How to mix yours
How to mix yours
The Negroni's recipe hasn't changed in over a century. 1:1:1. Campari, sweet vermouth, London Dry gin. Its genius is in the balance – equal parts restraint and spectacle, bittersweet by design.
The C1 Bel Canto Classic Negroni applies the same philosophy. The guilloché-finished platine draws its colour from that iconic deep scarlet vermouth, but it doesn't stay still. Turn your wrist, change the light, and the hue shifts – deep Campari red warming to amber, then to the dark ruby of a freshly poured glass. This is what we mean by bittersweet. A watch that reveals more the longer you look.
The Bel Canto Classic sits alongside the original, but brings something more complex, more traditional – more, well, classic. The box sapphire crystal delivers mid-century Italian charm, while the Roman numerals on the time-telling dial add the elegance of something that's never needed to shout. If the original Bel Canto was made for the awards ceremony, the Classic makes its mark at the invite-only aperitivo.
From the beginning, Bel Canto was designed to showcase both visual and aural beauty – a chime on the hour, every hour. The secret was to make the striking mechanism the spectacle itself, running across the entire lower half of the face. Over each hour, the bird-tail chiming hammer draws back, until it's released to strike the steel spring that curves around the edge of the dial.
This is possible thanks to Calibre FS01, the in-house module created by CW's technical director Frank Stelzer. Frank adapted our jumping hour module (Calibre JJ01) into a striking mechanism, adding more than 60 new components to achieve it.
Frank and the design team tested over 80 different springs and hammers – different materials, lengths, shapes – before arriving at the sought-after chime in the key of D. A beautiful singing note. Worth every rejected prototype.
As with the original Bel Canto, the bridge-and-hammer mechanism on the dial resembles a songbird. The chime can be silenced via a button at 4 o'clock, with ringing status indicated by the songbird's beak.
We're proud of the Bel Canto – in its original and Classic iterations – and the craft required to make it possible. If Christopher Ward's mission is to make the highest level of watchmaking accessible to all, then with the Bel Canto Classic Negroni, we've rarely mixed – or sipped – anything finer.
FS01: the mechanism behind the music
FS01: the mechanism behind the music
Created by CW's technical director Frank Stelzer, Calibre FS01 is an inspired piece of lateral thinking. Frank realised that CW’s ‘jumping hour’ movement could be adapted to create a chiming sound on the hour, every hour. More than 60 new components form the striking mechanism module which sits atop a Sellita SW200-1 base movement which provides the 38-hour power reserve.
One note. Perfected.
An extrapolation of our JJ01 ‘jumping hour’ module, Calibre FS01 creates a D-note chime thanks to a U-shaped gong that doubles back on itself around the rim of the face, and a bird-shaped hammer mechanism, where the beak indicates whether the complication is on or off, and the tail strikes to make the sound.
The colour that moves
Advanced ‘femto’ lasers render Bel Canto Classic's guilloché finish in three dimensions – a technique that creates greater detail and intricacy than traditional punched guilloché ever could. In Negroni, that shimmering effect becomes something else entirely. Deep scarlet in stillness. Warm amber on the move. The colour of Campari held up to the last light of the evening.
Time flies
With much of the face given up to key mechanical parts in a glorious open-worked style, Bel Canto relies for its time-telling on a smaller subdial that ‘floats’ over the platine, the base-layer disc a watch like this has in place of a traditional dial. It all gives a fascinating feeling of depth, while the elegant simplicity of Roman numerals and a new, restrained handset emphasise the Classic’s old-school refinement.
Built to amplify
Christopher Ward’s famous Light-catcher™ case has proved to be one of our most crucial, versatile signatures, and with Bel Canto it’s had a subtle makeover to help it best reverberate with sound. The first ever CW case to be made from Grade 5 titanium – less dense than steel, so it amplifies the chime – it’s been optimised inside and out to produce the most pleasing possible chime.
Architecture worth admiring
Open-worked watches like Bel Canto feature fascinating multi-layered architecture, so some components exist below the coloured platine, while others are displayed proudly above it – not least the vital hammer, the gong, and the bridges that support them. All are, of course, exquisitely polished by some of Switzerland’s finest finishers.
The crystal that earns its place
A box sapphire crystal, unique to the Bel Canto’s Classic, reproduces much of the charming look and feel of vintage acrylic crystals, while retaining all the scratch-resistance of sapphire. It even visually slims the watch slightly, too: win-win (and, indeed, win).
Technical
- Watch Model C1
- Size 41mm
- Dial Colour Negroni
- Case Material Grade 5 Titanium
- Case Colour Titanium
- Bezel Colour Titanium
- Height 13.20mm
- Lug-to-Lug 48mm
Features
- Swiss made
- Self-winding 29 jewel movement with FS01 chiming module
- 38-hour power reserve
- Brushed and polished Grade 5 Titanium case
- Deep-stamped caseback with soundwave motif
- Push-down crown with twin flags motif
- Anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal
- Floating time display
You might also like...
