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There’s no secret to Christopher Ward’s success: great quality, accessible prices, relentless energy and invention – and a bedrock of models that target the most iconic and popular genres, head on.

Christopher Ward’s Trident dive watch has long been at the heart of the company’s growth, offering rugged go-anywhere, do-anything pieces equipped for the deepest, darkest parts of the ocean.

But of late there’s been a new centre of gravity in the dive-watch world: vintage-style ‘skin divers’, with slimmer cases, old-school styling and an excess of period charm. More compact and wearable than most ‘professional’ underwater models, these 1960s-inspired pieces are having a moment.

Christopher Ward has offered successful retro-divers before, notably the C65 Trident Diver and ambitious C65 Aquitaine, which brought elegant curved sapphire bezels to a new audience. But what, smart minds at the company kept asking, if we tried something more mainstream? How about a new, no-holds-barred effort to nail the retro-diver once and for all?

Meet the C60 Trident Biscay collection, a new line of Trident dive watches to complement the Trident Pro range (21st century styling, ultimate performance) and Trident Reef (summer fun in vibrant colours). Trident Biscay is perhaps more sophisticated and elegant than either, with a Sean Connery charisma that speaks of early Bonds, while enjoying the most up-to-date finishing and technology. Vintage magic without the vintage anxiety.

“Aquitaine remains one of the best watches we’ve ever created,” says CW CEO and co-founder Mike France. “But it’s never counted among our biggest commercial hits. So, we asked ourselves, what can we do better? The answers are to be found in the Trident Biscay, just as gorgeous, but with a different aesthetic: less late-’50s Italian Riviera, more mid-’60s North Atlantic.”

Where the Trident Pro is “very much a modern-day tool watch”, Mike says, and the Reef speaks of snorkelling among clown fish, Biscay occupies a sweet spot between: 200m of water resistance (perfect for this class of watch, and more than sufficient for 99 percent of divers), a box sapphire crystal, a great-performing modern movement, and all in a package that whispers class and quiet confidence. More mainstream than the Aquitaine, it’s the sort of piece that lives right at the centre of the internet generation’s lexicon of iconic watches.

 

THREE OF A KIND

“This is our new take on the contemporary vintage diver,” Mike says. “It will cause quite a stir – so much so, we’re launching a three-hand Automatic, a GMT and a Bronze all at once, with the Auto and GMT in two distinct case sizes. There’s the modern and imposing 42mm and a new 39mm version, our first ever Trident at this size.”

Anchoring the Biscay range is the three-hand Automatic. It’s bold – clearly a Trident – from that familiar case style to the famous counterweight on the seconds hand, but also enjoys a new look that references Dr No-era watches without focussing too closely on any of them.

This is perhaps Biscay’s purest iteration, with four big Arabic numbers – at 12, 3, 6 and 9 – balancing the dial. (The blocky font here is new, fine-tuned by product designer Matthew Sweatman but inspired by the look of vintage Longines.) Then there’s the GMT, which despite its bold bezel has a slightly quieter presence – thanks to the muting effect of the date window at 6 o’clock (generally considered a very-nice-to-have on GMTs) replacing one of the four big numbers.

Finally the Bronze, which comes in 39mm only, and not only looks gorgeous, but is made of a superior new bronze alloy CW has never used before. “This takes on patination at a much slower rate than any bronze we’ve used previously,” says Jörg Bader Jnr, CW’s product director. “But it retains its unique-to-you properties.”

An aluminium bronze (10 percent aluminium, 5 percent nickel and 4 percent iron), it’s most commonly used in demanding marine applications for its strong resistance to wear and seawater corrosion. “It’s also different visually,” Jörg says. “Our old bronze was 6 percent tin and gave a warm, traditional tone, but this one’s ‘colder’ and more yellow. It still has the warmth, depth and individuality of bronze, but behaves in a more controlled way, with more even patination.”

Other key details recommend Biscay, too. There’s that boxed dome sapphire crystal for a real vintage feel, while every model is also a COSC-certified chronometer. Movements are Sellita’s SW330-2 COSC in the GMT, and the SW300-2 Power+ COSC in the Automatics and Bronze, extensively updated, super-slim – and boasting a 56-hour power reserve. “As a result, the Biscay Automatic is just 11mm thick, while the GMT is only 12mm, with both using the elegant Light-catcher™ case,” says Mike. “You’d be hard pushed to find another diver that’s so easy to wear.”

 

TOUGH BUT LIGHT

The aluminium bezel features a new anodised scratch-resistant surface, which, using a micro-Vickers hardness tester, reaches 250HV, whereas normal anodising is nearer 150HV. It’s also awash with lume. “With the Pro 300 GMT, only the large triangle at 12 is made of luminous material,” Jörg says. “But with Biscay’s bezel we’ve used it everywhere: on the numbers, the dots, the lot. Short of a Lumière, nothing out-glows a Biscay. There’s an exhibition case back with our new rotor, and high-end elaboré finishing to the movement, too.”

Though the case is similar to the Trident Pro’s, it’s not only slimmer but shaped differently; closer to the Lumière’s. “There’s a smoother transition from polished to brushed surfaces, which elevates everything, as does the mixture of brushing and polishing on the batons,” says Matthew. “This watch reflects light in the most interesting ways, part of the immense attention to detail that distinguishes the current generation of Christopher Wards.”

And there are further innovations, some of which you won’t spot right away: the bezel teeth, for instance, are more refined than on the Pro – “more numerous but smaller”, Matthew says – while the big dial numbers are applied separately. “It takes more time, and costs us more,” Jörg explains. “But it looks so much better.”

 

STYLE AND SUBSTANCE

This attention to detail continues into the straps and bracelets. There’s the regular Bader, now with iLink™ technology for easy resizing, and a new version of the hybrid strap (in black or khaki green, with a special blue for relevant GMT models) that tapers down to a more dramatic 16mm, rather than the 18mm of before. If you prefer the look of leather, there’s also a vintage oak option.

The colours, meanwhile, are both fresh and familiar. The Automatic comes in a choice of black or creamy white dial (the creamy white references the patinaton of vintage Rolexes), both with a black bezel, or black with a burgundy bezel, this version with gilt dial furniture; you can have your GMT in the white with blue or black with a half black/half burgundy bezel with gilt (generally called a ‘Coke’ scheme); and the Bronze comes with both bezel and dial in dark brown or dark green.

“These days, people want the latest tech in their watch, no matter what the style,” Jörg says. “And that’s at the core of Biscay: beautiful old-school aesthetic, but all the best modern engineering. It’s also so easy to wear – lug-to-lug is 46.3mm on the smaller cases, 49.3mm on the larger.”

Even the name does this, as the Bay of Biscay between France and Spain both sits adjacent to Aquitaine – namesake of the watch it replaces – and happens to be one of the world’s great diving areas, its strong currents and notorious weather making it rich in ship-wrecks, from Italian subs to British frigates. (Not for nothing has it been called ‘Europe’s Bermuda Triangle’).

“While the Pro is for serious divers, and the Reef is all about shallow warm-water fish-spotting, the Biscay is stormy, earthy, rugged, grounded – and gorgeous,” Mike says. “It’s also a dive watch that performs beautifully at the task most of us use our divers for most of the time – sitting in meetings, but dreaming about the sea.”

 

The C60 Trident Biscay is available now