Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto Blue Limited Edition

This is the third blue Bel Canto I’ve owned, so I have the useless pub bragging rights of having owned 1% of the blue ones!

This watch doesn’t really need any introduction - suffice to say it set a rocket off under the whole watch industry, taking most, including CW, by surprise with its roaring success.

At the time of launch, CW had only made 100 of their Limited Edition blue models, so when all 300 pieces sold out within hours, it left 200 people with months of waiting for the second and third batches to arrive!

The next day CW announced it was accepting pre-orders for 300x green versions - they sold out even faster than the blues!

Such was the demand from people desperate to get their hands on one of the first Bel Cantos they were changing hands at over £8,000 at one stage! Things have cooled a bit now, with the cheapest blue one on Chrono24 available at £6k and the cheapest green one costing £5,500 - still quite a premium over the original selling price, but a fair bit more than I’m asking for this one!

CW is currently taking pre-orders for four new, non limited, colours: Nero (black), Rosa (light coral), Viola (purple) and Cielo (light blue). They cost £3,200 on leather and £3,500 on a Titanium bracelet - which cost £420 if you wanted one for this watch.

So what is the Bel Canto? The short answer is it’s a Titanium-cased special which chimes on the hour - a pretty unusual feature for a mechanical watch. The chime is switched on and off with a simple press of the button on the bottom right. I have to say I wasn’t sure what to make of it when I first saw the pictures, but having seen it in the flesh, I’d say it’s less ‘watch’ and more ‘wrist art’!

I won’t go on about all the other details on this website because all the info is readily available on the CW website here.

Condition

I’m the second owner of this watch, however I’ve never worn it and the original buyer only wore it on a couple of occasions, so apart from some light creasing on the strap, it’s as new.

It’s a full set, box and papers watch with CW warranty valid to December 2027.

Specifications

• Case size: 40mm

• Lug width: 22mm

• Height: 13mm

• Waterproof: 30m

• Movement: Modified Sellita SW200

User Manual
A PDF of the user book is available on the Christopher Ward website here: https://www.christopherward.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-cw-library/default/dw96c7f7f3/pdfs/Dress/c1-bel-canto.pdf

Final note

The first two photos are library shots, the rest all show the actual watch and package.