QUICK SUMMARY
Christopher Ward has collaborated with The Dial Artist on The Twelve Xander.
Inspired by street art and graffiti, the Christopher Ward The Twelve Xander is hand-painted on eight different components of the watch’s movement.
Christopher Ward has been one of T3’s favourite watch manufacturers for years now, and its latest timepiece just strengthens that statement. Getting my vote for the watch of the summer, Christopher Ward has just collaborated with The Dial Artist on its new The Twelve Xander watch.
At a quick glance, The Twelve Xander is an undeniably colourful watch but when you take a closer look, you’ll realise just how impressive it is. British artist, Chris Alexander – also known as The Dial Artist – hand-painted more than 1,3000 individual movement components of The Twelve Xander across the edition.
In his Scotland studio, Chris Alexander spent 900 hours bringing The Twelve Xander to life. Inspired by street art and graffiti, the watch may look like it’s just been splashed with a paintbrush but it’s much more intricate than that.
The Twelve Xander is based on Christopher Ward’s The Twelve X (Ti) skeletonised design. It’s powered by the Calibre CW-001 movement which has had eight of its visible components hand-painted to give it a colourful street art effect.
Measuring 41mm, the case is made from Grade 2 and 5 titanium. The movement can be seen via the dial and caseback, and it gives the watch 120 hours of power reserve and 100 metre water resistance. I love the colours used in this watch but even more so when you turn it over.
By flipping over The Twelve Xander, you can see the different bridges and cogs that are interlaced with vibrant colours and patterns. Christopher Ward is written atop the movement, and engraved into the titanium case is ‘Hand Painted By Chris Alexander The Dial Artist’.
When speaking about the watch, Chris said “It’s meant to look chaotic. It’s meant to look fast. It’s meant to look as if I’ve just taken a paintbrush and splattered paint. Unfortunately, I wish it were that easy. Every single part goes through a multi-stage process of priming, airbrushing, hand-painting and hand finishing.”
Finished with a choice of an integrated titanium bracelet or white rubber strap, the Christopher Ward x The Dial Artist The Twelve Xander is limited to just 150 pieces. Available from 10th July, prices start at £4,325 / $5,995 / €5,625.
