Christopher Ward C900 User guide

C900 SINGLE PUSHER CHRONOGRAPH

LImItEd EdItION

O W N E R ’ S H A N D B O O K

Having taken possession of a C900 Chronograph, you are now the owner of a very special timepiece; a

timepiece that has taken more than three years to create and one that everyone connected with Christopher

Ward is immensely proud.

Two master watchmakers, Johannes Jahnke and Jean Fillon, worked with our design team in Maidenhead

to realise Johannes’s dream of allowing the owner of such a complicated movement to see and understand

how the movement really works. The C900 is the realisation of that dream and is a perfect example of how,

through innovative design as well as fair and honest pricing, Christopher Ward is determined to make fine

watchmaking accessible to as many people as possible.

I encourage you to invest a little time in reading the following pages of this handbook which have been

designed to help you maximise your enjoyment of your new watch. And should you ever wish or need to talk

to me about your C900, you can contact me in the first instance by emailing, [email protected].

Kind regards,

Christopher Ward

WELCOME TO YOUR C900

Nothing unites young and old so effectively as a shared passion. For some it is sport, for others it might be

music, art, classic cars, travel or history. But the common denominator which enabled 28-year-old Johannes

Jahnke and 87-year-old Jean Fillon to form an almost instant bond is their mutual fascination for horology - or,

more specifically, for solving the problems it so often produces.

Jean Fillon was just 24 years of age when he arrived at James Aubert, the Swiss movement manufacturer that

had been established in the early 20th century to specialise in supplying chronograph mechanisms for the

leading watch brands of the day.

Following founder James Aubert’s death at the young age of 59, Fillon was recruited as a director of the

company and expanded the business to include the production of stop watches designed for sport and aviation,

which were sold under a variety of high quality dial names in Switzerland, Germany and Japan. James Aubert

SA, as the company continues to be known, also developed complicated mechanisms for niche markets as

well as more widely used products.

Today, more than 63 years after his arrival, Fillon still wields his watchmaker’s tools with the deft hand of a far

younger man while his mind is as quick as ever to find solutions to those tricky horological conundrums which

leave the less experienced entirely stumped.

Johannes Jahnke, meanwhile, has already packed a remarkable number of achievements into his 28 years.

Born in the former East Germany, he grew-up watching (and helping) his father repair everything from old

watches to the family motorbike, a 1951 BMW, which had to be kept running as a matter of necessity.

The C900 Story by Simon de Burton

After completing his military service, Jahnke studied in the famous watch-making town of Glashütte before

becoming apprentice to Marco Lang, a fifth-generation watchmaker who was one of the founders of Dresden-

based Lang & Heyne.

One of Lang’s dreams was to establish an entirely electricity-free workshop in which components are made

using manually-powered lathes – a return to the truly ‘handmade’ watch. It was an idea that Jahnke could

relate to well as he had grown up having to make do and mend with only the most basic tools. It led to him

making a prototype of a monopusher chronograph without resorting to modern machinery.

This resulted in the Lang & Heyne King Albert of Saxony watch, a £60,000 platinum work of art which was

produced in tiny numbers.

Since 2008, however, Jahnke has worked with a small, high-end firm in the watchmaking town of Biel,

which devises, develops and produces watch mechanisms for a few select watch brands – one of which is

Christopher Ward.

Here, Jahnke is allowed to work without constraints and allowed to realise, or attempt to realise, his wildest

watch-making dreams. When I visited him at his workshop in March, he had recently designed Christopher

Ward’s innovative Jumping Hour movement which, unusually, takes its power from the central-minutes

wheel, resulting in more efficient energy use and greater accuracy than conventional jump hour mechanisms.

At the time, Jahnke told me of his latest project – the creation of another monopusher chronograph based

on a highly modified Unitas movement. More than six months later, this has come to fruition in the form of

Christopher Ward’s most sophisticated and complex watch to date, the C900 SP – a beautifully understated,

classic-looking chronograph powered by its own, exclusive, monopusher movement.

The tourbillon, the minute repeater and the perpetual calendar are often cited as representing the pinnacle of

the watchmaker’s art while the chronograph is regularly taken for granted. In reality, however, this mechanism

which can accurately dice time into fractions of hours, minutes and seconds remains one of the most noble

complications of all and is still among the most exacting to create – especially when its functions are controlled

by one pusher rather than the usual two.

It is partly for that reason that this new movement has taken almost three years to develop following Jahnke’s

discovery of a prototype chronograph in 2009 which was based on the well known Unitas 6497 calibre. Jahnke

was immediately taken with the thinking behind the mechanism, recognising similarities with the single

pusher movement he had developed at Lang & Heyne for the aforementioned King Albert single pusher

chronograph.

What really excited him about the Unitas project, however, was his belief that it could be extensively improved

both mechanically and aesthetically in order to create a superbly clean and functional wristwatch – and one

which would also offer instant appeal to horophiles due to the fact that the mechanics of the movement could

be clearly seen and understood.

Jahnke did not, however, want to realise this new mechanism entirely alone and it is for that reason that he

sought the collaboration of Fillon, whose knowledge of creating and manufacturing parts for chronograph

movements had become the stuff of legend.

The prospect of working with such an industry veteran could have been daunting for Jahnke, who is Fillon’s

junior by more than half a century, but the old hand instantly recognised the abilities and talent of the

younger man who quickly came to affectionately refer to his mentor as ‘opi’ or ‘grandpa’.

Working together, the pair deconstructed the Unitas base and effectively re-designed its chronograph function

with hand-drawn, annotated sketches that enabled Jahnke to then reconstruct the module using a CAD

programme. The result was an extensively reworked movement with a new main plate, bridges, winding

mechanism, centre and second wheels.

A swan neck adjustment system was added and a clean, uncluttered dial designed at the Christopher Ward

studio that allows for the inclusion of a continuous seconds sub-dial and a 30-minute totaliser. Inverting the

watch, however, reveals the beauty of the new movement in all its glory. A wide transparent case back allows

the function of each component to be seen from the instant the single push piece is depressed to activate the

clutch, sliding gear and intermediate wheel which engage the minute counter. Press the pusher again and the

clutch separates, a brake lever is activated and the minute counter instantly stops.

‘The C900 Single Pusher Chronograph is beyond question our most complicated watch to date and will

make an entirely new level of sophistication accessible to more people than ever before because of the unique

Christopher Ward value equation,’ explains Chris Ward.

‘However, it’s the magnificence of the movement

that really moves me. I was completely

transfixed when I first saw what Johannes

had accomplished and I don’t mind

admitting that I almost cried with a

combination of joy and pride.

We may produce even more

complicated watches in the future

but the C900 will always be a

very special watch for me. The

C900 SP ‘owner’s club’ will not,

however, be a crowded one. Due

to the complexity of its movement,

just 250 examples of the C900 SP, in

this form, will be available worldwide.

JOHANNES JAHNKE – CREATOR OF THE JJ02 CALIBRE

Born in East Germany, Johannes first dismantled and repaired a broken clock at the age of 12. Championed

by Marco Heyne of Lang & Heyne, he first made a functional escapement model by building the wheels and

cogs by hand. The “King Albert of Saxony” is a column-wheel chronograph with a central minute counter.

The necessity for a vertical clutch, together with the position of the chronograph, makes this construction

extremely challenging. With some assistance from Lang & Heyne, in 2006 Johannes finished his watch.

“When ‘King Albert of Saxony’ went on sale there was a lot of buzz about me being so young but I don’t think

I am particularly special,” says Johannes. “A hundred years ago there were several watchmakers in their early

twenties making wonderful watches – there just aren’t any now.”

In 2008 Johannes, eager to produce watches that were not merely the preserve of monied collectors, was asked

to join Jörg Bader, Christopher Ward’s Swiss partner. The partnership with Christopher Ward that produced

the exciting Single Pusher Chronograph suits Johannes particularly well as the relationship allows him to

bring luxury watches within the reach of more people. He also appreciates the very close relationship the

company has with its customers.

“There are a lot of barriers between watchmakers and their customers and that is a shame. Creating a watch

for someone you don’t know and never hear from isn’t that rewarding.”

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