“It’s not about dictating to our customers. It’s about listening,” Mike France, co-founder and CEO of Christopher Ward, told me over Zoom. “They own the brand more than we do.”
And with that, France divulged how the first internet-only premium British watch brand Christopher Ward has succeeded without being named “Rolex.” In 20 years, they’ve become the U.K.’s biggest watchmaker. Sales have grown 80 percent in the past year and is on track to reach £50 million (about $62 million USD) by the end of Q1 2025—a stark contrast to their $17 million USD sales just three years ago.
When I first entered the watch industry as a salesperson at Tourneau Atlanta (now Bucherer) — coincidently around the same time France, Chris Ward and Peter Ellis decided to launch their brand — like much of the world, Rolex was all I knew. Within three months, however, I could speak fluently about Omega, Tag Heuer and Breitling, becoming a top salesperson at my store. This success earned me multiple Tag Heuer and Breitling watches as gifts from these brands, yet it was always the under-the-radar watchmakers that caught my personal fascination: Bedat, Dubey and Schaldenbrand, Girard Perregaux, and Jaeger LeCoultre (at that time, not as well known as it is now.)
With a Rolex boutique only steps away, my Tourneau store wasn’t authorized to sell new Rolexes. I thus became adept at redirecting Rolex-seeking customers toward other brands, many under-the-radar. My talent was in asking the right questions and intuitively guiding customers based on their answers. I would invariably introduce them to brands they weren’t familiar with, but immediately wanted once I wrapped the right model around their wrist. I’ll be doing the same through this series: introducing under-the-radar brands carving their place in the world of fine Swiss watchmaking, and wrapping their marketing strategies into actionable insights for how to succeed without being a heritage brand.
We begin with Christopher Ward, who has ascended the world of watches without the marketing budget or name recognition of the world’s most recognized watch brand. The company’s success also lies in asking customers the right questions and allowing their answers to guide their manufacturing and design decisions.
“The forum has always been central to our success,” France revealed. “It provides us with insights we’d never have otherwise, and we’ve been able to incorporate so much of that feedback into our designs. It’s a two-way street, and that’s been essential to our growth and staying relevant.”
Christopher Ward’s Collaborative Think Tank
The Christopher Ward Forum began in 2005 as an independent space founded by Hans Van Hoogstraten, who approached France with this idea of creating a platform where early adopters could discuss Christopher Ward watches. France gave his blessing on using the brand’s trademarked name but insisted on the forum’s independence from the company. He wanted members to be able to extol and condemn the brand as they saw fit without concern of repercussion. When Van Hoogstraten needed to step back from operating the forum in 2014, France agreed to acquire it, still insisting on sustaining the autonomy for which it was founded.
“For the forum to exist under our ownership,” France explained, “it had to remain a space where people could speak freely—even if that meant criticizing us.”
Kip McEwen joined the forum in 2007 as the 120th member and became an instrumental figure in the forum’s evolution. While searching for a watch with an alarm, blue dial, and water resistance, he stumbled across Christopher Ward’s C4 Peregrine and was immediately impressed at the quality. McEwen became a forum moderator in 2008 and later administrator in 2014 when the brand acquired the platform. Under his stewardship, the forum has grown to over 16,600 members and is now a key component of Christopher Ward’s business strategy.
“The Christopher Ward Forum has become a research tool for us,” France said. “The discussions on the forum provide real-time insights into what our customers value, what they’re looking for, and how we can improve. It’s where we gain insights that directly shape our decisions.”
In 2007, forum members collaborated with the brand to design the C6 Kingfisher Forum LE Automatic, a catalyst for the now-iconic C60 Trident series. In 2021, forum input helped refine the C60 Trident Pro 300, incorporating suggestions from discussions in the NPD T4 Project forum thread.
“This is a bit of an experiment,” the thread reads. “While we are certain that CW pays attention to various suggestions, we are not certain that a process like this has ever been provided for a forum like ours. This is your chance. This is not an FLE. This is for a full production model, and you are invited to participate in the development. This is not a ‘design by committee’. It is to gather input from informed consumers, dare I say critics of CW, to further develop the next generation of CW’s most successful model.”
The NPD T4 Project thread is just one example of how the forum has evolved into a collaborative think tank, shaping one-off designs and directing some of Christopher Ward’s most successful models.
This culture of co-creation inspired McEwen’s personal journey as a Christopher Ward collector. Over the years, he’s built a personal collection of 150 models, representing a comprehensive snapshot of the brand’s early history. “My goal was to be able to represent every model CW built for the first 10 years. I achieved that goal…and then some.”
The “some” he mentions is the CWArchive, a comprehensive database he created to document every Christopher Ward model ever made. Launched in 2019, the CWArchive serves as a valuable resource for collectors, offering detailed information on the brand’s history, models, and specifications.
“As a collector, it is helpful if one can gain the provenance of a watch,” McEwen said in an email, explaining why he built the archive. “Finding this information can be difficult as information is/was sporadically scattered about in books and about the internet. I thought it would be interesting and fun to build a database of information on this fledgling company for future collectors.”
Growing With Christopher Ward
Another philosophy I embraced in my time at Tourneau was to never judge the person who walked through the door. I treated every walk-in as if they had potential to spend a fortune, whether today or as I grew our relationship. This, too, has been an effective strategy for Christopher Ward.
“These early adopters of Christopher Ward, many early into the watch collecting journey, have stayed with us,” France said. “They have grown as they’ve aged, and in some cases, their position in life has improved. They’ve gone up from junior management to middle management to senior management to CEOs.” Meeting customers where they are, regardless of their starting point, is a fundamental strategy in nurturing the consumer’s passionate pursuit of luxury.
“We take these people with us,” he continued. “It’s that journey of people into watches, people who are newbies into watches but have the mindset of potential customers. Curious individuals with a degree of self-confidence to invest in a relatively unknown watch brand like Christopher Ward.”
The company’s transparent and accessible pricing model demonstrates another level of respect it has for its customers. The brand began selling watches at around $200 USD. Some models are now priced around $4,000, although the $1,000 models are still the relative sweet spot. Yet unlike some luxury watch brands, where prices can be inflated up to 34 times the production cost, Christopher Ward avoids excessive markups. “We keep our pricing fair, with no more than a three-times markup,” France noted. “We don’t believe a high price equates to high value.”
Early in the company’s history, the brand’s value proposition was tested by Dave Malone, a watch expert and influential member of popular watch enthusiast forum, TimeZone. Malone bought a Christopher Ward watch intending to expose what he suspected was a common industry smoke-and-mirrors ruse of its actual quality.
After opening the case back and examining the movements, he instead discovered the brand was the real deal. He posted a glowing review on TimeZone, titled something to the effect, “I have discovered the best value mechanical watch the world has ever known.” The review ultimately dictated how the brand has since been known. This, of course, after the review also quadrupled the company’s sales with customers who trusted Malone’s judgement.
“Suddenly, we’re shipping to all parts of the world,” France recalled. “It was a shock to us. I thought we must be marketing geniuses, but it was just the pure stroke of luck that Dave Malone had given us. As everybody knows now, although overlooked back then, the subterranean world of watches online is one of the largest and influential that exists.”
Maintaining control of this reputation is also why Christopher Ward doesn’t work with retailers. “When you bring retailers into the equation, you lose control over the experience. We want our customers to get the best value and service, directly from us.” This direct-to-consumer approach is as much about trust as it is value.
“We’ve built our brand on authenticity and transparency,” France continued. “Retailers would force us to raise prices to meet their margin demands, and that would go against everything we stand for. We’d rather focus on deepening our relationships with customers.”
Christopher Ward and The British Art of Bespoke
“We also have a bespoke business,” France revealed. “If you can find at least 24 other people, we’ll do a bespoke watch for you, for your club, for your squadron, for your motor club, for your whatever.”
This growing business, particularly popular in the United States, has extended the company’s customer base to corporations and large organizations. They’ve created customized timepieces for groups ranging from Google’s San Francisco internal watch club to U.S. military units, Ferrari clubs, and even Netflix. Peter France, business development manager and Mike’s nephew, leads Christopher Ward’s bespoke business, which has grown tenfold in revenue within three years, contributing around $5 million USD to the company in the past year.
“We take a blank canvas and go,” Peter said, describing via Zoom how the design process begins. “Tell me everything and tell me what’s important. Is the 16th of July date important? Well, let’s think around what we can do with the number 16. Can we do something on a date wheel, for example, can we make 16 stand out on a dial? What can we do that means something to you, that nobody else probably knows it’s there unless you tell them, and nobody else knows what it means.”
The Bespoke Team works through six to seven design iterations to ensure precise detail. Each commissioned watch features the Christopher Ward name and logo, alongside design elements tailored to the group’s identity, including custom dials, hands, and case details. Although customers are deeply involved in the design process, bespoke watches must still meet Christopher Ward’s aesthetic and quality standards.
“We’ll personalize boxes and manuals,” he continued. “We’ll even include passages in the manual that tell your story. It’s those intricate details that add value and show how much we care about what we do and how we do it.”
Despite flexibility in meeting customer demand, the brand is selective about bespoke projects, turning down anything not aligning with or misrepresenting the brand’s values and rejecting outright projects implying collaborations that don’t exist.
While corporations and large groups dominate the bespoke business, Christopher Ward also caters to smaller, passionate communities and individuals. Enthusiastic forum members sometimes approach the brand with a design concept and a network of supporters to back it.
Peter recounted designing an orange Bel Canto inspired by a McLaren car. “It wasn’t a McLaren watch, but it reflected the owner’s passion for his car,” he explained. The customer worked closely with the design team to ensure the watch captured the essence of his McLaren, from the precise shade of orange to subtle nods towards the car’s design language. This production was not made in partnership nor collaboration with McLaren and only illustrates the depths Christopher Ward will go into meeting their customers’ whims.
“Mike is always saying, ‘Product, product, product.’ Let’s get the product right and make sure there’s no sacrifices on quality,” the younger France quoted the elder. “We’re not cutting any corners. The customer gets the best value they can possibly get from us.”
7 Lessons from Christopher Ward’s Success Absent the Rolex Name
“We set off from the beginning to be personable and accessible,” Mike France said. “My email address is on the website. You can contact me at any time — and many people do.”
He personally responds to inquiries, ranging from questions about watches to complaints or even enthusiastic praise for the brand. This open-door policy reinforces the brand’s commitment to a two-way dialogue with the Christopher Ward community, honoring a trust integral to the brand’s identity. It’s a bold bet on transparency in an industry built on opacity and secrecy.
Every legacy brand begins somewhere. Christopher Ward’s rise in the watch industry shows you don’t need decades of heritage or a household name to succeed. Make these seven lessons an important part of your brand DNA and you’ll get you one step closer to being as well known as Rolex.
1. Customer-Centric Innovation: Build systems to regularly collect and act on customer insights, like how Christopher Ward uses its forum to involve customers in refining products.
2. Value Transparency: Educate customers about your pricing structure while maintaining a sense of exclusivity. Use creative storytelling, like video journals or behind-the-scenes content, to highlight your craftsmanship and value.
3. Leveraging Word-of-Mouth Advocacy: Cultivate relationships with credible advocates who can validate your brand authentically within niche communities.
4. Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Model: Leverage a DTC approach to maintain control over pricing, customer experience, and brand narrative.
5. Inclusivity and Long-Term Relationships: Meet customers where they are and grow with them over time. Nurture entry-level buyers and build their loyalty as their tastes and purchasing power evolve.
6. Bespoke Offerings: Offer customizable products or services to deepen customer relationships and create a sense of inclusivity into your brand’s world.
7. Community as a Think Tank: Create platforms where your community can shape your brand’s evolution. Engaging customers in product development creates a sense of brand ownership.
By listening to customers, prioritizing transparency and quality, and meeting customers wherever they are in their buyer’s journey, companies can follow Christopher Ward’s lead in redefining what it means to succeed.