The Year’s Best Adventure Watch Is Seriously Tough and Shockingly Affordable

In recent years, Christopher Ward has reinvented itself as a maker of attainable haute horological wonders, exemplified by brand-defining, flagship releases like the chiming Bel Canto and the open-balance C12 Loco.

But for the better part of its 21-year history, the British-Swiss company was mainly known for its affordable, good-looking, well-built tool watches. And although CW has flexed its horological muscles in recent years, the brand can still make a tool watch better than anyone for the money.

As proof, Christopher Ward has just launched the C63 Sealander Extreme GMT, a sub-$2,000 adventure watch with an eye-popping list of specs, an extremely good-looking design and — in typical modern CW fashion — a surprising level of innovation. It’s also the toughest tool watch the brand has made yet.

I spent a couple of weeks with the watch, and I have some thoughts. Spoiler: It’s great.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

To the extreme

The Sealander Extreme GMT is more or less what it sounds like: an extreme version of the brand’s very popular Sealander GMT. But while that watch is heavily inspired by the Rolex Explorer II, the Extreme GMT stands out more firmly as its own original design thanks to a few welcome changes.

For starters, the plain steel bezel — an Explorer II signature — has been replaced here with a fixed matte-black ceramic bezel with all numerals filled with Super-LumiNova GL Grade X1. Not only does this add increased scratch-resistance and excellent nighttime legibility to the bezel, but it also gives the watch a more distinctive look. It no longer looks like it’s posing as a Rolex.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

Helping further distinguish the watch from its Crown-inspired sibling — and send its luminosity to the stratosphere — is the selection of solid ceramic Globolight lume for the hands and indices. This high-end feature, borrowed from the brand’s brightest-glowing diver, the Trident Lumière, shows up in 18 total pieces of solid, three-dimensional Super-LumiNova BL Grade X1 lume on the hour and minute hands and dial of the watch, including all indices and the Twin Flags logo.

The orange GMT hand is filled with the same lume as the 24-hour bezel, which glows green, while the Globolight elements of the main timekeeping markers emit blue light. This makes it exceptionally easy to distinguish the two time scales in the dark. What’s more, the choice of brighter-glowing green for the less-intense painted Super-LumiNova and slightly dimmer blue for the Globolight means the two different types of lume glow surprisingly evenly. This watch is, by far, the best-lumed GMT I’ve ever encountered, and CW says it’s the brightest-glowing Sealander ever.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

Moving on to the case, I’ve seen some griping on social media about it being 41mm in diameter. A couple of thoughts on that: For one, it wears smaller, like most CW models. And two, since this is Christopher Ward we’re talking about here, I wouldn’t be surprised to see another size or two pop up over the next year if the Extreme GMT proves to be a popular model. The brand loves giving its customers options.

As it stands, I found the 41mm x 11.65mm stainless steel case to be extremely comfortable on my smallish 6.5-inch wrist, and I also found it rather stunning. It’s the standard Sealander “Light-catcher” case filled with angles and chamfers galore, but all of the normally polished bits have been brushed.

There aren’t many fully brushed cases out there with this level of detail. There’s a lot going on to create visual interest with only brushed patterns, and the quality of finishing is really impressive. CW didn’t have to make the case of this tool watch so complex, but I certainly appreciate that they did.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

The dial is black with a slightly glossy finish and a granular texture, which adds even more visual interest and further distinguishes the watch from any Rolex and from the standard Sealander GMT. The seconds hand is just about the only thing here that isn’t lumed, and its orange tip stretches alllll the way to the edge of the dial, which I found slightly unnerving for some reason.

The sapphire crystal is unique, too. It’s quite tall, like a typical box crystal, but its edges are chamfered, giving it an unconventional look. It’s also so well-covered with anti-reflective coating that the watch looks like it doesn’t even have a crystal most of the time. Just look at some of my photos — I didn’t edit out reflections in any of them; this is just what the watch looks like.

There’s just a lot to take in here visually from the dial to the Globolight to the case finishing to the ceramic bezel, and everything really comes together beautifully. But what is perhaps most notable about the Extreme GMT is what I couldn’t see.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

Inside the watch, surrounding the familiar Sellita SW330-2 automatic GMT movement, is a brand-new proprietary anti-shock system built specifically for the Sealander Extreme GMT. It consists of a rubberized mount for the movement that is then mounted to the inside of the case with a flexible ring.

This setup allows the movement to effectively float inside the case while surrounded by a rubber cushion. Theoretically, this should protect the movement against considerable shocks, but I didn’t beat the hell out of my sample to test it.

I tested the watch on CW’s lauded Bader Bracelet. It isn’t new, but it was my first experience with the Bader, and I now see what all the fuss is about. It’s an Oyster-style bracelet, but a truly great one, with screw links that are easy to remove, a quick-release system, an on-the-fly micro-adjustable clasp and an absolutely dreamy taper that feels and looks great on the wrist. The bracelet, like the case, is fully brushed.

Photo by Johnny Brayson for Gear Patrol

Also new to the Sealander Extreme GMT, but something I did not get to test, is the strap option. If you skip the bracelet, you can get the watch on CW’s new V-Strap. Available in black or orange, it’s a two-piece velcro strap made from rugged Cordura nylon and is designed to be taken on and off in a hurry. It boasts a 4mm taper and features a signed steel fastener.

Pricing and availability

Christopher Ward, at least for the past three or so years, is a brand that rarely misses. But even by CW’s lofty standards, the Sealander Extreme GMT feels like a smash hit. With its contemporary take on a classic tool watch style, the watch should appeal to both OG fans of the brand and newcomers who appreciate CW’s more recent pursuit of approachable horological innovation.

The watch is priced a few hundred bucks higher than a standard Sealander GMT, but it offers so much more that I think CW could get away with charging double for the Extreme — it really brings a lot to the table. As it stands, you can pick up the C63 Sealander Extreme GMT for $1,785 on a strap or $1,995 on the bracelet.

Christopher Ward

Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Extreme GMT

Specs

Case Size	41mm
Movement	Sellita Cal. SW330-2 automatic GMT
Water Resistance	150m

• $1,995 at Christopher Ward

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