Edward Christopher: Affordable British Watches

On my watch radar this week, well actually it popped up on my INSTA feed, is a British brand by the name of Edward Christopher. Immediately what caught my attention was the word British. British brand, I'm assuming these are British designed, although after looking on their website I've come to learn that the movement is Swiss.

In fact let me give you the full broad strokes from their website.

Inspired by the distinctively beguiling beauty of the Manta Ray, our fully custom made Limited Edition Manta is a 40mm dive watch for everyday use. Just some of the highlights include a guilloché style colour-coded dial, a Swiss self-winding mechanical movement, a bidirectional internal rotating bezel, colour-coded quick-release straps and the rest.

After watching a video on the Edward Christopher YouTube channel I heard the founder Sean Brickell talk about how important colour is to the brand. This of course speaks to the very colourful vulcanized straps which houses a fully brushed case with double push-pull crowns red and blue.

The blue reflects the primary colour of the guilloché dial face whilst the red coordinates with an accent on the bezel and on the depth read which is 200m.

According to the Zaltec Reviews on YouTube, the build quality is really good although I agree with him that the crowns should be screwed down. The watch markers are made from blocks (yes, blocks) of blue-green Super-LumiNova. No sparse Lumi lines here!

The colours are Sky Blue, Royale Blue, Rose Red, Midnight Black, and Forest Green. Each timepiece comes with a 5 year warranty which is impressive and installs my confidence in the brand.

Whilst the colours of this watch reflect the identity and the story of the brand, I would love to see these watches on a bracelet, possibly on a flexible mesh bracelet in silver steel with a fold-over clasp.

It might retract a little of the brand's USP, but the quality of the watch and that beautiful dial face is what is pulling me in, the straps are a nice touch but not the be all and end all. I do like how it's integrated with the watch itself much like Andrew Canter, Editor in Chief of Mr Watch Master has alluded to in his short reviews.

Summary

Love the look, the design, and the fact that it's coming from Britain. Will keep an eye on the brand's progress, but feel like getting in there early with a watch brand like this will not only support the brand and help propel it, but the limited edition ones could also increase in value as the prestige of the Edward Christopher grows.

Currently available for around £1,000 through their website.