Christopher Ward Gets Slim: The Twelve 660 Cuts to the Chase
Photo provided by Christopher Ward
Not even a day after announcing that U.S. customers will see prices return to normal (tariffs be damned), Christopher Ward has dropped a new version of their popular Twelve: the razor-thin Twelve 660. At 6.6mm thick, it takes the swagger and finishing of the Twelve and puts it on a diet. Gone are the second hand, the date, and anything else that might get between you and pure manual wind timekeeper.
Would we classify this as a dress watch? I suppose that you could. It’s definitely a more elegant look for the Twelve. What it definitely is is Christopher Ward flexing its ability to restrain themselves while also bringing the heat. The sculpted twelve-sided bezel is slightly wider, adding a bit of wrist presence to this slimmer evolution. Even the bracelet, which I believe is the secret sauce behind this release, was totally redesigned with single links and a fully evolved clasp. It’s certainly not a traditional dress watch; rather, it’s Christopher Ward squeezing one of their modern icons into a funky, fresh suit.
Photo provided by Mike Pearson of Christopher Ward - The 660 Range
The Dial: A Minimalist Smirk
If the case is the slick new duds, then the dial is the shades. Christopher Ward has stripped the Twelve’s face down to the bare essentials. Gone are the date, the seconds hand, and the repeating twin flag pattern (which, if I’m honest, I always thought was a bit much). All we have now is a textured surface dressed in lacquer, flanked by brushed indices with diamond-polished facets, and a handset that flickers in the light. It’s clean without being sterile, and is a good example of charismatic minimalism. The watch has been released in four colors: BLK, WHT, GRN, and BLU. They ditched most of the vowels as a cheeky play on the whole dieting aesthetic, or a big f*ck you to anyone with dyslexia (fortunately, I’m a different type of neurodivergent). The BLK variant, with its DLC stealth case and bracelet, leans into full tux-mode and is without question the rockstar of the group in my eyes.
Photo provided by Christopher Ward
What’s Under the Hood
Slimming down a watch isn’t done with smoke and mirrors; it starts with what’s inside. Christopher Ward went with the Sellita SW210 as the base, but this is a Bentley masquerading as a Volkswagen. I don’t know a damn thing about cars, so I hope I stuck the landing there.
The brand reworked the movement with custom skeletonized train bridges, rhodium plating, vertical brushing, and diamond-polished chamfers, which are all visible through a display caseback. Even the crown and ratchet wheels got an aesthetic upgrade and feature sunray brushing, a tiny detail most people will never see, but something that would make the right kind of enthusiast salivate…and hopefully not short-circuit their keyboard this time.
Photo provided by Christopher Ward
The Bracelet Diet
And then there’s the bracelet I’ve only alluded to, which is for sure the unsung hero of the whole damn project. At 2.9mm high, with a clasp that’s barely thicker than a stick of gum, it’s the kind of detail that makes you realize how seriously Christopher Ward took this particular set of watches. If they’d slapped the original Twelve clasp on here, it would’ve been too thick and bulky in the way it folded. Instead, the new butterfly clasp has inline push-buttons that disappear into the design, offering one helluva wrist roll.
Photo provided by Christopher Ward
Price and Positioning
The Twelve 660 starts at $1,495 on rubber and $1,660 on bracelet (with the DLC version topping out at $1,790), it sits right between the steel Twelve and the titanium COSC model, but it doesn’t quite compete with either, in my opinion. The 660 creates a mood that other versions of the Twelve don’t live in. This is an integrated bracelet that harkens back to smaller sizes and gives off something far more classy and far less showy, at least upon a first glance. And while we’re used to brands charging premiums for the courtesy of providing us with thinner options, Christopher Ward has positioned this in an area where, if you’re already considering a Twelve, now you have something a tad more high-class to ponder over.
Photo provided by Christopher Ward
Final Thoughts
I take this as a sign from Christopher Ward that the brand is doubling down on its reputation for value while flexing with innovation. First, they give U.S. collectors a break by rolling prices back down during a tumultuous time. Now, they wade into the two-hand dress watch pool with something lean, modern, and wearable. Elegance doesn’t have to be unattainable. If the standard Twelve was Christopher Ward in a bomber jacket, the 660 is the same guy sashaying down a red carpet.
Above gallery photos provided by North American Brand Director, Mike Pearson
Transparency:
I wrote this article in collaboration with Christopher Ward. However, no one at Christopher Ward viewed, reviewed, or edited this article in any way.
REMEMBER, nerds…., to keep the comments clean. Please don’t make me pull out ole Abraham-Louis here.
