Hands-On With The New Christopher Ward C1 Worldglow

We don’t see many worldtimer watches released from small independent brands around here, and for good reason, they’re difficult to do well and aren’t exactly easy to understand for most buyers. The Zurich world time is a perennial favorite from Nomos, and is a rare example that works, but at over $6,000 it’s a stretch. Examples from Farer and Junghans spring to mind as value driven options that work in their own way. Today, Christopher Ward is presenting their take on the genre with the new C1 Worldglow, a watch that brings fresh take on the complication and turns our attention away from steel sport watches, if only for a moment. We’ll take it.

The C1 Worldglow is a continuation of a theme that Christopher Ward began with the C1 Moonglow from 2019. You can read Zach’s full review of that watch right here, and you’ll notice a few similarities straight away. Namely, the inventive use of lume throughout the dial as a means to compliment the functionality of the complication. 

The C1 Worldglow gets a top-down projection of the globe set into the dial’s center with Europe and Asia on the 3 o’clock side, and North America on the 9 o’clock side. The negative space created by the land masses are occupied by a layer of lume underneath, giving the entire dial a unique presence in the dark thanks to the resulting luminosity. The world is represented along with the hands and numerals along the 24 hour ring, however the cities and rad tracking beam aren’t as visible so actually using the worldtime function will be challenging.

The complication itself is rather simple, and Christpher Ward has developed a user friendly experience with the C1 Worldglow. Underneath the top “world” layer on the dial is a clear sapphire disk with a red sonar funnel that can be aligned with the city ring at the very edge of the dial. Doing so allows you to adjust the 24 hour ring accordingly and off you go tracking multiple time zones. In the example below the time is set to 3 o’clock UK time (Christopher Ward’s home time zone currently in GMT), while the red tracking disc is set to New York, which is 5 hours behind, thus reading 10 o’clock. It looks like a lot of information on the dial, but really it’s quite simple in practice. 

The biggest issue with the dial is the hour and minute markers being relegated to small dots at the perimeter of the dial, meaning you’re sacrificing some precision for the sake of complexity. 

Christopher Ward is using the Sellita SW330-1 with their JJ03 module. The movement is visible through an exhibition caseback, where you’ll find a twin-flag engraved DLC black oscillating weight guarding the elabore grade Sellita base unit underneath. You can expect accuracy in the realm of +/- 20 seconds a day with this grade along with 42 hours of reserve.

The biggest departure from the Moonglow is the case itself. It’s grown from 40.5mm to 43.5mm and 52mm from lug to lug. It’s a large watch with a large viewing area and the bigger dimensions do allow for some breathing room for the substantial amount of information found on the dial. On the wrist, the Worldglow sits flat thanks to the curvature of the lugs and the 11.5mm case thickness (including the slightly domed crystal). Strap options include a black cordovan leather strap with bader deployant clasp, or a milanese mesh bracelet, which looks rather sharp here and adds a throwback vibe to an otherwise contemporary looking watch. 

Christopher Ward has made a compelling and uniquely functional dress watch with the C1 Worldglow. This watch is a welcome step away from the deluge of sport watches we’re presented with (not that I’m complaining) and gets us thinking about the prospect of traveling again. In that sense, the Worldglow is hugely nostalgic and will hopefully serve as a segue to normalcy in the coming year. The C1 Worldglow is priced from $1,995 on cordovan leather strap, and $2,055 on milanese mesh. More from Christopher Ward.