I bought a black dial Christopher Ward Bel Canto when they first came out after the limited editions. After delay after delay, and some lousy communications from Christopher Ward, I finally got the watch. I am really not feeling it. I am impressed with the functionality, and aspects of the finish, but it just doesn’t wow me like thought it would. It kind of feels cheap to me. The crystal seems dull, the titanium feels grainy. I tried to return it and for some reason DHL returned it back to me. I feel like the universe is saying I should reconsider. Am I crazy to wait so long for a watch that is remarkable in achievement and something I really liked when I first saw it, only to return it? I can’t help but think the terrible experience I had with Christopher Ward in originally getting it in the first place has tainted my opinion. It just feels like something that took well over a year of waiting should be a wow for me and I am mostly ho hum. I guess I am answering my own question, just wanted to see if I am missing something, making an emotional decision I will regret, or should rethink it.
Bel Canto indecision
Rhobandit
1 - 20 of 57 Posts
I bought a black dial Christopher Ward Bel Canto when they first came out after the limited editions. After delay after delay, and some lousy communications from Christopher Ward, I finally got the watch. I am really not feeling it. I am impressed with the functionality, and aspects of the finish, but it just doesn’t wow me like thought it would. It kind of feels cheap to me. The crystal seems dull, the titanium feels grainy. I tried to return it and for some reason DHL returned it back to me. I feel like the universe is saying I should reconsider. Am I crazy to wait so long for a watch that is remarkable in achievement and something I really liked when I first saw it, only to return it? I can’t help but think the terrible experience I had with Christopher Ward in originally getting it in the first place has tainted my opinion. It just feels like something that took well over a year of waiting should be a wow for me and I am mostly ho hum. I guess I am answering my own question, just wanted to see if I am missing something, making an emotional decision I will regret, or should rethink it.
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2,118 Posts
I love the idea of CW and some of their designs, but they have all seemed pretty, for lack of a better word, flimsy, in person. I've owned and flipped two. Never again.
wait for anything long enough, it will lose its luster.
we're just built that way i suppose... it gets hyped up in our minds, if we let it, to the point that the real thing doesn't live up to it.
when it was first released, i was all for wanting one.. after a year, i still am fond of it.. but my lust for wanting has waned.. to just i dont mind owning one. much the same with many other watches i come across.
we're just built that way i suppose... it gets hyped up in our minds, if we let it, to the point that the real thing doesn't live up to it.
when it was first released, i was all for wanting one.. after a year, i still am fond of it.. but my lust for wanting has waned.. to just i dont mind owning one. much the same with many other watches i come across.
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2,602 Posts
CW keeps bragging about their satisfaction guaranteed or your money back, let me know how that goes! From online pics, the watch looks beautiful, but I can't justify 4 grand on a watch, with a chime my deaf ears won't hear, and I'm not crazy about the little and at times hard to read watch dial. Looking forward to seeing it on somebody's wrist one day. Love the variety of colors it comes in.
flimsy?
i have the anthropocene and its the furthest away from definition of the word flimsy.
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2,602 Posts
Half the fun of the anticipation of getting something really nice like this, is the anticipation. The only thing I've ever bought that still makes me grin like a monkey even 10 years after getting it is my Stingray. When I press that button and the engine roars to life, you smile. Every time.
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2,602 Posts
The C60 Tide is not flimsy at all as well. My most expensive watch, and still love it a year later.
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2,118 Posts
Yeah. I had 2 C65s and the hands looked like they were die cut out of the cheapest and thinnest metal ever. I could never get past it. One had a badly stamped dial. The Lightcatcher cases on both seemed nondescript in person. It's a shame, too. I wanted to love both, but didn't.
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9,263 Posts
The only sign is that the shipping is jacked up. You don’t like it so I’d get rid of it. JMO
You can send it back if you are within the 60 day return period. It sounds to me as if you regret your purchase.
I have often looked at Christopher Ward, especially in the sales, but I've never bought one. The Bel Canto in purple looks fun? This isn't a cheap watch and you could put the money towards something you bond with.
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15,763 Posts
They’re built to a price, which is obvious when you handle one. Not necessarily a bad thing but I think too many get caught up in the “punches above its weight” trope.
Monta is the only brand I’ve handled where I was shocked (in a good way) by the finishing and feeling of quality given the price.
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9,263 Posts
Agree on Monta. Fantastic bracelets.
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2,118 Posts
It's a hard truth. I'm not speaking for anyone else, but one of the discouraging things about this hobby is that (and I would have called myself out as being dead wrong when I first got into this) the nicer pieces you buy become the standard of finishing for so much of everything else you own or purchase in the future moving forward.
That is too funny, I have tried them on numerous times at my AD and it has never floated my boat for the price. Trust me...I really wanted to like them as they are local and I love to support local small STL businesses.
I have given thought to the CW as the looks are fantastic, plus a bell ring would be fun.
OP should be able to return or sell the piece with no problem. good luck
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15,763 Posts
Floating your boat… I’d argue that’s intangible.
While I appreciated the Atlas I owned due to the level of finish, which was easily on par with the Omegas I owned at the time, I sold it because… the aesthetics didn’t float my boat. Montas are well made if somewhat bland.
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1,804 Posts
If you had bought it because of the hype such as its being a budget MB&F and not because you like the chime complication, maybe you should sell it if it does not appeal to you any more?
Personally the watch does not appeal to me and I think there are better CW watches I’d rather buy such as the Twelve or the Sandhurst (I dislike its broad hands while the prior version has the name in letters which I dislike). But this is because I don’t see the need for a chime complication and the budget MB&F comparison does not make sense since I own an actual budget MB&F (if there is such a thing) in the M.A.D.1 Red.
Good luck to OP whatever his decision!
Personally the watch does not appeal to me and I think there are better CW watches I’d rather buy such as the Twelve or the Sandhurst (I dislike its broad hands while the prior version has the name in letters which I dislike). But this is because I don’t see the need for a chime complication and the budget MB&F comparison does not make sense since I own an actual budget MB&F (if there is such a thing) in the M.A.D.1 Red.
Good luck to OP whatever his decision!
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