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Over the course of two years, the Bel Canto has fundamentally changed the way many watch lovers view Christopher Ward. This has been discussed in depth here and elsewhere, and is without a doubt one of the biggest stories in the watch world in the last decade or so. It’s changed the brand itself in a meaningful way as well. To meet demand since the launch of the Bel Canto, Christopher Ward has increased production of the watch from 50 pieces per month to 500, and there’s still a months long wait. That means that we haven’t seen Christopher Ward operate from the usual playbook when a brand has a hit new release. There have been vanishingly few limited editions and collaborative versions of the Bel Canto, with the brand instead electing to concentrate on fulfilling a backlog of orders. That’s admirable, in my opinion, but it means we haven’t seen much in the way of refinements or updates to the core Bel Canto design. And that’s perfectly fine. The Bel Canto is still very much a new watch in the grand scheme of watch history, and certainly doesn’t need an update.
Today, though, marks a new chapter in the short history of the Bel Canto with the launch of the new C1 Bel Canto Classic. This is the first serious adjustment to the look and feel of the Bel Canto since the watch debuted in the fall of 2022. The changes are (mostly) pretty subtle, but it offers a small glimpse of how the watch might continue to be refined in the future.
The most obvious change in the new Classic is the addition of a new, very ornate colored platine with a vibrant guilloche pattern. This is similar in some ways to what we saw from Christopher Ward earlier this year at British Watchmaker’s Day, when they released a very small run of Bel Cantos with a platine featuring a Union Jack pattern derived from various guilloche patterns. Indeed, Christopher Ward points out that the Bel Canto Classic’s platines are supplied by the same partner who they worked with on the earlier BWD pieces, AJS Productions, who use a laser etching process to create the guilloche patterns. The green version is pictured here, but gold, silver, and blue variants will also be available at launch.
The other notable change comes in the form of the small, offset dial, which now features Roman numerals in lieu of baton hour markers. The metal ring surrounding the time telling field has a prominent circular brushed finish, and there’s a redesigned handset as well. These design cues are also carried over from the BWD limited edition.
Another update comes via the crystal, which is now a vintage inspired glass box sapphire design. Christopher Ward says that new crystal was a necessity to accommodate the additional height from the new platine. While that might be the case, it also works to give this edition of the Bel Canto a slightly more vintage inspired feel. Along with the Roman numeral dial and guilloche work, you can begin to see why this edition has been designated the “Classic.” There are just more signifiers of old-school watchmaking here than in the original Bel Canto, which I think most would agree is a firmly contemporary design.
In my brief time with the green version of the new Bel Canto Classic, I came to the conclusion that this new version doesn’t feel as much like an “update” as it does an alternate version of a watch many of us have come to be varying levels of familiar with. An update implies improvement, but the changes here may or may not be appealing based on one’s own subjective idea of what they like in a watch like the Bel Canto. As you’d expect with Christopher Ward, everything is executed very well. The guilloche has plenty of depth and plays with the light in fun and interesting ways, and the new Roman numerals and dial ring look great to my eye as well. But so does the previous version – it’s just a different style. My own taste leans more toward the contemporary design codes of the original Bel Canto. To me, there’s something almost schizophrenic about such a modern watch adopting these classical elements. Full disclosure: I purchased my own Bel Canto recently, a watch that holds true to the original design, after I had already spent some time with a review sample of the Bel Canto Classic.
Every other element of the Bel Canto is unchanged from the original version. It’s the same 41mm titanium case, and of course the movement with its sonnerie au passage complication, which chimes a D note at the top of each hour, is carried over as well. There’s been some speculation over the course of the Bel Canto’s short history about other complications being added, or additional case sizes and shapes, but I think the relative complexity of the mechanism is limiting on those fronts. It seems much more likely that Christohper Ward might continue to experiment with platine colors and textures and new dial executions, which could potentially breathe new life into the Bel Canto every so often.
Between my review sample of the Bel Canto Classic and my own personal Bel Canto acquisition, I’ve spent more time with this watch over the course of the last three weeks than I have in the last two years combined. All I can do is echo Zach’s praise from his exhaustive owner’s review linked above. This watch, regardless of whether you choose the original iteration or the new Classic (let’s acknowledge it’s a little awkward to refer to the new one as the Classic, while we’re here) lives up to the hype in a way few watches I’ve experienced have. It’s not hyperbole to say that the Bel Canto, in many ways, is the watch of its time in the way that it represents a rethinking of what’s possible in the affordable, enthusiast space.
The retail price of the C1 Bel Canto Classic is $4,540. Christopher Ward
