practical. My C63 GMT Extreme is on a bracelet.
Clear dial, very sleek casing and a super movement, congratulations for such a affordable travel-watch.