Christopher Ward C1 Bel Canto Review

We got our first real taste of Christopher Ward a few months ago when the brand sent us a C60 Trident Pro 300 to review. The C60 was an excellent diver that excelled at purely being a tool watch. The watch did have such nice touches as a blue ceramic bezel and micro adjustments in the clasp. While the C60 is a great watch, it’s not exactly the reasoning behind Christopher Ward’s meteoric rise in popularity over the last few years.

Leading the charge for Christopher Ward are the Twelve and Bel Canto series. The Twelve is a series of integrated sports watches that take inspiration from the classic designs of Gerald Genta and put Christopher Ward’s spin on them. The Twelve might have an argument for the best looking dials of any of the integrated sports watches as well, all while retailing at a rounding error of what a Royal Oak or Nautilus goes for. Naturally you can see why the Twelve has been such a popular release for the brand.



The other watch that Christopher Ward recently released to mass hysteria was their Bel Canto. The Bel Canto has two major reasons behind its extreme popularity. First the dial of the watch resembles something that extremely high-end independents like MB&F would release. While not a true skeleton dial, the Bel Canto has a raised skeletonized subdial to display hours and minutes along with various other exposed elements of its trademark function.

The function that defines the Bel Canto is its chime, which will alert you when the new hour occurs. The elements of the chime are fully on display on the dial of the Bel Canto, with a steel spring taking up the majority of the perimeter of the dial and the striking hammer located at “7” to “8” o’clock. One look at the dial lets you know exactly what this watch is about.



We were extremely excited when Christopher Ward offered to send us a C1 Bel Canto in cielo blue to review and put through its paces. We couldn’t wait to see what all the hype was about for this 2023 GPHG “Petite Aiguille” prize winner, given to the best watch between CHF 2,000 – 8,000.

Christopher Ward always has amazing packaging in my opinion. Their watches arrive in a black soft-touch material and wooden box. The box slides apart and contains all the documentation for the watch along with the actual watch itself. It’s by no means an over the top box, but it’s also not super minimalistic either. We really feel Christopher Ward strikes a good balance with their packaging.



The first thing I noticed about the Bel Canto was how lightweight it was, even on a bracelet. I’m not sure why, but I had always assumed the Bel Canto was made out of stainless steel and would have some heft to it. Surprising to me, the Bel Canto is actually crafted out of grade 5 titanium. So even on the titanium bracelet the watch only weighs 104 grams when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist.

Naturally the next thing you notice is the brilliant sunray cielo blue dial. The color adds nice depth to the dial which is just heightened by all the different levels of movement parts and the raised time subdial. Adding to the stunning dial are the polished hands and indices as well as the polished spring. Moving the dial around in strong lighting does make all the dial elements sparkle nicely as well. One thing interestingly missing from the dial is any branding… I guess Christopher Ward knew you could tell exactly what the watch was from across the room without branding.



Although the time subdial is rather small, the time is still a breeze to tell with the watch only containing hour and minute hands. In low light conditions, the hands and indices are easy to read since they are coated with a healthy amount of Super Luminova material. Christopher Ward knew the chiming mechanism would be the core feature of the watch and did a good job of keeping time telling legible, but not getting in the way of the truly important stuff.

The finishing of the chime’s spring, hammer and bridges were all done by hand in Switzerland by the same artisans that do similar work for the most prestigious of Swiss watch brands. The steel spring that has been placed around the dial is specifically tuned to provide a pleasant sound that is loud enough to be heard when being worn without being obnoxious. Christopher Ward ended up picking the key of D after extensive testing, which provided the perfect tone they were after.



Before I spent any time with the Bel Canto on my wrist I first wound and set the time, then left it on my desk while I did my day’s work. It was very interesting to have the watch chime on the hour and sort of snap me out of what I was doing and taking note of the time. I found this beneficial to my work day, since it made me more aware of the time and prioritize what I was doing. The chime was never annoying and more of a gentle reminder of the time. I only had the Bel Canto at my desk the day it arrived and left it in the safe the rest of the time I spent with the watch. I have to say that I missed the Bel Canto the days I spent at my desk without it…

The Bel Canto is not a large watch, the case diameter is 41 mm and the lug to lug is 48.1 mm. The watch is also only 12.9 mm thick, which is impressive, given the depth of the dial and the movement contained inside of its titanium case. On my 7.25 inch wrist the Bel Canto wore well and was probably on the smaller size of what I prefer wearing, which I feel is fine since I’d almost consider the Bel Canto a watch that could straddle the line between sports and dress watches. For me, if you put the Bel Canto on a leather strap, the watch would work great in formal occasions.



Christopher Ward did a mixture of brushed and polished finishing on the Bel Canto, the majority of the case is brushed with elements along the bezel and lines of the case being polished. This gives the watch a more subtle appearance which stops the case from taking any attention away from the star of the show, which is the dial.

Flipping the case over reveals a solid screwed on case back which is important to the acoustics of the chime. The case back has a design of a sound wave emanating out from the center, which is perfect for a chiming watch. Naturally most chiming watches do not have much water resistance, the Bel Canto isn’t an exception here and only offers a splash proof 30 meters of watch resistance. So while it’s ok to be caught in a rain shower wearing a Bel Canto, it’s probably not recommended that you go swimming in it.



Now for the fun part… let’s talk about the movement. This exact model of the Bel Canto retails for $4,210, so you could probably guess that the Bel Canto isn’t a ground up in-house chiming caliber, since there are some zeros missing from the price. The base caliber of the Bel Canto is the Swiss made Sellita SW200-1, which in our tests shows to be a stunningly accurate workhorse of a movement. The magic of the Bel Canto happens when the chiming module is added to the SW200-1.

Christopher Ward’s technical director Frank Stelzer was able to rework their in-house jump hour module JJ01 to be a striking module, which they labeled as the FS01. Stelzer and his team ended up adding over 60 new components to the JJ01 to turn the jump hour into a chime. On an extremely low level, it does make sense that a jump hour would be a perfect mechanism to change into a chime that strikes on the hour, since a jump hour has an instantaneous movement of the hour hand on change, modifying that mechanism to instead move a hammer on the hour makes total sense.



It’s actually interesting to watch the hammer slowly move away from the striking spring as the hour progresses. When the hour changes the hammer strikes the spring and then stays very close to the spring. As the new hour advances, you can slowly see the hammer start pulling away from the spring until it reaches its max distance right before the new hour occurs and the hammer is released to strike the spring again.

One little nitpick about the dial is the lake of movement besides the slow progression of the hammer and hour and minute hands. Recently we’ve had watches like the Ulysse Nardin Freak X and Diver X Skeleton in for review that have tons of dynamic movement on the dial. The Bel Canto looks like it should have a ton going on, but not even having a seconds hand make the dial seem static. I know Christopher Ward did this on purpose to really focus all the attention on the chiming mechanism, but I just thought there would be more going on. Christopher Ward also offers the recently released Twelve X skeleton if needing to see the movement beating away on the dial is more your speed… which we should be getting in next from Christomer Ward to review after we’re finished with the Bel Canto.



The Bel Canto offers 38 hours of power reserve and beats away at 28,000 vph (4Hz). The movement is automatic self winding and can also be wound manually with the crown. On our timegrapher the Sellita SW200-1 base movement measured a very respectable + 2 to 4 seconds a day of accuracy.

The right side of the Bel Canto’s case features a non-screw down crown at “2” o’clock as well as a pusher at “4” o’clock. The crown has Christopher Ward’s twin flag logo on it and like mentioned earlier offers manual winding when pushed in. There is only one position to pull the crown out to, which allows you to set the time. As you advance through the hours, the chime will sound for each new hour.



The lower pusher allows you to activate and de-activate the chime. There is an arrow at “4” o’clock on the dial that signals if the chime is on or off. When the arrow is pointed at the higher sound wave line, the chime is active. When the arrow is pointing down to the straight line, the chime is de-activated. At some times during the day, the pusher can even manually force the chime to sound.

While the case of the Bel Canto is crafted out of grade 5 titanium, the bracelet is made out of grade 2 titanium. There isn’t any difference in appearance between the two grades, with the bracelet being brushed just like the case. The bracelet is a traditional three row design with the removable links using one sided screws. For bracelets, this is our preferred method of securing links, ignoring more exotic options like IWCs buttoned push pins.



The bracelet tapers down from 22 mm at the lugs down to 16.5 mm at the deployant clasp. The titanium clasp also features the twin flag Christopher Ward logo and uses two buttons to open the clasp. Tucked underneath the clasp is a lever that once engaged allows the bracelet to be adjusted by about 10 mm. The micro-adjustments allow total control without presets, so you can pretty much perfectly adjust the bracelet to your wrist.

During my time with the Bel Canto I wore the watch running my daily errands and out to dinner and drinks (as always). I initially thought that I’d wear the Bel Canto on the extra blue leather strap that Christopher Ward sent with the watch, but I actually really enjoyed the titanium bracelet, so the watch stayed on that. Even with everyday being over 100 degrees here in Austin, the Bel Canto was a charm to wear. I did find myself using the micro-adjustments a few times when being out in the blazing sun and then going into a cold air conditioned space since my wrist was all over the place size wise. Once again, I feel every bracelet should offer micro-adjustments and even after using a few strap deployants that featured micro-adjustments, feel every watch should now offer some form of micro-adjustments.



The watch wore very well and even though a bit small for my tastes never favored one side of my wrist over the other. I would say during normal use when you’re out and about you really don’t hear the chime. For example if you’re at a restaurant with many conversations going on, you will not hear it. While driving I heard it about 50% of the time, and it was mostly a “what was that” sort of reaction. When we drove our electric car, you could hear it more frequently then when using our traditional gas powered car. This does make sense, since if the Bel Canto was any louder it would be annoying in quiet situations.

The Bel Canto was probably one of the more popular watches amongst random people as well as casual acquaintances of mine. Most people were initially curious about the dial layout and then super interested once I showed them the chime and had it sound off for them. A lot of people didn’t see what the big deal and purpose of a chime was and it let me explain the history of such things as minute repeaters in pocket watches and their reason for being. It also let me explain how big of a deal having a chiming watch in this price bracket is.



So if the movement was the fun part of this story, the really fun part of this story is the price of the Bel Canto. This model coming on a full titanium bracelet moves the retail price of this Bel Canto up to $4,210, but you can get models on a strap for under $3,800. If you are familiar with chiming complications you know that is an unbelievably low price for a watch that chimes. Obviously many people know that fact since the earliest you can get a new Bel Canto is over 6 months away.

The market of affordable chiming watches is extremely small, but there are a few competitors to the Bel Canto. The first we’ll take a look at is the Meistersinger Bell Hora. Like the Bel Canto the Bell Hora is also based on a modified Sellita SW200 that gathers power during the hour to chime on the new hour. The design of the Bell Hora is much more in the classic dress watch style and the one handed functionality, although a calling card for MeisterSinger, might alienate some buyers. The retail price of the Bell Hora is just slightly higher than the Bel Canto as well at $4,699.



Going to the pre-owned market you can pick up a Chopard L.U.C. Tech Strike One at just over $14,000 which is three times the price of the Bel Canto. For this price you are getting the same chime on the hour functionality of the Bel Canto, but from a more established and storied name in watchmaking. You do also get an in-house movement instead of a modified Sellita caliber.

While still staying in the more affordable realm but changing up functions, watches like the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Control Memovox and Vulcain Cricket offer audible alarm functions. Instead of chiming on the hour, these watches will sound off at a set time. The Jaeger-LeCoultre retails for just over $14,000, while the Vulcain comes in at just under $5,000.



After that you start getting into extremely expensive watches that contain chiming functions. High horology brands such as Audemars Piguet, Patek Philippe, Breguet, Vacheron Constantin and Ulysse Nardin all offer chiming watches that start in the hundreds of thousands and go into the millions of dollars. When you start to look at what chiming watches are expected to cost, it’s easy to see why the Bel Canto is such a great value and why it is so popular.



So would I pick the Bel Canto for my personal collection? I do think I would, but it would function as the dress watch in my collection. While the purple, red and blue dial versions are instant attention grabbers, I would prefer the more subdued black dial on a black strap, especially the strap Christopher Ward just paired with the red Bel Canto for Andrew Morgan’s collaboration. I’m just a bit too out there with liking more outlandish watches, that I couldn’t just have a simple two or three handed watch as my dress watch. I think the Bel Canto has enough character in its design to appease me and having it in a muted color would work great in more formal settings. The added bonus of the chiming function is just the cherry on top.



I would also have no issue with recommending the Bel Canto to anyone looking for a complicated watch to add to their collection. The lack of water resistance would stop me from recommending the Bel Canto as a one watch collection, but if you already have a diver or sports watch in your collection, the Bel Canto would make a great second watch. The low entry price for the complication is a no brainer, although there is a pretty long wait to get one on your wrist.

As Christopher Ward evolves the Bel Canto, I’d love to see one with a bit more movement on the dial as well. I know the chiming mechanism is what they’re trying to focus on, but maybe with some lessons learned on the skeleton Twelve X, Christopher Ward could add a bit more movement on the dial of the Bel Canto. I’m not saying they need to go full skeleton with it, but exposing something with movement on the dial would knock the watch up a few notches for me.



Does the Bel Canto meet all the hyped placed on it? I’d say the watch definitely does. I knew exactly what to expect with the Bel Canto having read many articles and watched plenty of videos about it, and I wasn’t let down the slightest in the metal. I was even pleasantly surprised by how lightweight it was being crafted out of titanium.

We’d really like to thank Andrew and everyone over at Christopher Ward for sending us this C1 Bel Canto to review. I can’t wait to get the Twelve X in next to review. I’ve pretty much lived my entire life in the watch industry around the Royal Oak and Royal Oak Offshore, so seeing Christopher Ward’s integrated sports watch, especially one that is a bit larger than the original Twelve and fully skeletonized is something I’m really looking forward to.



For more information about the Bel Canto please visit : Christopher Ward

Technical Specifications

Reference Number:  C01-41APT2-T00B1-B0

Retail Price: $4,210

Case Size: 41 mm

Lug to Lug: 48.1 mm

Thickness: 12.9 mm

Weight: 104 Grams

Case Material:  Grade 5 Titanium

Bezel: Grade 5 Titanium

Strap:  Grade 2 Titanium with Deployant Clasp with micro adjustments

Movement: Swiss Made Sellita SW200-1 with in-house FS01 Chiming Module

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Hour Chime

Power Reserve: 38 Hours

Water Resistance: 30 Meters