Upcycled materials – particularly ocean plastics – have been coming into their own as an eco-friendly, spotlight-shining case material among the more forward-thinking watchmakers. And if there’s one brand that has a penchant for seeing the way the tide is turning, it’s Christopher Ward. Needless to say, it didn’t take them long to hop aboard the upcycling ship and the result is one of their coolest dive watches yet – the C60 #tide.
The name is more than a painful plea for a hashtag. The #tide initiative trains fishermen across Asia to collect and sort ocean waste, turning the raw rubbish into useable yarn and production ready granules. Christopher Ward’s latest Trident uses both.
Most of the watch is the same 42mm stainless steel diver we’ve come to know and love, one of the heavy hitters of the sub-£1,000 category. It’s water resistant to a beyond professional 600m and equipped with a workhorse Sellita SW200 automatic movement.
The difference here is that the caseback features a solid ring of plastic injected recycled material and emblazoned with the #tide logo. The straps on the other hand are made from the recycled yarn for the perfect underwater-worthy fabric.
To hammer home the nautical theme, the dial uses a wave pattern printed onto sapphire crystal – a step away from the engraved waves of Omega’s 300m – and uses light blue lume. It shows a nice depth with a few glimpses of the movement underneath.
While the watch itself is more for raising awareness of #tide’s work, the sale of each strap will donate £5 to the initiative towards the training and paying of their fishermen. It’s a drop in the ocean but every little helps – as does the fact that they’re pretty damn cool straps in and of themselves.
As ever, despite a zeitgeisty material paired with a cool, nautical design and specs worthy of a professional diver and then some, the #tide is as affordable as ever. This is Christopher Ward, after all. The Trident C60 #tide is priced at £895.
Price & Specs:
Model: Christopher Ward C60 #tide
Case/Dial: 42mm diameter x 14.1mm height, stainless steel case, wave patterned blue dial
Water resistance: 600m (60 bar)
Movement: Sellita SW200 calibre, automatic, COSC-certified chronometer, 26 jewels
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Power reserve: 38h
Functions: Hours, minutes, hacking seconds, date
Strap: #tide ocean material® strap (recycled plastic converted into a premium raw material produced as yarn) or stainless steel bracelet
Price/availability: £895 (#tide strap) and £1,000 (stainless steel bracelet)
More details at Christopher Ward.
