Hands-OnThe New Christopher Ward Twelve 660, With A 6.6mm Thin Case

I won't bury the lede here — the Twelve 660 is impressively thin. That measurement is hidden not-so-subtly right there in the name, at 6.6mm in height, with a diameter of 38mm. It's important to note that this isn't Christopher Ward's thinnest watch ever. That medal would go to the C5 Malvern 595 dress watch, with a, you guessed it, 5.95mm case height. The Twelve 660, on the other hand, gains 0.65mm but offers a significantly more robust wearing experience, in no small part with its full steel integrated bracelet design. The bracelet is impressively constructed, with a really solid feeling all around, but the links are short enough to drape well on any size wrist. Most impressive is the newly designed twin-trigger deployant clasp, which is integrated wonderfully into the thin bracelet with a really solid action. All around, the build quality here feels really good.

The Twelve 660 comes in four dial colors, which I quote from the brand: "BLK, WHT, GRN, and BLU," with the BLK model getting an all-black treatment with a DLC-coated case and bracelet. The matte dials all get a faintly grained texture, then a coating of clear lacquer. The applied hour markers and handset get prominent, wide brushed tops and contrasting polished facets on the sides. These, along with the brand's logo (which I'll say still has not won me over), sit on top of that layer of lacquer. In the right light, though subtle, the hour markers and handset seem to be floating just ever so slightly above the dial. Clear lacquer coatings over dials are very much not new, but it's the thinness of every element, including the flatness of the handstack, that gives the Twelve 660 this interesting effect.

Flip the watch around, and you'll see a custom-decorated Sellita SW210 manual-winding caliber, beating away at 4 Hz with a standard power reserve of 45 hours. While we are certainly not seeing hand-finished beveling or interior angles at this price point, I think the caliber is extensively reworked enough to be worthy of the exhibition caseback. It's certainly decorated, though not in the usual perlage-and-stripes overload that you tend to get with movements in this price range. 

Rather, Christopher Ward takes a more subtle approach, with finer vertical brushing to contrast nicely with the diamond-polished chamfers. Most importantly, the modification of a custom skeletonized gear train bridge goes a long way in giving the movement a somewhat upscale look, which I found really impressive for a watch well under two thousand dollars.

On paper, Christopher Ward has accomplished its mission of making an ultra-thin sport watch with enough boxes checked off the spec sheet to make it look good. I knew this far before I even received a prototype in my hands. But what I was not expecting was how impressed I would be with how the Twelve 660 feels. Priced at $1660 on a bracelet for the steel versions and $1790 for the full-DLC variant (rubber strap options are slightly lower in price), it punches far above its weight class. As I brought this around the office, many colleagues were just as impressed seeing it in the metal, even ones that were jaded enough to typically roll their eyes anytime I bring something new over. 

Would I call this a value proposition? I suppose I would, given that these same colleagues all guessed much higher price points for this watch, and I would have agreed with them. While the classic Twelve models haven't really done much for me, the 660 sure has my attention.

As my colleague Andy covered yesterday, Christopher Ward has announced a rollback of the 29% US tariffs that were being charged to customers (no doubt also timed just before the announcement of this new watch). So now, given that there is no additional cost to be factored into the retail price, this new Twelve 660 feels like a solid (in the literal sense, too) new contender that might push buyers eyeing the brand's integrated bracelet designs over the line. Well done.

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