Christopher Ward – C1 Bel Canto Viola Titanium 41mm Automatic 2024-2025
C1 Bel Canto Viola: the chime is now
For those who don’t want to be seen wearing the emperor’s new clothes. Creating a chiming watch is one of the greatest challenges in watchmaking – and one that Christopher Ward has passed with the C1 Bel Canto Viola.
Meet the extraordinary C1 Bel Canto.
Pre-order by the end of January 2025. With a new, iridescent Viola dial in a lightweight titanium case, they seem completely alive, marking each hour with a cheerful, reassuring internal chime. And it sees The CW asserting its watchmaking ambitions like never before.
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Created by CW’s technical director Frank Stelzer, Calibre FS01 is an ingenious modified movement with Christopher Ward’s DNA in every cog and spring. With an inspired piece of lateral thinking, Frank realised that CW’s ‘jumping hour’ movement could be adapted to create a chiming sound on the hour, every hour. More than 60 new components form the striking mechanism module which sits atop a Sellita SW200-1 base movement which provides the 38-hour power reserve.
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Today, the key to the C1 Bel Canto is FS01, a new chiming movement named after current technical director Frank Stelzer. In all horological history, little has tested the watchmaker like creating sound, so it’s no wonder Bel Canto took three years of tortuous development. Bel Canto is what’s called an hour chime, or – more romantically – a Sonnerie au Passage complication, which translates as ‘Passage of Time’.
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“Bel Canto is an extrapolation of the C60 Concept, in that we’re taking the best hand-finished components and putting them within reach of many,” says Jörg Bader Junior, head of product at CW’s Biel atelier. “But
in terms of technological challenge, it’s taken us into uncharted
territory. We had to figure everything out for ourselves.”
The layered dial plays host to a floating time-telling sundial
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It’s a little known fact that Christopher Ward creates watches for Meistersinger, the German specialist in single-hand timepieces. A few years ago Frank made a new model for them, the Bell Hora, a Sonnerie au Passage. Would it be possible to do something similar for Christopher Ward?
“The Bell Hora was a stepping stone,” says CEO and co-founder Mike France. “But with Bel Canto
we wanted to bring the striking mechanism to the front, so the wearer
could watch it in action. The question became: could we make a chiming
watch both look and sound beautiful at the same time?”
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“Finding a way to split out the components so they felt balanced across the entire face, took years,” says CW watch designer Will Brackfield. “Each
time we moved one piece, it had a knock-on effect on the others. The
platine – the blue module plate behind the important elements – would
have a gorgeous sunray finish, so we needed to find a way to hide minor
components behind that too.”
The multi-layered architecture of the Bel Canto’s dial is enhanced by the exquisitely executed polishing of the hammer, spring and bridges – which together resemble a songbird. Crafted by hand (under microscope) by some of Switzerland’s finest artisans, finishing of this standard is usually the preserve of only the most exclusive and expensive brands.
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“One of the great challenges was striking the right balance between note and loudness,” says CW’s head of product design, Adrian Buchmann.
“We soon learned that the case would have to be made of Grade 5
titanium, a material we’d never used before, with lots of empty space
and resonance points. It’s a very dense metal – and creates a sound cage
with the best possible vibrations.”
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So, what exactly does the chime sound like? “Elegant,” says Mike. “Luxurious,” says Will. “A long, high-pitched note,” says Adrian.
By pressing the pusher at 4 o’clock on the side of the case, you can switch off the chime – something that’s shown in the movement of the red indicator on the dial. No one can quite define it – it is more like a xylophone, or a hotel bell? – but all agree that it’s delightful. Technically, it turns out to be a D, also known as Re (“a drop of golden sun”) on the fixed do solfège system, familiar from The Sound Of Music.
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“One thing everyone comments on is how the bridge structure towards the bottom looks like a bird,” Mike says. “The
red ‘beak’ is actually the on-off mechanism, controlled by a pusher at 4
o’clock, and moves to indicate whether the chime is on or off, while
the hammer is its tail. Bel Canto means ‘beautiful singing’, so there’s
whimsical humour going on which seems very Christopher Ward.”
Our Light-catcher™ case has had a subtle but sporty makeover. The first CW case made from Grade 5 titanium, the metal – which is less dense than steel – has been chosen for its ability to amplify sound. The internal architecture of the case has also been designed for the same reason.
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The dial consists of intriguingly stacked layers, rising from the platine through the bridges to the time-telling subdial and finally the twin-flags logo, printed on the lower surface of the sapphire crystal, while the titanium 41mm Light-catcher™case has been given a subtle sporty makeover.
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Quite simply, no brand anywhere has made the art of sound so accessible, or opened up the possibility of owning such high horological art to so many. Hearing really is believing.
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TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Collection: Bel Canto
Model: C1 Bel Canto Viola Automatic
Ref. C01-41APT2-T00P0-B0
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Material: Grade 5 Titanium
Size: 41mm
Dial Colour: Viola
Platine Colour: Viola
Height: 13.0mm
Lug-to-Lug: 48.0mm
Case Weight 53g
Weight inc. bracelet 113g
Water Resistance: 3 ATM (30m)
Movement
Sellita SW200-1 with Calibre FS01
Power Reserve: 38 hours
No of Jewels: 29
Complication Type: Passing chime
Vibrations: 28,800 p/hr (4Hz)
Timing Tolerance: +/-20 sec p/day
Lume: SLN C1 X1 BL
Strap
Size: 22mm
Material: Bader bracelet
Colour: Silver
Leather Strap: Vacona® leather
Features
- Swiss made
- Self-winding 29 jewel movement with FS01 chiming module
- 38-hour power reserve
- Brushed and polished Grade 5 Titanium case
- Deep-stamped caseback with soundwave motif
- Push-down crown with twin flags motif
- Anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal
- Floating time display
- 3D hand finished bridges, spring, and hammer mechanism
- On/Off pusher at 4 o’clock
- Red on/off indicator
- Sunray finished module plate
- Mirror polished chiming gong
- Raised brushed and polished indexes
- Grade 2 titanium bracelet with micro-adjustable ratchet clasp, single screw links and quick-release system for easy changing
- Eco-friendly luxury presentation case and owner's handbook
Fully refundable deposit of £1,000.00 payable now
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Press releases - 2024
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