Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward was founded aboard a yacht cruising down the Thames by three university graduates. The leadership of English watch companies is led by Mike France, Chris Ward, and Peter Ellis, who take a different approach to watchmaking and selling than their contemporaries. It is a corporation that tries to eliminate intermediaries and sell straight to clients. Rather than recruiting high-profile brand ambassadors to promote its product lines, it has decided to focus on emerging athletic talent through its Challenger program.

Its collection ranges from divers with helium escape valves and water resistance of up to 600 meters to beautiful slip-under-the-cuff dress watches with a moon phase mechanism and even bigger pilots' clocks. Christopher Ward's mission is to deliver the proper sort of UK watch to the everyday man at an accessible price, and the company has even developed its own in-house movement, the Calibre SH21. Its JJ Calibres series is an intriguing and artistically beautiful collection of various complexities.

The Single Pusher Chronograph LE, shown above at 43 mm, is an extremely crisp, clean dialed watch with chronograph capabilities powered by its monopusher.

Detailed information:

Founder: Christopher Ward, Mike France, Peter Ellis
Year established: 2004
Price: from £450
Website: www.christopherward.com