At some point within the last few years, I had learned about a British watch company called Christopher Ward; this initial exposure came from a post that Watches of Espionage made on his Instagram page detailing the watch that was spotted on GEN Scott Miller’s wrist. At this point in time, I had seen that watch, and initially thought it to be a custom Omega piece, but when I first saw it “up close” (as “up close” as I can through a social media post), I realized that I had never heard the name before but that given the taste that the good GEN has in custom firearms–most notably his high-speed 1911s and Glocks that graced his hip when in-theater–I concluded that the watch was likely not an inexpensive one, nor was it a poorly-made timepiece.
GEN "Scott" Miller (Ret.) with the CW C60 Trident 600 GMT
The name shortly faded from memory, but I would occasionally see a watch with a real name as a brand and they would never end up looking all that interesting. Christopher Ward would pop up on Reddit posts, in other social media posts, and I would be reminded that that’s the brand with the oddly-human name that doesn’t make garbage-tier fashion watches. Fast forward some time, and I was given a unique opportunity to have a few conference calls with some key players at CW. The first introduction was to Mike Pearson, the new North American Brand Director. While we chatted, it was clear from the beginning that the intent in our meetings was to seek to establish a foothold in the U.S. military market, with another friend of mine and fellow co-founder being the one to spearhead the same foothold in the North American LEO marketspace.
I was eventually given carte blanche to pick a watch from the catalog that piqued my interest. Knowing that CW produces at least one watch model that ended up in the hands of a man at the very tip of the spear, I looked for a timepiece that would be both timelessly good-looking, display all the hallmarks of a solid watch fit for military duty, and not only that but specifically be prepared to endure the hard use that is expected of an infantry profession. There were two models that stood out to me–one was oozing modern tacticool with an all-black case and bracelet, an internal rotating compass bezel, and wrapped up in a diver’s tool watch package. That one made sense. The other was the C65 “Dartmouth”. A watch that looks like what one would expect to see on the wrist of a soldier or sailor in the late 60s to mid late 80s (which is when the G-Shock, introduced in '83, started to pick up steam in our community). Sporting classic good looks, immediately the idea of a James Bond type timepiece came to the front of my mind; it was a retro-modern Milsub styled piece that would look equally at home in a suit or beat-up cammies. Rest assured, despite the throwback-to-yesteryear looks, this watch is one that is just as overbuilt as many accepted hardcore divers.
Don't be fooled by the movies and CoD: an infantry officer spends an insane amount of time at a desk. The lore of LT "Ghost" Riley is a crock of shit. I do still love what I do though--its all about the men.
All I was told in response to the two models I chose was that I’d be sent a C65 “Dartmouth”, as “Not much has been said about this watch”. Why this is the case, I don’t understand. I am genuinely impressed with this watch. So, without further ado, let’s take a dive into this watch.
The C65 “Dartmouth” is named for the Britannia Royal Naval College, most commonly known as “Dartmouth”, which is the premier training school for officers in the Royal Navy. If you’re an ASVAB waiver knuckledragger struggling to understand this, this is the same idea as naming a high-end dive watch after the US Naval Academy, “Annapolis”. Naming a watch after a prestigious establishment such as a Military College comes with some pretty important unwritten/unspoken requirements:
- It needs to look cool
- It needs to be able to perform in hard use environments
- It needs to make sense, with regards to the naming convention
- It needs to really look cool
- It needs to be high quality: not some unobtanium, outrageous $60,000+ watch, but something to aspire for, and to me that places the watch into the $1,200 to $2,000 price range
At-home from the office to the field to the rail yard for BDE download operations.
CW says it best:
“[The C65 is] a watch immersed in Royal Navy history – and officially approved by the Ministry of Defence. A ground-breaking all-lume dial that comes alive after dark. And a chronometer movement that delivers accuracy every time. The second-generation C65 Dartmouth may be based on the 1967 Omega Seamaster 300 ‘Big Triangle’ (Ref 0552) – commissioned by the MOD for the Royal Navy – but it offers so much more: from 200m of water resistance to the RN’s naval-crown insignia deep-stamped onto the backplate.”
That said, To the first point, the C65 seriously looks good. Specific to the Series 2 version, the combination of the Light-catcher™ case, a fully-lumed dial, the gorgeous proportions, the inspiration from the Omega SM300 0552, and a striking box crystal and sapphire bezel, it just works. It is distinguished, and thanks to the modern construction and 200m water resistance, the watch is not out of place on the wrist of an infantryman. But this begs the question: why is this watch, one clearly with a naval pedigree, so "at-home" on the wrist of an American infantryman?
Dartmouth with Pelagos; the fully-lumed dial is a sight to behold, truly.
That's because the perfect field watch is a diver. This speaks to the second point. These are the top reasons I stand by:
- Dive watches are robust. They're designed to handle depths in a harsh environment. Being on land or in a torrential downpour is a non-issue.
- Dive watches are equipped most often with a unidirectional bezel. This is perfect for keeping track of time hacks and on-the-fly adjustment.
- Dive watches by nature of their maritime-intended life are simple, no-frills, and very legible. This is paramount when dealing with quick time checks
- Dive watches offer a more robust case than typical field watches because of how they’re sealed for water resistance: I’ve personally witnessed good quality field watches fail to keep up with field abuse, especially when in a high intensity training iteration like weapons density weeks (that said, I’ve never observed dive watches to fail, and I personally credit this to their more robust cases and seals offering better protection to the movement)
Fixed blade, folder, something to write on and with; a wristwatch: all essential.
As far as the last three points are concerned, it is truly simple. This watch is priced at an attainable $1,280 on bracelet. At this pricepoint, it features a few key things that add to the really cool factor as well as placing this watch at a high dollar-to-value position:
- The Light-catcher™ case is striking. Distinguished is a great word
- The C65 packs a box sapphire crystal which is both robust and perfectly retro-modern
- In addition to the sapphire box crystal, the bezel itself is also attractive and adds to the refined look
- The heart of the C65 is a COSC-certified Sellita SW200-1, which is noted as being in the top six percent of Swiss-made movements with regards to accuracy
- We aren’t looking at something that is unobtainable as stated above with the pricepoint of $1,280; this is a watch that a single E-4 could budget to afford, knowing that this will be a tool that is serviceable when needed, reliable, and accurate; this is a watch that he can wear to a Battalion Ball, to Motorpool Mondays, or a Combat Training Center (I don’t say that lightly: I was once in their shoes, and I know how much money ends up getting wasted away with liquor and chasing a woman destined to be another man’s wife)
With the basics covered here, I can comfortably move on to my initial experience with this watch.
When the C65 “Dartmouth” arrived at my door, I was greeted with an unboxing experience that frankly many brands that come at a significantly higher premium could learn from. From the soft open and close leatherette and bamboo box to the high-quality embossing throughout the packaging, the watch impressed me immediately. As I unwrapped it, I quickly cleaned the residue from the stickers off and put it on without making a change to the stock tropic rubber strap. I normally eschew rubber straps unless they’re a certain famous Italian brand, but this one stood out. It was immediately more comfortable than the rubber of my Pelagos–which mind you costs almost four times more–and sat well on my wrist with fantastic texture underneath which I would discover over a week to promote good airflow during regular use and water drainage when wet. The quick release spring bars are robust as hell, and they definitely don’t feel cheap like many others do. The buckle is high quality as well, and was easy to move from that to other tapered straps. It is simply just smart.
I'm not one for boxes, but this was quite the unboxing.
My wife took immediate notice of the watch and has since mentioned how nice the Christopher Ward “The Twelve” looks. This immediately means that I need to budget for one for her. Thank you, CW, for finally getting my wife to tell me what she would like as a gift. I’ve noticed others looking at it as well, and I credit it to two things: first, the Light-catcher™ case, well, catching light, and second being that it just looks good (we aren’t going to talk about the fact that I rock a cuffed wizard sleeve at work though, because we want plausible deniability). The biggest test in terms of how it looked came in two different settings with two very different people. The first was my friend, a fellow 11A (Infantry Officer) who collects Omegas. He was pretty impressed with it and said it reminds him of “Early 2000s Omegas”. High praise from a man who dailies a NTTD SMP. The second came from an office call with my Battalion Commander. I’ve seen him look at my watches before, but the fact that he couldn’t stop looking at this one made me feel uneasy at first… but fortunately he is the kind of man to plainly say if something bothers him, seeing as how he said nothing of the shinier-than-the-titanium-Pelagos I usually wear, I chalk it up to a win.
Two Brits hanging out in an American Soldier's home.
It is worth noting that a third litmus test came from my four-year-old. He enjoys the sound and feel of the 120-click bezel just as I do; and he makes a point of it to come and offer me a “cheers” with the Prospex Samurai that he adopted from me every single time he deems it appropriate to adjust the bezel on both watches. The hard “clink” as he calls it occurs often and has yet to leave a mark on the watch that is discernible beyond looking at it with a loupe.
From that initial arrival, the watch has since lived on the stock rubber, an American Green Beret-owned and made watch strap, the "Rugged Band", from my friend Pat and his outfit Whiskey 7, an Italian rubber NATO, as well as an AOR2 watch band from Barton. The only issue that I have had with this watch stems from an aftermarket spring bar failure that came during a PT event that would have resulted in an otherwise impeccable photo of the watch being used. That said, the one failure I have had is a result of a curved spring bar that is not native to the watch; I will be replacing the bars with ones from an actual Swiss source.
Cheap aftermarket springbar hung onto it for dear life over the ~5km BN PT Event. It ultimately failed and required my placing it into my left shoulder pocket.
Setting the time is a smooth process; the crown comes out with a firm and reassuring feeling that comes from the seals placed therein. Authoritative is a good word for how it feels. The anodized red accent on the crown which features the “Twin Flags” as seen on the dial is also a nice touch. The hacking feature is nice as well and allows for accurate time-setting as well as the ability to synchronize watches before your SP. Speaking of the “Twin Flags”, I appreciate the fact that the logo on the dial is so subtle. This is such a nice thing to see, as it melts into the background and adds to the military vibe. The only thing better would be the inclusion of an MoD Pheon somewhere on the watch as an homage to the British military watches of yesteryear. I would be absolutely remiss if I didn’t plug the fully-lumed dial here as well: it is a stunner and incredibly useful at night or in low-light settings.
The C65 “Dartmouth” is genuinely fun to wear and look at. It has been used during morning PT, at the gym lifting weights and doing agility training, as well as being a daily use piece. It dethroned the Pelagos as my go-to watch–needless to say, this watch and I are on a strong honeymoon phase; I owe it to the slim proportions and light weight. While I love my Pelagos, it is a thicker watch, and at times a more thin affair is welcome–especially when dressing in a suit.
I could almost be a hand model.
With regards to things that I would like to see improved, they’re simple.
- More aggressive knurling on the bezel would be fantastic and allow for easier adjustment
- More aggressive knurling on the crown would be welcome as well, for the same reasons
- Perhaps offering a variant that comes shipped as a head unit only, with fixed bars in place; this would hearken back to old fixed bar military watches destined to spend their lives on NATO and ZULU straps
- I can’t help but wonder if there would be a way to incorporate tritium vials into the watch for constant lume, but this is not a must
- Not so much an improvement as it is an idea, but perhaps even a variant with a countdown bezel insert is something that modern tactical watches don’t often have, but is a feature that is still useful and convenient
- This last one is not as much an improvement as it is counterintuitive with regards to the Light-catcher™ case, but a PVD and/or matte brushed model variant would be interesting and befitting of a more tactical variant of this watch, this could very well be exclusive to a fixed bar variant
Three divers, three price brackets: all are solid choices. Christopher Ward Dartmouth, Seiko Prospex Samurai, Tudor Pelagos.
At the end of the day, my initial impressions are most easily summarized with this:
If you have around $1.3k to spare and are looking for a solid watch, buy this. For a watch to sit in a series of timepieces named for and approved by any nation’s military branches and academies, and to have been favored by the likes of one GEN Scott Miller, with many others within the Profession of Arms finding these watches on their wrist, it is a no brainer. CW produces a high-quality watch at an attainable price that, per GEN Miller himself, “had the effect of making [him] much more discerning on watches. Now [he’s] a sucker for higher end watches”.
I recommend the C65 “Dartmouth” just as much as I do the Pelagos. In fact, I would be keenly interested if CW would ever offer a watch aimed directly at competing with the Pelagos. Something like that would be very interesting indeed, and I’d love to see one should it ever become a reality.
Indispensable equipment to an infantryman: mags, durable nylon goods, body armor, and a watch.
*****
Kit: almost entirely from my friend Pat H. of Whiskey 7. Prototype Alpha Carrier, production Alpha Panel. Various Crye, Eagle, and LBT pouches outfit it.
Knives: Customs only mentioned here. The blade with the mango handles is from my friend Jared of Legacy Blades NC. The one engraved with "FOLLOW ME!" is a custom Hunter-Killer 1 from my friend "TJ" of Abaddon Knives.
Disclaimer: I was given a unique opportunity with regards to this watch; it was provided to me for free, and I discussed what I planned on doing with this watch with several key players at Christopher Ward. I am in no way allowing this to sway my opinions and takeaways on the watch.
I am being transparent with this, as I owe it to the community at large to provide objective, unbiased opinions about things that I review–and I owe you all a disclosure when watches or other items are provided free of charge. I do not want any of you to be driven to make a purchase where I am biased or dishonest, as your money is hard-earned and deserves to be well-spent on things that actually stand up to the rigors of our professions.