Loupe. Issue 21. Summer 2021. by Christopher Ward

The magazine of Christopher Ward. Issue 21. Summer 2021

The twin-barrel construction of the Calibre SH21 ensures it can run for 120 hours (five days) if fully wound. They are built by hand, in Biel, Switzerland. Regarded as the world’s watch capital. The automatic version has 192 separate components. Every movement is certified as a chronometer by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres. And, therefore, in the top six percent of all Swissmade watches for accuracy. It is also the only commercially viable mechanical movement from an English brand in more than 50 years. We could go on but suspect you might not have the time. christopherward.com

How good is the power reserve on our own Swiss-built movement? How long have you got?

Loupe. The magazine of Christopher

Crawling out of the gloom that was 2020-21 into the bright light and relative freedom of post-lockdown Britain, we may feel as if we’re expected to perform many roles at once, juggling the new normal at work, at home and at play. With so many challenges faced and overcome, our new watchword is ‘adaptability’; it’s vital to be able to change yourself to fit in with your new surroundings. Just like the amphibious creatures of The List and the sea- to- land flexibility of the new C63 Sealander, we ourselves have become rather like strange and sea-changed amphibians adapting to each new global situation. The old adage says that as you grow older, you don’t need to keep up – you just need to stay open. May this new issue of Loupe help you adapt. Helen McCall

Editor: Helen McCall Art Director: Jamie Gallagher Designer: Sam Burn Photography: Peter Canning and Tom Hull

Three minor miracles of watchmaking William Shakespeare knew the literary value of a good oxymoron and the “parting is such sweet sorrow” lament of Juliet in Romeo And Juliet is joined by the “good mischief” of The Tempest, Macbeth’s “cruel only to be kind”, Julius Caesar’s “fearful bravery” and the “tragical mirth” of A Midsummer Night’s Dream to name but a few that are liberally strewn throughout his plays. The more contemporary bard, Bob Dylan, also used oxymora freely, but perhaps the line, “I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now” from the Another Side Of… album, is his best known. And The Beatles, who are featured in this edition of Loupe – a terribly good one we hope you’ll agree – as far back as 1965 recommended the way to make it big in the movies was simply to “act naturally”. So, what’s this got to do with watches? The answer can be found from page 19 of this magazine where we introduce the C63 Sealander Collection. Geddit? The three watches that make up this landmark new collection, in our unbiased opinion, represent the very best of Christopher Ward, from unique accessibility into the world of mechanical watches to the sort of advanced engineering we’re increasingly becoming recognised for. They may be for everyone in every situation, but they’re far from everyday watches. And that’s a definite maybe! Mike & Peter

Cover: C63 Sealander Elite

1 Park St, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 1SL christopherward.com 4

Contents Features 12 – 15

True grit

Local heroes

36 – 39

The new Beatles film Get Back celebrates the Fab Four in their heyday. Anthony Teasdale uncovers their Liverpudlian roots

Matt Bielby investigates as West Country outfit Arkonik pimp out old Land Rover Defenders with superlative skill and style

16 – 19

E mare libertas The micronation of Sealand may measure just less than two tennis courts, but it represents the freedom of the high seas to adventure-seekers worldwide

19 – 34

The List

40 – 43

We discover 14 beasts, beings and vehicles which make the leap from water to land

True grit

12 — 15

Sealander

19 — 34

Local heroes

30 — 35

Sealander The new C63 Sealander Collection’s Elite, GMT and Automatic options are equally fit for exploring in water, on land – or at the wheel. Matt Bielby explains it all

Regulars 6 – 11

The Brief

Insight

45 – 50

What we do and how we do it. Take care of your growing collection with watch-buying wingman Adrian Hailwood, while we chart the greatness of the Rolex Explorer line

We become conservationists with new CW Challenger Tom Hicks and check out the Morgan factory production line. Plus: the new C60 Concept is on the Drawing Board

Contributors

Matt Bielby

Anthony Teasdale

Adrian Hailwood

Film, TV, gaming and watches form the subjects of Matt's prolific journalism and editing

Tony edits Umbrella and Quintessentially when he’s not admiring the brutalist architecture of Benidorm or watching football

Watch consultant, watch specialist, watch valuer, speaker, author and lecturer, Adrian’s the watch–buying wingman of dreams 5

What they’re saying about…

News, reports & innovations. This issue: Good press, good deeds, great new watches

The world’s watch media can be notoriously hard to impress. Recent new pieces from Christopher Ward have gained accolades from all quarters. Anyway, it’s not showing off if someone else says it… Praise for the C1 Worldglow “Sometimes it feels like when the rest of the watch world is playing checkers, Christopher Ward is playing chess.” WatchWithUs “What’s unique to the C1 Worldglow is the generous application of luminescent material across the various dial components…in the dark, the results look stunning.” A Blog To Watch “One day we will travel again, and that’s when a sexy worldtimer watch might be the perfect companion. The combination of near-total luminosity with world timer functionality is not only rather unique but also beautifully executed.” WatchItAllAbout

“From a creative side many a brand has slowed over the past few months. Not Christopher Ward. The C1 Worldglow and its predecessor, the moonglow are very much a category of their own.” Oracle Time “The dial is a complex work of art. There’s so much lume. It is a lume lover’s delight. The plain, white world map will glow in the dark like a beacon of hope for the New Year.” Scottish Watches “Christopher Ward has made a compelling and uniquely functional dress watch with the C1 Worldglow.” Worn & Wound “We’ve loved Christopher Ward’s various interpretations of the world time watch, but the new C1 Worldglow is one of the best yet.” Gear Patrol

Praise for the C60 Sapphire Black “Decidedly modern with a unique machine-like feel. Through the perfectly transparent material, the top-side of the movement is visible, serving as a live backdrop to dial elements that seemingly float above… technical, precise and sharp… it looks damn good.” Worn & Wound “Christopher Ward’s Light-catcher™ case has carried their design forward in a way which was hard to imagine just a couple of years ago. [The C60 Sapphire Black is] subtle and refined.” Scottish Watches

BLUE heaven The C60 BLUE Limited Edition has raised over £200,000 for marine-preservation charity, Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE). The money will go to help its work reversing the damage caused by overfishing, and protecting marine habitats worldwide. With its wave-pattern sapphire crystal dial and dive-watch engineering, the watch was produced to celebrate 10 years of BLUE. Limited to a run of just 500, the watch also carried a #tide ocean material® strap made from recycled plastic. The success of the C60 BLUE is proof of Christopher Ward’s commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. Something that can be seen in its most recent packaging, which is made from 95 percent bio-degradable materials including cotton, eco-MDF and bamboo.

Strong Alliance The new Alliance of British Watch and Clockmakers has funded its first Bellwether report, where analysts KPMG assess the scale, structure and potential of the industry on a global scale. “The Bellwether is built on data supplied by our brand members,” says Roger W. Smith OBE, Chair of the Alliance. “It both defines and informs the present state of the British watch and clock making sector.” Since its launch in November 2020, the Alliance has already grown to more than 50 British brands. “The true extent of British-based horological business is outstanding,” says Roger. “We stand for this under-represented, yet booming, sector and support its growth in the long term.” Christopher Ward’s CEO Mike France, a founding member of the Alliance, and sits on its board of directors. “When we launched, we were aware there were a lot of British brands out there, but to have over 50 trade members already is a fantastic sign of the industry pulling together,” says Mike. A new Alliance partnership with the Horological Society of New York now means cross-pollenation of ideas and support for British brands from cognoscenti and consumers across the pond. You don’t have to be part of a British watch brand to join the Alliance. Watch collectors and enthusiasts worldwide can join the Alliance as ‘Club’ members and benefit from priority access to events (a nose around the inner sanctum of Roger Smith’s Isle of Man workshop, anyone?). Club members also receive a special, RW Smithdesigned pin badge and certificate, access to the KPMG Bellwether report and will also receive a free 12-month subscription to Oracle Time. “Over 75 percent of the watchmaking innovations you wear on your wrist were designed by British makers,” explains Roger. “If you love British watch brands and would like to deepen your knowledge, as well as supporting our sector to flourish on the world stage, do join us.” britishwatchmakers.com/join-us

Racing A guided tour of the production line at the more-than-century-old Morgan factory in Malvern, Worcestershire, is a real treat for automotive fans, and a destination for visitors worldwide. A knowledgeable and experienced tour leader guides you through the detail of each and every workshop; no viewing panels or faked-up production lines here. It’s an authentic and real tour of the unique blend of rare craft skills and modern technologies that go into making these iconic sports cars. Normally welcoming 30,000 visitors a year through the doors of its Malvern

spirit factory, Morgan opened a new visitor experience centre, café and retail outlet in September 2020, to welcome visitors at the start and end of their factory tour. You can even buy a Christopher Ward in the shop – the only place on earth you can buy one offline. Unmissable. For more morgan-motor.com/morganexperience-centre/

Arctic explorer Tom Hicks has joined the Christopher Ward Challenger programme, a long-standing initiative which supports young artists, athletes and adventurers to achieve their potential. “I’m delighted Christopher Ward has been able to invest in Tom’s development as an Arctic explorer,” said Francesca Robinson, CW’s marketing director. “We believe in supporting the heroes of tomorrow, so helping Tom to fund his next planned adventure within the Arctic circle is just one of our ways of showing this.”

A lettered conservation scientist as well as an explorer, Tom’s academic specialisation is in wildlife preservation and his adventures draw much-needed attention to this cause. On his next adventure to trek the Arctic trail in Greenland, Tom will be supporting the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation, with key projects in Africa and Asia. “I’m thrilled to be joining the Christopher Ward Challenger programme as I prepare to walk the Arctic trail,” said Tom. “We can't all be conservation scientists, but we can all be conservationists.” For more christopherward.com/ cwchallengers

Credit: Wanderlust Action Films

Drawing board

Conceptual healing Sketches for CW’s upcoming watch, the C60 Concept Limited Edition, have been released and they’re exceptional – or conceptual – as the design team have it. “We don’t want to give too much away but it’s called ‘Concept’ because it’s pushing the design envelope of the dial and Calibre SH21,” says Mike France, CW’s CEO. “It will be the most exquisitely difficult watch ever.” So, what details can we glean from the plans already on the drawing board? “We’re celebrating SH21 with the new C60 Concept watch by reaching deeper into the movement than ever before,” explains Adrian Buchmann, CW’s head of design. “The result brings us to a new level of skeletonised horology, both in the special hand-finishing for the movement and in the design; we’re opening all the bridges, revealing the main plate of the movement so you’ll be able to see through top to bottom.”

Reaching a peak of intricacy then, and drawing attention to technical details and materials, it’s going to be all about revealing the SH21 chronometer: its functionalities, its reliability and its gorgeous looks with that distinctive, twin-barrelled profile. It’s SH21 for 2021. And with that bold Trident triangle at 12, is there a clue there, in the blueprint for this watch, of a steer… towards a whisper… of a design direction for the next iteration of Trident, Christopher Ward’s powerhouse dive watch collection? Adrian says bezel materials are still being tested, so the jury’s out on whether we’ll see it placed in sapphire or ceramic. A concept watch built to stand out, the 200-piece C60 Concept Limited Edition will be the high water mark for encasing Christopher’s Ward in-house Calibre SH21. And therefore we can expect greatness. Available from autumn 2021

Swiss engineering ensures our Super Compressor won’t implode the deeper it goes. If only your body was SwissSwiss-engineered. Being romantic English types, we decided to reinvent the iconic dive watch of the 1960s. It is the very first genuine Super Compressor since the Swiss case manufacturer Ervin Piquerez S.A. stopped making them some 50 years ago. Our Swiss engineers have embraced the challenge; right down to the compression spring, which is only 300 microns thick and the width of just four human hairs. It’s a small bit of Swiss genius you can barely see, yet it compresses the case as you dive, allowing you to go deeper. In fact, the deeper you dive the more water-tight it gets. Mind-blowing isn’t it? christopherward.com

A day in the life

A day in the life Without production manager Yolanda Pin Perez, Christopher Ward watches wouldn't get made. Here we discover the secrets of her – and our – success Yoli: keeping it all together

Hi Yolanda. What’s your daily routine? I wake up at around 6:40am and the first thing I do before the boys wake up is check my emails. It’s an old habit that allows me to start the day with anything urgent. I leave home with my oldest son, my husband takes care of the youngest. I go to the office in my electric car (which we’re all proud of!). When I get to my desk, I start answering any urgent emails, and check the atelier’s production status and deliveries. Any delay from our suppliers or from the assembly means that I will need to ‘fight’ and find solutions. What do you do, exactly? I manage production of the watches and logistics across our suppliers, our atelier in Biel, Switzerland and HQ in Maidenhead, UK. I am the ‘T2’ girl, which in watchmaking terms means I focus on the final encasement of the movement. What’s your experience and how did it lead you to CW? Watchmaking has been in my life since the beginning; my mother worked at Omega and Aiguilla when I was a kid. My father was in love with watches and old

clocks. Swiss precision was a delight for this Spanish guy! When I was studying, I worked in production at Rolex just to get some money. I’m a qualified personal assistant but early on I realised it wasn’t for me. Working in several languages is great, and I did love that part of being a PA. But I missed decision-making, which I have here at Christopher Ward. Of course, I report to Jörg (Bader Sr, CEO of Christopher Ward SA), but I have my own responsibilities. He gives me confidence, which is something not easy to find in a job right now. I started at Fossil with Jörg when I was 23. I’ve worked in the watch industry since then, and was called by Jörg in 2007 when he opened Synergies Horlogères. Great experiences during these 13 years – I loved the fusion between Maidenhead and Biel. From accounts to production, purchasing and sales, I don’t like monotony, so being involved in different departments suits me very well. What’s your typical day at work? I work closely with the production teams here every day, as well as with the merchandising team in the UK. Some days

I have a lot of meeting and calls. Other days I work alone. The issues guide my days: the more we have, the more I’ll be on the phone. Luckily, we can be flexible with production in our Biel atelier. I recently gave one single production to one watchmaker to see how a single person could work alone (without having the help of a second person) and it worked out well as the watches we produce are so complex. This is not something you can do in a normal T2 as the chain is the key. Worst/best parts of the job? Best part: I learn every day. I can use different languages (French, German, English, Italian, Spanish sometimes). I feel so happy when the sales increase and I can right away deliver watches to HQ. Worst part: Purchasing delays! They kill the entire production plan. It takes time and energy to plan everything again. If you weren’t involved in watches, what would you do? When I was a child, I wanted to be a vet, but now I don’t think I’m sensible enough! My friends say I’d have been a good psychologist – I must give good advice!

Arkonik

Arkonik takes old Land Rovers and brings them back to life – and that’s just the starting point By Matt Bielby

True 12

grit Having driven many impressive automobiles in my time, from Ferraris to Aston Martins, I can safely say that nothing gets a positive reaction like a Land Rover. You know, a proper one: those boxy, quasi-military trucks we’ve learned to call Defenders, but from 1948 until the early ’90s were simply ‘Land Rovers’, friends to farmers, soldiers and explorers for more than 60 years. Jaguar Land Rover stopped making them in 2016, when I managed to borrow one of the runout models, a long wheelbase beast laden with options – and I’ve never received so many smiles and thumbs up in a car. People love these things, and I did too – except when driving it. Defenders may have gained better engines and suspension over the decades, but right till the end remained intimidating beasts: heavy and slow, surprisingly cramped, a car you wrestled through every corner and gear change. I’m not going to lie – it exhausted me much of the time.

Enter Arkonik, a West Country outfit that knows what’s right about old Defenders – and what’s wrong, too. It takes a used example – one at a time, so each is unique – and rebuilds it for you: upgrading, replacing or reshaping components so it’s

better than new. It’s an extensive process, and you can spend ‘Aston’ money without even trying – though, of course, many customers do try, happily ticking away at a seemingly endless option list. Want to replace the engine with a brand new 430 horsepower Chevy LS3 V8? Of course, sir. How about a new leather-and-tweed interior? Absolutely. It all began in 2006, when Arkonik founder Andy Hayes – a petrolhead and adventurer “with a lust for V8 engines that stems from childhood” – built his first modified Landie, then another he sold almost immediately, and thought, “Hey, I might be onto something here.” Andy kept to a strict formula: retain the original chassis, keep things authentic, but evolve the car through carefully considered upgrades. “There’s an organic nature to each of our builds,” Andy says. “For me, a Land Rover represents the strengths of man himself: vulnerable, rugged, adventurous. It’s both forgiving and unforgiving, honesty laid bare, with bolt-on panels and a simple construction; it’s not trying to be anything other than the sum of its parts. We simply enhance the recipe with finetuned ingredients.” Andy originally built his cars for the UK only, but for well over a decade has concentrated on the vast US market – where, to meet safety regulations, each car needs to be at least 25 years old. Right now, he employs 79 people and completes around six builds a month.

“UK and European sales had started to decline around 2012, thanks to the global downturn,” he explains. “But enquiries from America increased. Defenders are a rarity there – factory-built cars were only imported from ’93 to ’97 – so demand remains high. People love the heritage, rooted as it is in British engineering and the British landscape.” It was only last year that Arkonik returned to the UK market, a decision encouraged by the development of a car named ‘UJO’ – “our new signature build,” Andy says, “built as a ‘restomod’ recreation of my own personal ’83 V8 110CSW” – and the subsequent launch of a new Special Vehicle Operations division. This is intended to allow for more radical builds, often revolving around larger capacity engines, such as those mighty LS3 V8s. Base cars are generally sourced from Europe’s warmest, most rust-free corners, though occasionally a customer will supply their own. Right now, for instance, Arkonik’s first UK client since 2014 has his own RHD

Defender in for restoration. The results are always more polished and easy to live with than the original car, but you never forget they’re old Land Rovers. There are still the old live axles under there, and you still bang your elbow on the door while twirling the giant steering wheel. Though each car is different, most revolve around one of three styles – Classic, Urban or Adventure – tailored for its intended use. “Some will have a roadbias with lowered suspension, others will boast a host of overland accessories, but the same 4WD functionality is always present,” Andy says. “Our clients cover a broad range, from car collectors who’ll have a number of exotic vehicles to families who want to treat every journey as an adventure.” Most cars take about 18 months to complete, with prices starting at around $150k for a D90 soft-top, though a fully specced D110 with Special Vehicle Operations package might top $250k. In the near future there’ll be a full camper conversion,

“Whatever we do, it’s vital that every Arkonik Defender remains true to the marque. We don’t try to mask its identity by using body kits or ridiculously large wheels”

complete with elevating roof, and they’re currently developing a electrically powered EV version too; they’ve already taken client deposits for a number of those. “But whatever we do, it’s vital that every Arkonik Defender remains true to the marque,” Andy says. “We don’t try to mask its identity by using body kits or ridiculously large wheels. Instead, an Arkonik build is authentic to its core. By using OEM paint codes, parts and carefully selected accessories, we strive to protect, enhance and celebrate its DNA.” So fancy a powerful, go-anywhere beast tailored especially for you, one that wears its intrinsic, almost human flaws like a badge of honour? Then you know where to come. And the best bit? These are cars you can’t help but love – and, unlike many a supercar you might be tempted to buy with similar wedge, everyone around you will love it too. For more, arkonik.com

E MARE

*From the sea: freedom

Throughout its short but swashbuckling history, the micronation of Sealand has seen international intrigue, hostile island takeovers and the establishment of a sovereign nation

Lying 13km offshore in the Thames estuary, the Principality of Sealand isn’t much to look at. A couple of concrete towers support a platform no bigger than two tennis courts, yet it’s territory that has been fought over, won and lost in a postwar story of extreme English eccentricity, independence and even defiance. Built in then-international waters during World War II as a gun platform to defend vital shipping lanes from German minelaying aircraft, HM Fort Roughs was decommissioned in 1967 and was planned for demolition; but the Royal Navy reckoned without Roy Bates and his family, who had occupied the sea fort the preceding year and who, judging by their gun-waving, shot-firing antics when the Navy first stopped by on a recce, didn’t plan to relinquish the territory.

A maverick war hero, Major Paddy Roy Bates was an entrepreneur and adventureseeker. Married to a beauty queen (the future ‘Princess Joan of Sealand’), he occupied Sealand in 1967 as a base to broadcast his pirate radio station, Radio Essex. Declaring the tower’s independence as a sovereign nation in the ’70s, the Bates family, including Roy and Joan’s son Michael, proceeded to rule as the Royal family, issuing Sealand’s constitution, raising a national flag, commissioning a national anthem and even starting the principality’s own football team. The Bates family defended Roughs Tower tooth and nail – and Molotov cocktail, as early photos of the teenage Michael and his sister Penny show. In 1978, Dutch and German mercenaries calling themselves

the ‘Rebel Government Of Sealand’ attacked the fort, storming the tower from speedboats, jet-skis and helicopters and taking ‘Prince’ Michael hostage. Showing trademark Bates grit, Michael evaded his captors and quickly turned the tables, retaking Sealand for the Bates family by recapturing the invaders using weapons stashed on the platform. The Rebel Government of Sealand remains in exile to this day. More dramas hit the headlines in the late ’90s when the Bates royal family discovered Sealand passports were being used as the backbone of an illegal drug trafficking and money laundering trade by Russia and Iraq. Over 200,000 passports that they’d issued since the micronation’s inception were hastily revoked.

LIBERTAS* 17

The principality of Sealand has come to symbolise independence and defiance to adventurers and freedom-seekers More recently, Sealand’s questionable legal status as a nation has made it a haven for copyright fugitives, as Swedish database pioneers The Pirate Bay sought to buy the fort in the late ‘00s.

Lord Stokes recieves his honour

Despite the improbable location and miniscule footprint of the place itself, the Principality of Sealand has come to symbolise independence and defiance to adventurers and freedom-seekers from around the world. With its motto ‘E Mare Libertas’ (from the sea: freedom), the uniquely British derring-do of the micronation’s founders, coupled with its unmoored legal status and independent spirit has captured the hearts of many. In 2013 adventurer Kenton Cool placed a Sealand flag at the summit of Mount Everest, and the principality counts politicians, rock stars and financiers among its friends and aristocracy.

But it’s not only the rich and famous who pay court to the ruling Bates family of Sealand; you too can become a Lord or Lady Of Sealand, by buying a title on the Sealand government website. A dukedom is only a few hundred dollars more. A small price to pay perhaps, to buy a piece of freshly minted adventure, and above all, to flip a maritime two-fingered salute to convention. For more, sealandgov.org

Introducing the go-anywhere, do-everything watch range you’ve been waiting for

The collec tion When you offer a range as extensive as Christopher Ward’s, it’s a bit of a shock to see a major gap suddenly swim into focus. Dive watches? Got it covered. Military-style? Sure. Aviation pieces, motor racing chronographs, dress watches? Check, check, check. What’s not there – and you can imagine the CW team doing a comedy double-take when they realised it – is the classic everyday piece, the dressy sports watch (or sporty dress watch) that’s rugged enough to work with shorts at the weekend and sleek enough to enhance a suit in the boardroom. Meet the C63 Sealander. At once both a simple, back-to-basics smartcasual piece and a genuine innovator, it’s not big, bold and shouty, but sporty, sophisticated and clever. A watch that can be all things to all people, as happy to battle up Ben Nevis as to plunge into the Irish Sea – then go to a restaurant afterwards. So how come it took Christopher Ward this long to deliver the Sealander? After all, it’s not like the horological world is without its precedents. Omega’s Seamaster started out as exactly this sort of watch, and its Aqua Terra collection continues the tradition. And Rolex’s Datejust has been a staple of its catalogue for decades.

“You can complain about Rolex all you like, but the watch industry would be lost without them,” says CW CEO Mike France. “It’s no secret that we, and just about everyone else, have taken inspiration from them when it suits. Yet for years we’ve ignored some of the most important models in the Rolex range.” What Mike’s referring to, of course, are not the tool-watches-turned-luxury-icons like the Submariner, but rather its rich heritage of rugged but elegant everyday pieces – the Datejusts and Oyster Perpetuals – that have been hiding in plain sight. They provide an entry point to the world of luxury watches, but whisper rather than shout their credentials in a most appealing way. “This project only really got going last year, when we were talking about watches specifically designed to be worn on bracelets,” says

Mike. “Which got us thinking about the Datejust and Aqua Terra again – and their remarkable versatility. They’re as tough as a dive watch, but underplay it with more modest, bezel-free lines. And they can be worn absolutely anywhere. As work and home life continue to blend, that’s become more relevant than ever.” The C63 comes in three initial flavours – an automatic three-hander; a GMT with fixed bezel, loosely referencing the Rolex Explorer II; and the impressive titanium Elite – each offering a wealth of features and level of detail far beyond their modest price points. And each proudly carries a new model name – Sealander – to emphasise their multitalented natures, as tough, elegant pieces that can handle whatever the day throws at them, on sea or land. Over the following pages we’ll take a closer look at them in turn.

But first, what about the things they actually have in common? As the novel ‘C63’ adjunct to the collection’s name indicates, it all starts with a new and very special case.

A watch that can be all things to all people, as happy to battle up Ben Nevis as to plunge into the Irish Sea - then go to a restaurant afterwards

All watches in the C63 Sealander collection use CW’s signature Light-catcher™ case: the Elite’s is 40mm, while the GMT and Automatic both come in at 39mm. More noticeably – and unlike other Tridents – it lacks any sort of bezel beyond a thin ring around the crystal on most models, and even on the GMT, which does have a prominent bezel, it’s unique in that it doesn’t move. “Architecturally, the C63 is closer in design to the C60 than the C65,” says Adrian Buchmann, Christopher Ward’s head of product design. “Like that watch, it’s modern, sharp and dynamic, whereas the C65 is softer, more gentle. The polished dials and distinctive handsets on certain models are similar to those of the C60 too.” The team went back and forth on design details a few times, but kept returning to a very clean and symmetrical look, with the logo at 12 and date down at 6. “Of course, the amount of space we had to play with was a major factor,” says watch designer Will Brackfield, heavily involved in the project. “On a 40mm piece, putting the logo at 9 o’clock would have felt uncomfortably cramped – while severely compromising the indexes. From the beginning,the brief was we couldn’t – not shouldn’t, couldn’t – compromise on quality, even though this watch would be offered at a lower price point than the C60 or C65. That’s why the case is machined and finished in exactly the same way as those more expensive Tridents – and why the base Automatic model has the highest possible quality of finish on its Sellita SW200 movement.” How, then, can this watch be offered for so little? Thanks to a couple of telling details. Sapphire crystals are expensive, for instance, and as this watch has a lower depth rating than a C60 Trident Pro – though still a more-than-healthy

150m – thinner crystals can be used. Then there’s the lack of a costly multidirectional ceramic bezel. Still, it’s a business of small margins. “Over the last few years, the C60 and C65 have become benchmarks in the industry for excellence at £1,000 or below,” Adrian says. “In terms of build quality and finish, they’re often considered equal to, or better than, watches that sell at two or three times the price. The C63 creates a new benchmark, making the same exacting standards even more accessible. And I think we’ve achieved it. Certainly, the quality is exactly the same.” Remember Mike saying that the C63 began with a discussion about watch bracelets? Well, the new collection comes on a range of options, spearheaded by a fresh take on the C60 Trident Pro’s steel bracelet, mildly modified for this watch but retaining all its remarkable features, from a quick-release function to easy micro-adjustment. And on the Elite you get it in titanium, keeping the weight down to almost supernaturally low levels. But a bracelet’s not the only option. There’s also the now-familiar go-anywhere hybrid strap – half rubber, half Cordura® – and, the option of a #tide ocean material® strap. Made of recycled plastics from the sea, these not only look great, but make their own tiny contribution to saving the planet too. “We’re going to be looking for every opportunity we can to use the #tide straps,” Mike says. “We first offered one on a watch we did for Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE), the C60 BLUE Limited Edition, and loved the way it looked – and what it stands for. Ever since, we’ve been looking for a way to introduce them to our permanent range.” Looking like a particularly complex and sophisticated NATO, these woven nylon straps are actually made from plastic waste hauled out of the Pacific, shredded, treated for UV damage, and reconstituted as watch straps. “It’s a complicated process, and a step or so beyond just using standard recycled plastic,” says Adrian. “But the effort involved is totally worthwhile.”

C63 Sealander Elite

The C63 Sealander Elite is forged in titanium for lightness and is COSC-certified for accuracy, and with technical innovations like its hidden crown and weight-saving cut-outs, it’s seriously playful 22

What will end up as the best-selling model in the Sealander range? The truth, of course, is that it’s impossible to tell – but the smart money is currently riding on the range-topping C63 Sealander Elite. Why? Simply because it’s hard to think of any other watch that offers quite so much for so little. It takes the great basic Sealander design, then gets bolder and more playful with it visually – while adding a string of technical innovations that are quite something for the price. For a start, there’s the material it’s made from: Grade 2 titanium. This makes the Sealander Elite incredibly light, to the point where it hardly feels like you’re wearing it. With orange highlights on its matte- black dial, it exhibits the sort of ‘serious playfulness’ that’s become a hallmark of many recent Christopher Ward releases – think the C1 Worldglow or the none-more-colourful C65 Chronograph. It’s hard to think of a better companion for whatever gets you out of the house these days: from running to cycling. “With the Elite, the name is more than just a cool word,” says Mike France. “It epitomises all the things this watch is. It’s made of an elite material, titanium, and you’ll find few titanium watches at this price, let alone with this level of finish. Then there’s the design, which references elite sport, where weight is often of utmost importance – check out the slots around the edge of the dial, for instance, allowing you to see right through the dial and the exhibition caseback to your wrist below.”

It’s the lightest titanium watch – in fact, the lightest automatic mechanical watch of any type – that Christopher Ward has ever made

These slots save a tiny bit of weight – not much, but it all counts, right? – and resemble the sort of cut-out you might find on the suspension of a racing car; in that you can see yourself through it. They also emphasise the close connection between you and your timepiece. “The end result doesn’t just give the impression of being light,” says Adrian. “It actually is light, incredibly so, with the head coming in at 45g. And even on a bracelet – titanium too, remember – it’s a watch you hardly feel. It’s the lightest titanium watch – in fact, the lightest automatic mechanical watch of any type – that Christopher Ward has ever made.”

It’s elite in other ways too. The Sellita SW200 COSC automatic movement it contains is chronometer certified, meaning it’s been independently rated among the top six percent of all Swiss mechanical watches for accuracy. And perhaps most ‘elite’ of all is one incredibly clever little detail that’s never been offered on a Christopher Ward before: a hidden crown. Thanks to new – and heavily patented – technology, the crown works like a sophisticated version of a retracting ball-point pen nib, disappearing into the case when not needed. “It’s a real pièce de résistance,” Adrian says. “And it doesn’t just look great, but has immense practical application, too. It makes this watch supremely comfortable to wear, because you never feel the crown digging into the back of your hand, no matter how you might move your wrist. You’ll really feel the advantages playing golf, say, or riding a racing bike.”

More than that, it actually helps protect the crown – and so the movement within – too, since it will never get knocked accidentally. Even more than crown guards might, it makes the Elite incredibly robust and secure. “There are only a couple of companies out there doing anything similar,” Mike says. “The main one being Omega with its Seamaster Aqua Terra Ultra Light, a watch that costs £40,000. Innovation is something we’re becoming known for, and at this price the Sealander Elite is unbelievable. Nobody’s even approached this sort of value proposition before.”

C63 Sealander Elite Diameter: 40mm Height: 10.7mm Lug to lug: 46.9mm Case: Titanium Grade 2 Crystal: Sapphire Dial colour: Black Depth rating: 15 ATM Movement: Sellita SW200 COSC automatic with Colimaçone finish Functions: Hour, minute, central seconds, date, telescoping retractable crown Power reserve: 38 hours 26

From £1,150 / $1,395 / €1,450

“You never feel the crown digging into the back of your hand, no matter how you might move your wrist”

The C63 Sealander GMT has iconic design cues, subtle details and a new-for-2021 Swiss-made movement. You may just have met your new travel companion

The Elite might boast many underthe-hood changes that take it beyond other C63 models, but the Sealander with the most immediately distinctive look is the GMT, thanks to its bright orange GMT hand and bold, non-rotating bezel. “People are immediately drawn to this watch, and when we showed the complete collection to the Christopher Ward Forum moderators – about as tough a focus group you can get! – they loved them all,” Mike says. “But this is the one that really got them talking. It’s also our first GMT without a rotary bezel.” This incarnation of the Sealander uses the Sellita SW330-2, which boasts an independently set 24-hour hand and date, alongside the hour and minute hands. You read local time the usual way, but can take a second time zone off the 24-hour hand, which makes one revolution per day. All very useful and simple, and the nearest thing to what people call a ‘true GMT’ – a slightly easier-to-set but more complicated proposition, epitomised by Rolex’s GMT Master II and Explorer II – that you’ll find at a less-than-luxury price.

The end result is very much its own thing, referencing one of the most iconic watches in the canon Speaking of the Explorer II, you may have spotted that the C63 GMT bears more than a passing resemblance to that low key classic at first glance – though a second, closer inspection reveals how many of its details are actually very different. Indeed, the Sealander is not unlike a completely rethought, modernised and rational version of that watch. “The Explorer II uses a combination of dots, batons and triangles on the dial, and complicates things with such very ‘Rolex’ design elements as ‘Mercedes’ hands and a magnifying cyclops over the date,” says Adrian. “In contrast, our watch is simpler. The date’s less obtrusive, the batons are pared down, and the end result is very much its own thing, while clearly referencing one of the most iconic watches in the canon.”

Rewind a few paragraphs, by the way, and you might have noticed something unusual about the name of the movement: it’s the Sellita SW330-2. That little ‘2’ indicates that this is actually a new and upgraded version of Sellita’s popular ETA 2893-2 rival, using a new barrel to boost the power reserve. Gains from 42 hours to 50-56 hours are typical, they say – and with better construction, allowing for more precise GMT setting than the earlier version. It’s new for this year, and, excitingly, it seems the C63 Sealander GMT may be the very first watch to use it. Just another way in which Sealander is going the extra mile.

C63 Sealander GMT Diameter: 39mm Height: 11.85mm Lug to lug: 45.80mm Case: Steel Crystal: Sapphire Dial colour: Black or white Depth rating: 15 ATM Movement: Sellita SW330-2 with Colimaçone finish Functions: Hour, minute, central seconds, date and GMT Power reserve: 50-56 hours 31

From £795 / $950 / €995

The C63 Sealander Automatic may be the most accessible watch in the Sealander collection, but it’s by no means a poor relation. Consider it, instead, as the wrist equivalent of a VW Golf or a BMW 3 Series; restrained rather than flashy, cleverly designed and beautifully detailed throughout, and supremely well screwed together. An everyday tool that looks quietly good while going about its business. It’s the Sealander in its purest form. “There are plenty of good watches at around £600,” says Mike France. “But I’d ask anyone to take a close look at them, then study the Sealander Automatic. They’ll soon see how special this watch is. It has a rugged-yet-polished authenticity that you’ll spot at once, and enjoy more and more the longer you live with it.”

Meet the C63 Sealander in its most purest form. There’s nothing flashy here: just all the watch you could ever really need 32

“For someone beginning their journey into mechanical watchmaking, it’s hard to think of a better place to start“

With most watches, it’s easy to see how an accessible price point has been achieved – by cutting corners and compromising on details. Not so with the Sealander. “We simply haven’t compromised in the same way,” Mike says. This is true of the entire range, of course, but it’s actually in this most accessible of models that the C63’s inherent ‘going the extra mile’ qualities come into sharpest focus. Take that polished dial, for instance, with its almost mirrored, piano-like surface; something much more expensive and difficult to achieve than a matte or satin finish, not least because it’s so unforgiving. (Imagine how even a single speck of dust would stand out against it like a sore thumb.) Most companies wouldn’t attempt this on a watch that retails for under £1,000, but then Christopher Ward is not most companies – and it certainly gives the basic C63 the glossy depth of a much more expensive piece.

It’s sophisticated in other ways, too. For a mechanical watch at this price point, it would be so tempting – and so much cheaper – to produce a basic, slab-sided case, but the Automatic shares its subtle Light-catcher™ curves with the rest of the range. It’s got the same great X1 lume, the same finessed and chamfered indexes and the same highly finished movement under its exhibition caseback. “We never like to use the words ‘entry level’,” says Mike France. “But that’s what this watch is, and in the best possible way. For someone beginning their journey into mechanical watches, it’s hard to think of a better place to start.” And all this for under £600, making it the cheapest mechanical watch that Christopher Ward offers, and perhaps the most elegant daily beater you’ll ever see. Just a proper watch, no compromise. Quite frankly, everyone should have one.

C63 Sealander Automatic Diameter: 39mm Height: 11.25mm Lug to lug: 45.80mm Case: Steel Crystal: Sapphire Dial colour: Black or white Depth rating: 15 ATM Movement: Sellita SW200 with Colimaçone finish Functions: Hour, minute, central seconds, date Power reserve: 38 hours From £595 / $695 / €750

Local

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How the city of Liverpool shaped the Beatles and changed the course of pop music history in the process

time in playing the dives of Hamburg – had become masters of their craft: what musicians call ‘tight’. When they came back to Liverpool from Germany, they were immediately the best band in the city. Secondly, they were the right people at the right time. Pop music had not only become the world’s dominant art form, and one you could consume in minutes, but it was spread instantly through mass communication. And thirdly, they were from Liverpool.

By Anthony Teasdale

oes In December last year, a video started to circulate on the internet. The five-minute clip was a preview of director Peter Jackson’s new documentary about The Beatles: Get Back. Using footage taken from the band’s Let It Be studio sessions in 1970, the lads can be seen messing about (at one stage John Lennon is bouncing about with his T-shirt pulled over his knees), mugging for the camera – and creating some of the greatest records of the 20th century. All in one afternoon. Another moment: February 1964. The Beatles, complete with mop-top haircuts and slim suits are put in front of the American press at JFK airport for the mother of all press conferences.

The questions come quick and fast. One, in particular, has resonance. Question: “Are those English accents?” George: “It’s not English. It’s Liverpudlian, you see.” The press conference carries on. Over a few minutes, the lads charm, outwit and bewitch the fearsome New York press pack. They leave, taking a limo into the city and onto international superstardom. How did they do it? How did these four young lads – remember, George Harrison was just 20 at the time – not only conquer America but become the most influential cultural force of the late 20th century? First, experience. The Beatles had been the biggest group in the UK since 1963, and over the preceding years – especially their

This might sound like another case of the famed Scouse superiority complex. But it’s also true. Imagine that the Fabs were from Leicestershire or Norfolk – in fact, anywhere that wasn’t Liverpool. That press conference would have been very different: those instant comebacks and wisecracks were a product of a city like no other. “You learn that on the streets,” says Peter Hooton, singer with The Farm, and chair of the Beatles legacy group at Liverpool City Council. “John Lennon said that Liverpool has a cruel humour, it’s very quick-witted. It could come from the docks – there was no secure work, so people learned to stand out – or it could come from Ireland.”

No city in England was so radically changed by Irish immigration as Liverpool. In his essay on Liverpudlian identity, Get Yer Scouse In Order Order, journalist Tony Evans writes: “The Liverpool we know was formed in the half-decade after 1847 when the potato famine funnelled millions of starv starving immigrants into the port… Many used it as a jumping-off point for the Americas or Australia, but enough remained to Particuchange the nature of the town. Particu larly in the north end – the city became a different country.” So strong was the Irish influence that the Scotland Road electoral district voted Parliaan Irish nationalist TP O’Connor, to Parlia ment between 1885 and 1929. And where there are Irish people, there’s music. “They were all from families that were musical, that sang or played instruments,” says Hooton. “Everyone was expected to sing. This surrounded Lennon and McCartney. And without the Irish famine, the families of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison wouldn’t even have come to Liverpool.”

“Without the Irish famine, the families of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison wouldn’t even have come to Liverpool”

If Ireland provided the Beatles’ framework, it was the music of black America that inspired them. All three of the original Beatles were obsessive record-buyers, going to Brian Epstein’s North End Music Stores record shop to buy the latest imports from the US. Because of Liverpool’s link to the Atlantic, ‘going away to sea’ was a right of passage for many young men – the ‘Cunard Yanks’ – and they brought back a taste for the rawest rock’ n’ roll. The Beatles love of this sound gave them racial colour-blindness – unusual in postwar Britain, where racist attitudes were the norm. As young lads, they frequented the ‘shebeens’ – illegal drinking clubs – of Toxteth, home of Liverpool’s black community. Peter Hooton: “Before they were Beatles, they were asked to be the backing band for a stripper at a place in Upper Parliament Street in Toxteth. She wouldn’t strip to records, and insisted on a band.” This open-mindedness is what drove their attitudes to race when they landed in the US. They sought out their musical heroes and refused to play venues where the audience was segregated along racial lines. In the eyes of the Beatles, music had no colour.

For Peter Hooton, today, the relationship between the city and the group is inseparable. “Today, Liverpool carries the DNA of the Beatles. And the Beatles had the DNA of the city flowing through their veins.” Get Back is out later in 2021

To mark the launch of the C63 Sealander, we celebrate amphibians of both the natural and man-made variety

Water is our friend – we’re largely made of it, after all – but can be our enemy too. It’s perhaps the single greatest nemesis of watchmaking, for one thing, but it knows a million other ways to mess up our lives, from wrecking shoes and rusting cars to rather more permanently putting the kibosh on our day. Little surprise, then, that pieces that effectively resist the attentions of H20 are amongst the hottest properties in horology, or that creatures equally happy in both

spheres – from frogs to penguins – are uniquely appealing. Little surprise, too, that human ingenuity is constantly striving to replicate their success, creating trucks, planes and automobiles as at home up a mountain as all at sea. The mid-20th century might have been ‘peak amphibian’ as far as human ingenuity is concerned, but nature – admirable as ever – retains an enduring commitment to the concept.

Consolidated Catalina

Amphicar

Lungfish A living fossil as old as the shark – both appeared around 400 million years ago and have survived to the present day essentially unchanged – the lungfish of Africa, Australia and South America use mutated swim bladders to breathe as we do; indeed, in most the gills have so atrophied they no longer work properly, while their brains have grown as close to those of amphibians as other fish. They certainly have plenty of time for thinking; no one knows exactly how long they can live, but one at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium was part of the permanent collection from 1933 until 2017. Swimming close to the surface and sucking in air through mouths or nostrils every 30 minutes or so, they grow slowly to around seven feet, but save their best trick for periods of severe drought: while other fish flap and flatline all around them, lungfish happily snooze for two years or more buried in mud, waiting for the lakes and rivers to fill again.

Perhaps the most famous and successful amphibious automobile of all time is the Amphicar Model 770 of the early 1960s, almost 4,000 of which were eventually built in West Germany, most of them for export to the United States. A close cousin to the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen of World War II – imagine a military beach buggy, and indeed, the Schwimmwagen was similarly based on the VW Beetle – the Amphicar had a Triumph Herald engine, a mild steel cabriolet body, and two propellors under the rear bumper. It could do 70mph on land and 7 knots in the water. The result was fun, certainly, but perhaps of limited practical use. (“We like to think of it as the fastest car on the water, and the fastest boat on the road,” joked one waggish owner.) Still, two did cross the English Chanel in 1965, somehow surviving the 20-foot waves unscathed.

Suriname toads For such inoffensive-looking creatures, frogs and toads enjoy some of the most bizarre lifestyles of the natural world – and the fact that they shed their own skin, then eat it, each week is only the start of it. Every golden poison-dart frog contains enough toxin to kill 10 men, despite being just a few centimetres long. Darwin’s frog tadpoles are promptly swallowed by the male, growing in his vocal sac for 60 days before he coughs them up as tiny, fully formed froglets. But perhaps weirdest – and arguably most disgusting – of them all is the Suriname toad, an extraordinarily flat, leaf-like amphibian from South America with inventive reproduction habits. The male lays dozens of fertilised eggs on the female’s back, then her skin grows over and around them, creating a bubble-wrap surface of tiny individual wombs, each with a wee beastie inside. These then split, months later, to let the baby frogs crawl out, having skipped the tadpole stage completely.

It’s not just trucks that had pretensions to amphibian status during World War II; planes did too, and seaplanes with retractable wheels, so they could land on both rivers and runways, had quite a moment. Though heavier, slower and more expensive than conventional planes, their versatility made up for it, and the most versatile of them all was the Consolidated Catalina, originally conceived purely as a flying boat but quickly redeveloped as an amphibian. Built from 19361945, this long range patrol bomber was soon trying its hand at everything from search and rescue to cargo transportation, convoy escort duties to submarine killing, and performed magnificently throughout. Though built to a price – that’s what won Consolidated its military contract in the first place – it proved remarkably enduring, with many still flying decades after the war was over, serving as Brazilian airmail planes, aerial firefighters, Jane Fonda’s co-star in 1973 crime romp Steelyard Blues, and Jacques Cousteau’s support plane, the Flying Calypso, for many of his undersea films.

DUKW World War II was the golden age of the amphibious vehicle, perhaps the most famous and successful of which was the swimming truck known as the GMC DUKW – unsurprisingly, soldiers called them ‘Ducks’ – designed by a team of yacht designers, deep-water sailors and academics to solve the problem of resupplying units after amphibious landings. A grand idea, but one utterly ignored by the military – until a US Coast Guard boat got stuck on a sandbar, and the crew were rescued (in 60-knot winds and heavy seas, no less) by an experimental DUKW that just happened to be performing a demo nearby. By the end of the war, of course, over 20,000 had been built, with the Duck performing magnificently at Guadalcanal, the invasion of Sicily, and on the D-Day beaches. Later, Ducks were used in the Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, to supply Antarctic research expeditions, and – as recently as the early ’80s – by a French military. Even today, it’s the rare world city that doesn’t offer civilian ‘Duck Tours’ across its rivers and harbours.

Sub-Mariner Generally considered the most important Marvel superhero never to have appeared in the movies, the Sub-Mariner, otherwise known as Prince Namor of Atlantis, is a spiky, aggressive, often downright villainous bruiser with pointy ‘Mr Spock’ ears and Hermes-like wings on his heels. The son of a human sea captain and an underwater princess, he can breathe underwater, fly, and command an army of sea monsters. That he’s Marvel’s first superhuman character, first appearing in 1939 – almost two years before Captain America – would make him important enough, you might think, but when you consider he’s also the comic world’s first bad-boy antihero, as often battling the polluting arrogance of the surface world as defending us, the rich cinematic possibilities become overwhelming. So why haven’t we seen a SubMariner film yet? Perhaps because DC beat Marvel to the punch with its inferior (but broadly similar) Aquaman. Or maybe they fear Subby’s traditional outfit (metallic fish-scale swimming trunks) is just too mermaidy.

Hovercraft

Alvis Stalwart

One of those great British inventions that’s enjoyed only sporadic popularity, the hovercraft rides on a cushion of air that allows it to travel over water as easily as land. Lacking powerful backing (and powerful enough engines to make the concept work), early designs remained stillborn, until Sir Christopher Cockerell perfected his version in the 1950s, adding such game-changing elements as rubber skirts. The result was slapped on the MOD secret list, then promptly ignored by all potential customers. As Cockerell explained later, “the Navy said it was a plane not a boat; the Air Force said it was a boat not a plane; and the Army was ‘plain not interested’.” Later, an excellent full-size testbed, SR.N1, led to assorted commercial designs of the early ’60s, not least the giant 400-passenger cross channel ferry SR.N4, capable of 83 knots and remaining in service for 30 years. Today, smaller hovercraft are used as lowspeed barges and specialist military and rescue vehicles. Though out of the limelight, the hovercraft still has many, er… ‘fans’.

A six-wheel British army truck, the highly mobile ‘Stolly’ – as the Army insisted on calling it – was an amphibious vehicle of great ability and charisma, and a strong follow up to Alvis’s earlier Saracen Armoured Personnel Carrier. Assorted sixwheel-drive Saracen spin-offs had led to the Salamander airfield crash tender, and by the early ’60s an off-road variation called Camion; when the Army asked if this would float, the Stolly was the result. Very ‘Thunderbirds’ in design, it had a central steering position, cab access through roof hatches only, and s6-knot aquatic performance, powered by vectored thrust water jets. On the road it could do 40 mph and carry five tonnes of stores. After almost 30 years, the Stolly was retired from service in 1993, but many are still used by private individuals around the world, who quickly learn its many quirks; not least that – as it was designed to be used fully loaded on loose surfaces – you can easily damage the transmission by driving unladen on tarmac.

Giant salamanders We think of amphibians as modestly proportioned creatures – frogs and toads rarely grow more than a few inches, but there are exceptions. Take the rarely seen Caecilia Thompsoni, for instance, an almost five foot snake-alike which swims through the soil underground as easily as it does shallow streams. But even that’s dwarfed by giant salamanders, the most Brobdingnagian amphibians of them all. Three basic versions are known: the five foot Japanese giant salamander, which lives in streams of fast flowing, oxygen-rich water, and was traditionally believed (erroneously, of course) to be able to survive being ripped in half, and its close relative, the slightly larger Chinese giant salamander of the Yangtze river basin. More substantial yet, however, is the South China giant salamander – little understood, possibly extinct in the wild, and only recently considered a separate species. The biggest danger these fascinating creatures face, beyond environment loss: that China catches and farms so many for food and medicine. (Predictably, they “taste like chicken”)

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang In the original threevolume children’s novel of 1964, author Ian Fleming hyphenated the name – Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang – and based his magical title character (if such it could be called) on both his own Standard Tourer and a series of gigantic, aero-engined racing cars called ‘Chitty Bang Bang’, built and driven by the eccentric Anglo-American daredevil Count Louis Vorow Zborowski, at one point the fourth richest teenager in the world. (It turned out Fleming, as a boy, had seen him race at Brooklands.) In both the book and subsequent film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang slowly reveals its incredible abilities, both sprouting wings to fly and – when its owners are trapped on a beach with the tide coming in – transforming into a sort of hovercraftpowerboat hybrid. Though the Dinky toy version of the ’70s majored on the wings, everyone who’s seen the film knows the amphibian version is the true feat of engineering – after all, it’s the only one that actually worked for real.

Joe 90’s Car Gerry Anderson’s ’60s sci-fi puppet adventures had many flaws – ‘wooden’ acting, most famously – but more than made up for them with amazing production design and the best special effects of the era. They also featured the most weird and wonderful vehicles, a number of which – usefully for the purposes of this article – were amphibians. Among the wildest: the land-seaair vehicle from Joe 90 (1968), properly dubbed the Jet Air Car and a one-off design built and driven by Professor ‘Mac’ McClaine, covert operative – along with his nine-year-old son, Joe – of a near future spy outfit. Arguably the most ungainly and utilitarian of all Anderson vehicles – indeed, the man himself reportedly hated it – the huge, insect-like Jet Air Car nevertheless became a hit as a Dinky toy. Fans of the show had two questions: how did it fit down the Dorset lanes where many of Joe’s adventures began? And had a rushed Derek Meddings – Anderson’s SFX supremo – really copied the Rover P6BS, a midengined concept car, for its front end?

Wet Nellie The autogyro from You Only Live Twice had been called Little Nellie in tribute to ribald Glasgow comedienne Nellie Wallace, so the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me naturally became ‘Wet Nellie’. An entirely original creation for the 1977 Bond film, it famously crashed off a Sardinian jetty to transform into a twoperson submarine. While the Esprit’s wedge shape made a decent starting point for a miniature sub, this was a more primitive vehicle than it appeared – the crew members needed full scuba gear to drive it, for a start. The fins where the wheels should be were no whim of designer Derek Meddings (yes, him again), either: without them, the Lotus’s shape, designed for maximum downforce, would have seen it permanently crashing into the ocean floor. Placed in storage and forgotten after a promotional tour, the movie prop was eventually bought blind at lease’s end for under $100; not bad for something later picked up by Elon Musk for £550,000 at auction, the billionaire saying he intends to make it work for real.

Amphibious insects Gibbs Aquada For a modern take on the Amphicar, look no further than the Gibbs Aquada – it’s the same basic idea, just rather better realised, this one managing a serviceable 100mph on land and an even more impressive 27 knots on the water. Developed in New Zealand by Gibbs Technologies, later to become makers of the smaller Gibbs Quadski (a quad bike version) and the larger Gibbs Humdinga (more of an amphibious SUV-cum-fishing boat), the Aquada captured more imaginations than it did sales. Still, some of those imaginations were rather important ones; in 2004, for instance, Richard Branson crossed the English Channel in one, cutting the journey time for an amphibious vehicle down hugely. It now stands at an impressive 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 6 seconds.

Not the most exciting way to end this list, you might think, but important for one major reason: nature loves an amphibian, and we’re discovering new ones all the time. Take the remarkable centipede scolopendra cataracta – not strictly an insect, admittedly, but a close relative – first spotted in Thailand 20 years ago. It’s “pretty horrific looking”, said the chap who found it, scurrying for shelter after he’d moved the rock it was lurking under. But what really surprised him was where it now hid: at the bottom of a stream. (After all, normal centipedes detest water.) And then there are the dozen or so still unnamed species of semiaquatic Hawaiian caterpillars, air-breathers that can somehow handle being submerged for a month, and are the first truly amphibious insects ever discovered. “You put these guys in water, they run around and eat. You take them out, and they're perfectly fine, too," says Daniel Rubinoff of the University of Hawaii. “No other insect we're aware of can do that. Actually, no other animal I'm aware of can do that.”

The C60 Sapphire: The product of English imagination and Swiss precision. (Good job it wasn’t the other way around.) We don’t wish to stereotype, but we just can’t do what the Swiss do so brilliantly. And vice versa. Together, though, we’re a case of 1+1=3. So, having envisaged a professional-grade dive watch combined with a breath-taking aesthetic, we entrusted our Swiss team with the engineering. Take the dial: pure sapphire crystal. Creating it takes 28 separate operations. And it’s machined to 0.6mm precisely. ( Thin enough to see the Sellita 200-1 automatic movement within.) With a translucent blue glow, it’s even more beautiful than we imagined. And an object lesson in sticking to what you are good at. christopherward.com

Great watches

The mountain Explorer Few watches dominate the collective horological consciousness like the Rolex Explorer. Reborn in various iterations since 1953, the entire Explorer line, with its triangle at 12, numerals at 3, 6 and 9 and superlative chronometer accuracy status, has been a yardstick by which all other watches have been measured. Coveted, copied, and collected to death in all its forms – thanks to its illustrious and adventurous history – the Rolex Explorer is also the watch that launched a thousand knock-offs, with its unique influence on watch design that can still be seen today. Synonymous with adventure, the Rolex Explorer was born from Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzig Norgay’s famous ascent of Mount Everest in 1953. For the expedition, Hillary wore a white Rolex Oyster Perpetual Superlative Chronometer, quite literally putting Rolex on the map, and assuring the world that the endurance and reliability of its mountaineering wearer were second only to the watch itself. That very first watch that went on the Everest climb now resides in the Uhrenmuseum Beyer in Zurich, Switzerland, cared for by one of Rolex’s most illustrious dealer partners. It inspired the commercial release in the same year as the Explorer (Ref. 6350), the first watch to display the name ‘Explorer’ on the dial. A distinctive honeycomb dial makes this rare watch (Rolex only produced one a year) unusual, but its other elements became

part of the enduring design language of the Explorer line. Here present are the triangle ‘12’ marker with numerals at 3, 6 and 9; the black dial, the Mercedes handset and the 36mm case size that we still see. Followed by several further references over the next decade, it was the release of the Rolex Explorer (Ref. 1016) in 1963 which supercharged the line’s success. Over the course of its 27-year production timespan, the 1016 was worn by famous names, not just from the worlds of sport and adventure, but from arts and literature too; William Gibson and Ian Fleming both wore Explorers, expanding the notion of what an ‘explorer’ could be. Collectors remain fascinated by this single reference alone, with its endless array of variations – the Space Dweller, or the ‘albino’ dial, or any number of bracelet changes over the years. In 1989, enter the first ever ‘modern’ Rolex, the Explorer (Ref. 14270). Considered by many to be a boring watch – nothing to see here by way of ostentation or grandeur – it was badly received by the watch press and remarked on with confusion by Rolex customers. A welter of small design details had been overhauled, with new manufacturing techniques phased in by Rolex, including a new Calibre 3000 movement. Despite the lukewarm reception for the ’89 Explorer, the influence of this titan still bestrides the horological universe today.

How to

Take care of your watch collection Now you’ve built your hoard, what’s the best way to look after the watches?

Expert horologist Adrian Hailwood has seen the watch industry from every angle as a consultant, auctioneer’s valuer and Breguet store manager. In this series he shares his experience to help you build and look after your watch collection

So, you’ve bought your watches, either new or pre-owned, and hopefully you have been canny enough to bag yourself a good deal. What then, are the long-term implications of owning a watch collection? First you are going to need somewhere to put it. Unless you have lied (pretty badly) about how many you have bought, your sock drawer isn’t going to cut it. You need a solution that is both accessible and secure. The original boxes, for most brands, are both impressive and impractical. Unless you have the discipline to be a ‘one-watch’ guy or gal, tuck that box and all that came with it somewhere safe, dry and away from your actual watches. (The reason for the last point comes later). The next consideration is portability. Are you travelling with your watches? How many at a time? For two or three watches, a watch roll is perfect

and there are many styles available at all budgets, offering varying levels of protection. If you’re travelling with a lot, and I know that many collectors do, then a hard-wearing Pelican case with foam cut-outs will protect the precious cargo. For most of us it will be something in wood or leather with removable cushions. A glass top is a nice touch both to enjoy the view and make selection easier: crucial if you have many boxes. I’m often asked for my views on watch winders. If you like mechanical watches and own more than a couple, they will eventually stop and need resetting. Personally, I enjoy this interaction with the watch, setting the date and time, then winding it, but then I don’t own a range of automatic perpetual calendars. Some see watch winders as a menace, flogging the

movement 24/7 and wearing it out prematurely; akin to installing a rolling road in your garage and hopping out leaving the engine running all the time you are not driving. Others seem them as providing grab-and-go quartz-like convenience while preventing the alternative evil of a dried-up, neglected movement. The truth is, not all watch winders are created equal. A good one will be programmable for the exact requirements of your watch, including direction of rotation and frequency of operation, activating often enough to keep the watch on time, and no more. A cheap one can easily do more harm than good. Should you have a safe? Well, this comes down to how valuable or bulky your collection is. Even a modest number of watches can quickly mount up in value but the space and cost of a safe to accommo-

date them may be prohibitive. I must admit to an inward cringe when I see social posts of owners with glass cabinets to proudly display their collection in the style of a retailer. I hope they have good door locks and low crime stats. The final arbiter may be a conversation with your insurance company, who, on hearing the value of the individual watches, may insist on a safe for those pieces expensive enough. Insurance is a topic that almost justifies an article series in its own right. Most regular providers don’t really understand watches, their cover, or their replacement. Once you even a few watches, drag out your home insurance policy and check what you are covered for and, often even more importantly, how it will be replaced in the case of a claim. New for old may work well for a fridge or TV but not so well for

a vintage watch. Just because you lost a ‘60s Omega Seamaster, doesn’t mean you get back the latest Bond watch. Contemporary sports Rolexes can be a huge problem as they can’t be replaced in a timely manner at RRP by your insurer (no – they don’t have a secret source). You will need to cover these for the actual cost of replacement, not the price you paid, which may be several thousands more. As a registered insurance valuer, this kind of conversation between client, valuer and insurer is an everyday occurrence. An extreme example shared by a colleague saw an early 1960s Rolex GMT master in immaculate condition with full box and papers from the original owner valued as ‘new for old’ RRP by their local Rolex stockist – a double blow as they were undervalued twice. The modern

GMT wouldn’t be available at RRP and the vintage version was worth about four times more. It’s all about dialogue with your insurance company. Understand the replacement value of what you have and make sure that your insurer can accommodate this. If the answers coming back are vague or evasive it may be time to consult a specialist who deals with jewellery and watch collections or take out a separate policy just for your watches. My fundamental advice is to photograph and record everything you own: pictures, serial numbers, and purchase details, whether a receipt from an AD or an online screenshot. If the worst happens, you will have solid proof of what you had, which greatly increases your

chance of an adequate pay-out and also allows a slim chance of getting it back. Remember we said that we were going to keep boxes and paperwork separate? This is because a ‘full set’ is a perfect gift for a thief, but they are not going to hunt through your attic for the box and papers, hence your proof of ownership stays intact. Once you have owned your watches for a while, even if they are running smoothly, the subject of a service will crop up. If you have an expensive watch, an honest salesman should have explained the cost of ownership along with the cost of purchase, hence a £20,000 watch might need a £1,000 service once every five years – leaving you to make up your mind with all the facts. It shouldn’t be left as a nasty surprise once

the watch goes wrong. You wouldn’t buy a car without investigating the insurance, mpg, and maintenance costs, so take the same precautions with your watches. Lack of parts availability for modern watches drives many owners back to the brand for servicing but cheaper/quicker independents are still around if you look. For a cheaper watch, the cost of a service may be as much as, if not more than, the purchase price – a common problem for lovers of affordable vintage. The availability of cheap timegraphers and effective phone apps has led many collectors to attempt to regulate their own watches. This, coupled with a cheap de-magnetiser, can keep a watch running true for years, but remember, oils dry

Speed read:

How to protect your assets My fundamental advice is to photograph and record everything you own: pictures, serial numbers, and purchase details, whether a receipt from an AD or an online screenshot

and parts wear, so there will come a point at which regulation no longer works. If sentiment demands, it may be time to bite the bullet and treat your treasure to a trip to the spa. If not, then maybe you have gained a new hobby – watch technician; do the research, buy the bits, and do a proper job yourself.

Storage

Winders

Choose a solution that is both accessible and secure

If you’re going to get one, get one worth having

Need a safe?

Always insure

Check with your insurer for valuable single items

Get cover that replaces like with like (or value)

Get it serviced Treat your treasure to a trip to the spa

100 days

Timespan

Tracey Curtis Taylor flies from Great Britain to Australia in a biplane UK-born Kiwi aviator Tracey Curtis Taylor, commonly known as the ‘bird in a biplane’, has flown hundreds of hours of exploration and adventure in tribute to her heroes. It was the early pioneers of flight who inspired her – Amy Johnson, Amelia Earhart and Lady Mary Heath, as well as the lesser-known Jean Batten and Beryl Markham – all of whom had flown new paths across the skies in pursuit of adventure and the far horizon. Already an experienced pilot with hundreds of flying hours under her belt, Tracey Curtis Taylor took one of Amy Johnson’s most famous flights as the inspiration for her 100-day, 14,600-mile solo flight from Farnborough, UK to Sydney, Australia, in 2016. Like Johnson’s, Curtis Taylor’s biplane was based on a 1930s design. The plane, a Boeing-Stearman built in 1942, was restored for her in the early 2000s. To optimise performance for modern flight and the challenges of heat and distance on the route, Curtis Taylor’s team made several adjustments to the plane during the restoration. A more powerful engine

– a Lycoming 680 radial engine with 300hp – was fitted with extra fuel tanks in the top wing for increased range, while the cockpit gained GPS navigation and a transponder for use in controlled airspace. Still, biplanes have their limits. The Spirit Of Artemis had a top altitude of just 10,000ft and a cruise speed of 90mph. Australia’s one heck of a long way away when you travel at 90mph. The trans-global route took Curtis Taylor in Amy Johnson’s flying slipstream (apart from a diversion to avoid a modern conflict zone in the Middle East). Unlike Johnson who flew solo from necessity, Curtis Taylor was supported by a technician and a cameraman in a Pilatus PC-6 aircraft. She made 65 stops in 23 countries en route, stopping over in places where she could meet local communities and inspire the next generation of aviators, particularly women. In Dubai, she spoke at the International Aviation Women’s Association conference; in Karachi she partnered with Pakistani mountaineer Samina Baig to inspire children to adventure; and 50

in Singapore, she contributed to the UN Women programme Girls2Pioneers. The UK-to-Australia trip is just one of several transcontinental flights Curtis Taylor has made in the past decade. Her ‘World Flight’ was flown in sections, with the plane shipped over the Pacific and Atlantic – not even a fully-restored biplane has the fuel range or the instruments to cross oceans. Her circumnavigation was completed in 2017 when she landed at the historic American Airpower Museum in New York state, having flown 3,000 miles from Los Angeles, all in her BoeingStearman biplane. Like her famous flying forebears, Curtis Taylor still courts controversy; she has been awarded and then stripped of the Light Aircraft Association’s prestigious Bill Woodhams Trophy, for “feats of navigation, aviation, tenacity and endurance”. Whether having a support team truly means you’re ‘flying solo’ or not, Curtis Taylor’s achievements prevail, as do all the people she inspired along her journey.

For watch servicing, we’re the pits Christopher Ward’s service department is a little like a Formula 1 garage. We have a team of expert engineers, all trained to spot and rectify problems. If your watch needs a specific cog, spring or wheel, we’ve got them. And because no one knows our watches like we do, your 60|60 Guarantee remains unaffected. Something that puts you and your newly-serviced watch in pole position. christopherward.com

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