There’s a noticeable increase in aventurine dials right now, and one major player in the trend is Christopher Ward. Not all that long ago they launched their C1 Moonglow watch, a luxurious-looking dress watch with an oversized moonphase complication placed upon a sparkly aventurine background. Now for the first time, they have created an aventurine glass dial outside of their Moonphase collection.
Let us introduce you to the Christopher Ward C63 Celest…
Although sharing an aventurine dial, the new Christopher Ward C63 Celest watch has a different aesthetic to the C1 Moonglow. It takes its base from CW’s Sealander watch, their classic 36mm ‘sports-explorer’ model with a design DNA that nicely sits between a dressy sports watch and an adventurer’s watch. The addition of the aventurine glass dresses it up of course, but the sporty stylings are still there.
The Dial
The aventurine dial of the Christopher Ward C63 Celest watch is the obvious centrepiece. Named ‘Galaxy Blue’ by the brand, it is crafted entirely from aventurine glass, a material first created on the Venetian island of Murano in the 17th century. Its deep blue hue is decorated with reflective flakes of copper oxide which beautifully resemble a star-studded night sky. It makes for a stunning dial material, and it’s not just Christopher Ward that have noticed. Other brands like Louis Erard and Bucherer have previously launched their own aventurine dial and we, of course, also have the Geckota Pioneer Midnight Sky watch.
The Christopher Ward C63 Celest’s dial has some noticeable updates. For starters, the date window has been removed entirely, placing more attention on the sparkly backdrop. There’s also no minutes track and no Trident counter-balance at the end of the seconds hand. The sharp hour and minute hands are still kept centre stage, adorned with blue-emitting Superluminova, and point towards the applied stick indexes. The dressy aesthetic is enhanced with the handset and indexes now polished, rather than brushed, and the applied twin-flags CW logo remains at 12 o’clock.
Case & Movement
The case is wonderfully unisex in its dimensions and styling. It sits at 36mm wide and 11.06mm tall with a lug-to-lug width of 42.87mm. It utilises CW’s Light-catcher™ architecture, engineered from anti-corrosive 316L stainless steel with both brushed and polished surfaces for a nice play of light. According to CW, the case weighs tom54 grams, and includes flat sapphire crystal glass and a screw down crown and case back for a 150 metre water resistant rating.
Last month’s Christopher Ward C1 Moonglow debuted a brand-new bracelet for the British watchmaker, and unsurprisingly, the dressy metal strap arrives for a second time on the Christopher Ward C63 Celest watch. The Consort™ bracelet has a five-link, jewellery-like construction that sits closely to your wrist. There are a total of 127 individual links with the end links polished and flanks at the end of every row polished. You can also choose the model on a dark blue leather strap should you prefer.
Turning the Christopher Ward C63 Celest watch over reveals the tried-and-tested Sellita SW200-1 automatic winding movement inside. The 26-jewelled movement offers a conventional 38-hour power reserve and a frequency of 28,800vph. The movement has been altered slightly to include CW’s own decorated oscillating rotor.
Conclusion
The Christopher Ward C63 Celest is a beautiful watch. I won’t deny that. But I can’t help but think that the case dimensions for the C63 Celest would have worked better with the C1 Moonglow and vice versa… I loved the dial of the C1 Moonglow; I found it to be distinctively dressy and feminine, but the case size, especially the thickness of 13.6mm, was way too big for my female wrist. I spoke about this in more detail in my hands-on review of the watch. Meanwhile, I believe the C63 Celest has a more obvious unisex look which would work well with larger case dimensions.
But I understand these things are not always possible. CW already had the 36mm architecture of their Sealander ready to go while the thickness of their JJ04 moonphase module limits the cases it can be placed within. Basically, I’m just jealous my five-and-a-half-inch wrist is too small for the C1 Moonglow, so instead, the C63 Celest will do as a consolation prize.
The Christopher Ward C63 Celest retails for £960 on the metal bracelet and £795 on a dark blue leather strap.
Technical Specifications:
- Brand: Christopher Ward
- Model: C63 Celest
- Price: £960 (Bracelet), £795 (Leather)
- Material: Stainless steel
- Movement: Sellita SW 200-1 automatic
- Complications: Hours, minutes, seconds
- Dial: Aventurine glass
- Size: 36mm wide, 11.05mm tall
- When the reviewer would personally wear it: This would be a very easy watch to wear daily, but the aventurine dial certainly makes me want to trial it for the winter and festive period.
- A friend we’d recommend it to first: Someone like me who liked the sparkle of the C1 Moonglow but wished it smaller.
- Best characteristics of the watch: The aventurine dial
- The worst characteristics of the watch: Nothing obvious stands out.
Our Choice of Straps
The Christopher Ward C63 Celest comes with a choice of straps already, but should you be looking for something a little different, we have a fantastic selection of straps that would pair with the dress watch rather nicely. Our dark blue SEAQUAL® ZULUDIVER watch strap is an obvious choice. The navy fabric would couple nicely with the aventurine dial while the brushed steel pin buckle blends in perfectly with the case finishing. To top it off, our SEAQUAL® straps are made from upcycled marine plastic found on the ocean floor.
For a rather dramatic contrast, you could pair the C63 Celest with one of our 1973 British Military straps. The 328 MARINE reference in white has always looked fabulous with blue-dialled watches and would give the space-inspired watch an almost nautical aesthetic. It would certainly dress down the formal timepiece for those that wanted to take it out on outdoor adventures as well as out to dinner.
