Christopher Ward C12 Loco Review

From time to time I get a bit jaded by newly released watches seeming overly monotonous. It's no secret that my favorite period of watchmaking was the ten year span between the late 1990s and late 2000s. During this time period we saw brands being adventurous and going out on a limb with their new creations. It was during this time IWC completely revamped their entire collection and came out with such classics as the Big Pilot, Portuguese and GST collections. It was also during this time that Audemars Piguet was pushing the boundaries of what was possible with watch design and case materials with their Royal Oak Offshore limited editions.

It seems that a lot of brands are playing it safe recently and refining more than innovating. While I understand this practice, it does make me a bit sad to see a broad lack of innovation in the industry. One brand that cannot be grouped in with the brands that aren't constantly creating fresh products is Christopher Ward. Over the course of the last few years Christopher Ward has really made the industry sit up and take notice of what this small British brand is accomplishing.



The first murmur that Christopher Ward was up to something special came in 2014 when they released their first in-house movement to celebrate their 10th anniversary. The movement was named the Calibre SH21 and boasted a rather lengthy five day power reserve. The SH21 was designed by Johannes Jahnke and marked the first time in 50 years that a British brand had developed their own movement. Not only did the SH21 have an outstanding power reserve, but it was also a certified Chronometer performing at the highest accuracy level in the industry.

If the SH21 was the first puff of smoke that Christopher Ward was capable of creating something truly special, then the C1 Bel Canto released in 2022 was a full on explosion. Prior to the release of the Bel Canto, a watch with any sort of chiming mechanism was reserved for watches costing as much as a car on the low end and a house on the higher end. These watches are comprised of hourstrikers, quarter repeaters and minute repeaters. Chiming watches represent the absolute pinnacle of watchmaking and sit at the top of collections from brands like Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin.

With the Bel Canto the ingenious watchmakers at Christopher Ward were able to take the off the shelf Sellita SW200-1 base movement and add their FS01 chiming module on top of it to create their own hour striking chiming watch. Christopher Ward's technical director Frank Seltzer was able to adapt a previous jumping hour movement, which he added more than 60 new components to, that would strike on the hour instead of jumping to the hour ahead. Years of development and trial and error were needed to get the module and key of D perfected and when the watch was released it took the watch world by storm. For under $4,000 Christopher Ward was able to offer functionality only seen in watches that went deep in the five and six figure range.



A year later Christopher Ward released their take on the integrated sports watch with the Twelve. While the Twelve didn't have anything radical movement wise, it did offer a completely fresh take on the integrated sports watch. While many other integrated sports watches ended up being clones of the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak or Patek Philippe Nautilus, the Twelve was a completely original take on the idea. The Twelve had its own identity and in a move I love, Christopher Ward also made it very clear that Gerald Genta and his designs of the Royal Oak and Nautilus inspired the Twelve.

Once again a year later Christopher Ward took the Twelve to the next level with the release of the Twelve X. The Twelve X called upon the in-house SH21 movement and put it inside a slightly larger titanium Twelve case. Previously Christopher Ward had used a skeletonized SH21 movement in the very limited C60 Concept. With the Twelve X the beauty and expertise of the skeletonized SH21 could be had in a non-limited edition watch. A few months later Christopher Ward released a version of the Twelve X in stainless steel that also featured various parts of the SH21 finished by hand, which is just insane for a watch that retails under $5,000.

For 2025 Christopher Ward probably had their biggest trick up their sleeve. While the Bel Canto was able to achieve high watchmaking, it still used an off the shelf movement for its base caliber. On the other end of the spectrum the SH21 (later renamed CW-001) delivered an amazing in-house caliber, but it was limited to just a simple three hand complication. For Christopher Ward's newest and arguably biggest release the brand would merge both high watchmaking with an in-house caliber.



With already having the CW-001 (SH21) movement in their repertoire, Christopher Ward had a great starting point for the development of their newest movement. The brand would not rest on their laurels though, with the caliber being thoroughly reworked for the new project. One major change was changing the CW-001 from an automatic movement to being manually wound. This change allowed two things, first it gave an unobstructed view of the movement and the second was that more space was available to increase the barrel size and gain a day of power reserve putting the newly created CW-003 at six full days of power reserve.

At this point Christopher Ward would already have a very strong movement on their hands, but the main goal of this project was not to just create a manually wound version of the SH21. For their newest watch, Christopher Ward wanted to create something hardly seen at any level of watchmaking… a watch with a dial side free sprung balance.

The free sprung balance isn't the rarest thing to see used in a watch movement, but having the balance on the dial side certainly is extremely rare. For the creation of the balance wheel, Christopher Ward tapped renowned escapement developer Feller Pivotages SA with the task. The free sprung balance does away with the regulator index which allows the movement to have increased stability and cope with shocks better. Since regulating the watch is actually done on the balance wheel by adjusting weights, free sprung balances typically are more precise than their counterparts with traditional regulated balances.



Most watches using a free sprung balance hide it behind a solid dial, but Christopher Ward chose to put the balance front and center dial side. Seeing a free sprung balance on the dial of a watch is extremely rare and you probably have enough fingers and toes to count every watch which has done this previously. All of these watches also have one thing in common, which is that they are very expensive. Like chiming watches, watches with dial side free sprung balances start deep in the five figures and just go up from there. Like with the Bel Canto, Christopher Ward had no intent of producing a five figure watch, but we'll get to that later.

Finally, Christopher Ward used a smaller time telling disc similar to what is seen on the Bel Canto, allowing the free sprung balance to really be showcased on the dial. Housing this new in-house movement is the just awesome Twelve case. While the Bel Canto was more a dress piece, this new watch is a true sports watch. Now without further ado, let's get into the review of the Christopher Ward C12 Loco.

Initial Thoughts

I have to give it to Andrew at Christopher Ward for really knowing my preferences when it comes to watches. Without having to request a specific color and strap option, Andrew knew to send us an orange C12 Loco on an orange rubber strap. The watch comes in black, white, blue (ugh…) and orange and is available on either a stainless steel bracelet or any of those four colors in a rubber strap with a deployant clasp. The orange on orange combination would be my ideal combination if I had to pick a C12 Loco to purchase personally, so great pick Andrew!



After the C12 Loco arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was the stunning orange dial. Going off of the press photos of the C12 Loco, the orange was not my favorite. Christopher Ward Brand Director Mike Pearson happened to be in a group that FX (President of North America for Ulysse Nardin) and I started and posted some pictures of all four variants of the C12 Loco when he got them into the US showroom. After seeing his pictures, the orange was by far my favorite and in my opinion most dynamic.

The dial has a stepped design where the upper 60 percent of the dial is made up of the hour and minute time telling disc. Then there is a hard break with a 45 degree angle that steps down to the area dominated by the free sprung balance and its two mounting bridges. The finishing of the upper part of the dial is brushed while the lower part is satin. This difference in finishing and depth makes the dial very visually interesting. Depending on the lighting the dial can vary anywhere from a burnt orange all the way up to a scorching bright orange.

Naturally the next thing I noticed about the C12 Loco happened as soon as I started to wind the watch. Out of nowhere all of a sudden the balance fired up and I was treated to a little dance of the balance pulsating and the pallet fork and stones interacting with the escape wheel. I just love a ton of dial side movement and the C12 Loco gives that to you in spades. To be honest I find the dial side free sprung balance more interesting to look at than a standard tourbillon. Christopher Ward did well to really frame the balance and it really does command attention on the dial.



The last thing I noticed during my initial time with the Christopher Ward C12 Loco was the orange rubber strap and deployant clasp. For the most part I'm a huge fan of deployant clasps, even though over the last year or so I've warmed up a bit to pin buckles. My main reasons for preferring deployant clasps are the lack of needing to size the strap each time you wear the watch and also the security they provide to dropping a watch while putting it on. I feel the rubber straps on the Twelve and Twelve X could really have benefited from being equipped with deployants. The orange rubber strap matches the dial perfectly and is one of the most supple straps I've ever worn. The strap required zero break in time to be comfortable and really made the watch a treat on the wrist. If the C12 Loco was much heavier, I'd say the strap might have been too supply not really supporting the watch case's weight, but the weight was just in the sweet spot for the suppleness of the strap.

Technical Specifications

Now that we've gone over my initial impressions of the Christopher Ward C12 Loco, let's take some time to go over its technical specifications. The watch is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 40.7 mm and a lug to lug length of 47.6 mm. On our scale the C12 Loco weighed in at 99 grams when on the rubber strap. At its thickest point the watch was 14.0 mm thick. While I prefer a watch to be made out of lightweight carbon, ceramic or titanium, the generous usage of large sapphire crystals kept the weight of the C12 Loco under 100 grams, which is a huge plus in my book.

The C12 Loco uses a tall glass box sapphire crystal which has anti-reflective coating applied to both sides. Underneath the crystal clear sapphire is the just stunning Frisco Orange dial we spoke about earlier. Around the outside of the dial are eight exposed screw heads with four of them set into the upper dial and four mounting the bridges in the lower dial. Like I mentioned earlier, the upper dial takes up a little more dial real estate than the lower dial and is vertically brushed in finish. The 45 degree horizontal step leads to the lower dial which is textured and satin in finish.



On the upper dial there is a sapphire disc that has a minute track along its perimeter and pie shaped polished applied hour markers. There is a double marker for 12 o'clock and no marker for 6 where the disc is partially removed to allow clearance to the top of the free sprung balance. The hour markers are coated with Super-Luminova that glow a bluish-green in low light. This watch is not a lume monster, but does provide enough lume to tell the time in low light.

The C12 Loco uses appropriate sized polished hour and minute hands also coated with matching Super-Luminova. The time telling disc does "float" over the dial once again adding nice depth. There is a round cutout between the center mount of the hands and the time telling disc where some of the top of the CW-003 movement can be seen. At the bottom of the time telling disc at 6 o'clock is the Swiss Made designation along with another cutout showing a bit more of the top of the movement. I guess you could argue the C12 Loco has a partial skeleton dial if you liked.

The bottom dial features two hand finished bridges, which is amazing to see on a watch in this price range. Hand finishing was first seen on the steel version of the Twelve X, so it's nice to see it make an appearance here. I believe I only own two watches with any hand finishing in an Audemars Piguet and Blancpain with both costing significantly more than the C12 Loco.



The free sprung balance is mounted to the top and longer of the two bridges. When the watch isn't running you can see the four weighted screws on the balance which are used to regulate the movement. The bottom and smaller bridge is where the escape wheel is mounted. When the watch is running you get to witness the balance quickly beating away and see the two pallet stones going back and forth on the escape wheel. Having the free sprung balance on the front of the watch really gives your eyes a treat when the watch is running. The upper and lower dials are also polar opposites when it comes to movement. The time telling disc and hands on the upper dial move extremely slow since the quickest moving component is the minute hand. The lower dial is at a constant high rate of movement though with the fast beat of the balance and quick turning of the escape wheel.

Holding the sapphire crystal in place is the twelve sided bezel which sits atop a lower round bezel. It gives a similar 3D effect to the bezel as what you'd see on a Girard-Perregaux Laureato. The twelve sided bezel is polished while the lower bezel is satin. The combination of bezel finishes further enhances the visual effect of the bezel. The rest of the case is brushed in finish with polished chamfers.

Looking at the profile of the case you can see a thin hard line running through the middle of the case that then leads to sharply down turning lugs. You also get to see deep scalloped portions of the top and bottom of the case that follow the twelve sides of the bezel.



The right hand side of the case features a nicely scalloped screwed down crown with has an engraving of the Christopher Ward twin flag logo on it. This is the only place on the C12 Loco where you find any Christopher Ward branding besides the clasp and on the movement. Even without any dial side branding, you could see the C12 Loco from across the room and know right away that it was a Christopher Ward watch. This is something pretty much every watch designer tries to accomplish but so few ever are able to pull off. The C12 Loco is able to achieve this feat of design with a dial layout reminiscent of the Bel Canto and a case from the Twelve collection.

When the crown is unscrewed it allows you to wind the manual movement in the resting position. Since the C12 Loco has twin barrels and a long power reserve, winding the watch to fully wound can take some time. The movement does feature a stop when fully wound to protect the movement from over winding. Since there is no date the only other crown position is the first position. In this position you can now set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump the minute hand and screwing the crown back in doesn't take any extra care to get the crown to catch. Unlike the Twelve and Twelve X, the C12 Loco features no crown guards which ends up giving the case a sleeker look.

One thing that must be touched upon is the water resistance rating of the C12 Loco. With the screw down crown and Twelve case, you'd assume the watch was rated for around 100 meters of water resistance. The skeletonized Twelve X is rated for 100 meters after all which uses a very similar case and the movement the CW-003 uses as a starting point. Christopher Ward rates the C12 Loco as having a water resistance of only 30 meters though. I don't really see a reason for this, I understand the Bel Canto having a 30 meter limit since it is a chiming watch, but don't understand it here. I'm guessing it's down to two reasons. One Christopher Ward thought of the C12 Loco as being more of a high horology watch and for that reason didn't see the need in rating it higher. Or two, they just didn't test the watch to a higher water resistance and in fact it is good to 100 meters or so. Rolex did the same thing when they first released the Yacht-Master which was meant to be the replacement to the Submariner. When it was determined the watch wasn't going to replace the Submariner, Rolex just stuck a lower water resistance on the watch, but people have proved it does indeed have similar water resistance. I'd wager the C12 Loco does indeed have more water resistance than 30 meters, but please don't take my word for it and stress test your C12 Loco… just an observation.



Having a case with an integrated design the Christopher Ward C12 Loco has unique lugs. The strap and bracelet are mounted to a central link which is unique to the case meaning the watch can only accept straps made for the C12 Loco or possibly the Twelve / Twelve X. The width of the rubber strap starts at 24 mm and tapers down to 16 mm at the brushed stainless steel deployant clasp. The orange strap is a perfect hue to nicely match the orange used on the dial. The strap is very supple and was comfortable from the first moment I put it on. The center of the strap has a textured pattern to it that gives that watch a bit more visual interest then just having a flat non-decorated strap. The back of the strap is also nicely textured and features an integrated twin flag logo. This texturing also helps keep the watch from moving too much on your wrist.

I really have to applaud Christopher Ward for adding a deployant clasp to the C12 Loco. For expensive watches a deployant should always be used to reduce the chance of dropping the watch when putting it on or taking it off. The deployant uses twin buttons to release the clasp and has a set of tabs on the top and bottom of the clasp to keep the strap in place along with a very beefy looking pin. Closing the clasp results in a very satisfying and secure click.

Flipping the watch over shows off the large screw down display caseback with a matching twelve sided bezel to the top bezel. Around the outside of the bezel all the important information about the watch is engraved including the serial/movement number. Through the large display back you can see the in-house CW-003 movement. Since the balance has been moved to the front of the watch there really isn't much movement going on the back of the movement. The large twin barrels are prominently displayed as is much of the gear train.



The movement is finished nicely and not over the top. You can tell that much of the excess material has been remove from the movement and showcases some nice skeletonization. The bridges and plates have been bead-blasted resulting in a nice uniform matte finish that is anthracite in color. The edges of the bridges are beveled and polished and catch the light nicely. There is also nice use of snailing on top of the barrel covers as well as polished countersinks around the jewels. Finally the exposed screws are nicely polished. Some hand finishing went into the finishing of the movement just like the hand finishing we see dial side.

The CW-003 is a Swiss Made hand wound movement which beats away at 28,800 bph (4Hz) and has a power reserve of 144 hours (6 days). Christopher Ward says the movement is regulated to 0 to +7 seconds per day. On our timegrapher the movement showed an accuracy of +2 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. This is well within Christopher Ward's specification as well as Chronometer standards. Pretty good for the second in-house caliber the brand has produced.

On The Wrist

Needless to say I was excited for the Christopher Ward C12 Loco to show up. After having the press release with information and pictures of the watch ahead of the launch and then watching the extremely well produced documentary of the production of the C12 Loco I was ready to see it in person and wear it out and about. From the day the watch arrived until today I found any reason to leave the house so that I could wear the C12 Loco.



While the watch is a little bit below my preferred lug to lug length of 50 mm, the C12 Loco wore very well on my 7.25 inch wrist with 55 mm flat area. Having an integrated lug design the strap flares out a bit like it does on my Royal Oak Offshore, meaning the watch actually wears a bit larger than the lug to lug size suggests. The C12 Loco did a good job of covering my wrist and never favored either side, which is something I really can't stand on smaller watches.

Normally I can't stand stainless steel watches due to the added heft. With so much of the front and back of the case being done in sapphire the C12 Loco ends up being under 100 grams and I can't really say I wish it was made of lighter material like I do with almost every stainless steel watch I review. For the most part the watch just disappeared on wrist which is something I really appreciate. The very light weight and comfortable rubber strap helped out with that as well. The watch was there when I needed it and I didn't think about it otherwise.

Even with having a rather small time telling "dial" the C12 Loco still managed to be pretty decent at legibility. The best way I found to test legibility in the real world is to try to tell the time while driving at just a glance. The small time telling dial is very uncluttered so making out the time at just a glance was easy enough. Sure it isn't as quick and easy to tell the time as it is on a diver with oversized hour markers and hands, but it passed my test just fine. There is not much lume on the dial, so in lower light conditions is does take a bit of extra effort to make out the time, but it's more than doable.



The Frisco Orange variant of the C12 Loco on an orange strap is a loud watch. This is actually something I really like in a watch, but if you wanted something a bit more subtle you could go with a black or white dial on a stainless steel bracelet. Since I normally wear black t-shirts, shorts and sneakers the C12 Loco fit in well with my relaxed dress. Orange can clash with some colors, but I didn't really find it to be an issue.

When I wore the watch out during normal errands and out to dinner and drinks the C12 Loco was a more than ideal companion. Like I mentioned earlier the watch just disappears on the wrist and is there when you need it, it's never something that's always present or causes any wrist fatigue. The C12 Loco is also no wallflower of a watch, especially in orange. I noticed the watch got a ton of attention and I had more than a few people come up and ask me about the watch. The only watch I can think that got more attention while out would be one of the Ulysse Nardin Freak variants.

During my time with the C12 Loco I was able to wear it to an event H. Moser & Cie. put on for our local watch group. While the Mosers were beyond amazing, it seemed like the C12 Loco was the star of the event. Numerous times I had somebody stop me to look at the watch and then a group of five or six people would gather around the watch to look at it. Even the guys from Moser were very impressed with the watch. I think everyone was just very excited to see the watch in person and most remarked that it exceeded their expectations when seeing it in the metal. A few even remarked that they would be ordering it during the next purchasing window. Members of the group commented that they were most impressed by the finishing of the orange dial as well as the movement of the free sprung balance. Everyone universally remarked on how great of a value the watch was as well.



Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the Christopher Ward C12 Loco retails for $4,595 on the rubber strap and $4,825 on the stainless steel bracelet. For that price you're getting a beautifully designed watch with an in-house movement boasting six days of power reserve and a dial side free sprung balance. You're also getting a dial and movement that features hand finishing. I don't think it is going to come as a surprise that the C12 Loco will end up being a tremendous value when we compare it to other watches with similar features.

First up we have the Tradition 7057 from Breguet which comes in a 40 mm white gold case. The Tradition (or previously La Tradition) was really the first well known watch to feature a balance dial side modeled after past pocket watches from Breguet. The Tradition also features a smaller time telling disc at 12 o'clock and adds a power reserve indicator. The Tradition has the same 30 meters of water resistance and runs on an in-house caliber with only 50 hours of power reserve. The Tradition 7057 retails for many times more than the C12 Loco at $33,300.

Next up we have the Legacy Machine LM101 from MB&F which has a case diameter of 40 mm and is crafted out of stainless steel. The watch also features a flying balance at the center of the dial and has a smaller time telling disc at 2 o'clock and running seconds at 6 o'clock. Like the Breguet the MB&F also features a power reserve indicator. The LM101 runs on an in-house caliber and only has 45 hours of power reserve. Like the Tradition, the LM101 retails for much more than the C12 Loco at $57,500.



Moving on we have the Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked from Audemars Piguet which has a 41 mm case crafted out of stainless steel. The Royal Oak also features a dial with a double exposed balance. The Royal Oak has a bit more water resistance than the C12 Loco at 50 meters and runs on an in-house movement with only 45 hours of power reserve. The Royal Oak Double Balance Wheel Openworked is even more expensive than the MB&F at $80,200.

Finally we have the Nebula from Arnold & Son which is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 41.5 mm. The watch is completely skeletonized and shows off the balance dial side. The Nebula has a matching 30 meters of water resistance and runs on an in-house caliber A&S5201 which offers 90 hours of power reserve. While cheaper than the other three watches we compared to the C12 Loco, the Nebula is still multiple times more expensive than the C12 Loco at $16,400.

As you can see from the four watches we compared the C12 Loco to, the watch is an exceptional value. The C12 Loco had by far the longest power reserve at six days and pretty much matched the other watches in terms of features. That Christopher Ward can offer this level of in-house watchmaking and also hand finish the watch is mind blowing. These other four watches vividly illustrate that point.

Closing Thoughts

Christopher Ward knew that they had something very special on their hands when developing the C12 Loco. This watch has been in development for years and Christopher Ward had the bright idea to have the process documented. So instead of a release of new watch being accompanied by an Instagram reel from an influencer or having a well known watch YouTuber do a video on the watch, Christopher Ward released a full on documentary called Freewheelin' which covered the entire production of the watch from concept to completion. The documentary is feature length and was directed by Ben Anderson and had an exclusive BAFTA screening before being released on YouTube. The documentary was a fun and interesting watch and really shows what went into creating C12 Loco.



I do have to say that when I first received the press release about the C12 Loco that the name kind of took me back. I was not a fan of the name at all. Being in Texas and so close to Mexico, Spanish is well known here and the term loco means crazy, typically not in a good sense. As time went by I actually started to get used to the name. I'm not sure what changed, but I really don't mind the name now. I kind of think the name is fitting to be honest. My wife on the other hand first thought of "locomotive" when she heard the name.

Before I get into if the watch is for me and if I would suggest the watch to others let me say what I feel might be next for Christopher Ward. Now that Christopher Ward has created a chiming watch, a skeleton watch featuring hand finishing and an in-house movement and now finally a watch with a dial side free sprung balance, in-house movement and hand finishing what could be next? I'm not sure how much further Christopher Ward wants to go into high horology. I personally feel the SH21 (CW-001), Bel Canto module and the CW-003 were tests of how far the brand could push their in-house capabilities.

This stress test could be the pre-cursor for Christopher Ward developing their own in-house time only caliber for mass production. While the Twelve X, Bel Canto and C12 Loco are amazing timepieces, their appeal is rather niche. If Christopher Ward could produce an automatic in-house three hand caliber with three days of power reserve and put it inside of a $1,500 to $3,000 dive watch, I think they could take over a huge portion of the market. I kind of feel this is what everything has been leading up to over the past few years, but hey I could be completely wrong. Christopher Ward could just love proving people wrong by making their own chiming, skeleton and dial side free sprung balance watches. If Christopher Ward wants to keep developing well executed and affordable high watchmaking complications like a perpetual calendar or tourbillon, I'm all for that.

So in the end is the Christopher Ward C12 Loco for me? In all honesty I really think it is. While personally I'd prefer the case to be a tad bit larger and made out of titanium, there really is no weight penalty for being crafted out of stainless steel and the flare of the lugs makes the watch wear a bit larger. The orange hues of the dial are just stunning and really fits in well in Austin where orange is pretty much the official color of the city. Having the free sprung balance mounted on the dial just gives the watch so much movement on the dial which is something I just love. I personally can't stand watches that have no movement dial side and only have an hour and minute hand.



I've also always been a fan of the Twelve and Twelve X cases and I applaud Christopher Ward for putting their newest high watchmaking movement inside of it. I know the integrated watch boom has been fading over the past few years, but I've been a huge fan of this design since the early 2000s with the Royal Oak Offshore. The six day power reserve is also something you don't see too often and during my time with the C12 Loco I've never had to wind the watch, I have topped it off from time to time but it has never stopped. This will be one of those rare times that I'm really sad to ship a watch back to the brand.

So then would I recommend the Christopher Ward C12 Loco to somebody looking for a more high horology yet sporty watch? I of course would in a heartbeat. Christopher Ward is starting to demonstrate that in a lot of instances you are only paying for a legacy watchmaker's name with their excellent and affordable chiming, skeleton and dial side free sprung balance watches. When looking at the Twelve X and C12 Loco in particular you are getting stellar in-house movements with hand finishing and beautiful designs at a fraction of what the older Swiss brands are charging.

Picking the white or black dial colors and pairing them with a stainless steel bracelet makes the C12 Loco an ideal daily wearer watch, going for the blue and orange dial and a rubber strap makes the watch a fun additional watch to your collection inversely. After spending a good deal of time with the C12 Loco I can't see any showstoppers that would stop me from giving it my full approval either. The watch has kept great time and like I mentioned earlier has never run out of power. Christopher Ward once again has shocked everyone with another unexpected release that puts the major powers of the watch world on notice.

As always we'd really like to thank Christopher Ward for sending us the C12 Loco so soon after its reveal. With the complexity of the movement and the Twelve case, the C12 Loco is probably now my favorite watch from Christopher Ward, which used to be a tie between the Twelve X and C60 Tident Lumiere. It's really refreshing to see Christopher Ward continue to push what they're capable of watchmaking wise and I'd be lying to say that I wasn't truly excited to see what they have in store for us next.

For more information about the C12 Loco please visit : Christopher Ward

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: C12-41H6D1-S00O0-RO

Retail Price: $4,595

Case Size: 40.7 mm

Lug to Lug: 47.6 mm

Thickness: 14 mm

Weight: 99 Grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Stainless Steel

Strap: Orange Rubber Strap with Deployant Clasp

Movement: Christopher Ward In-House CW-003 Hand Wound Swiss Made Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Dial Side Free Sprung Balance

Power Reserve: 144 Hours

Water Resistance: 30 Meters