Friendly Knowledge Share of the CWE 2.0 LE
Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2021 12:29 pm
PS. LONG POST ALERT (I realise now it’s written and this bit just makes it longer)!
Hi everyone, still quite new here and honestly haven’t posted much as I’ve been busy with other things, particularly in the (FB) CWE... though perhaps of little interest to many here?
One of the guys tried to start a new CWE LE after several years’ hiatus and the usual, awkward and predictable cycle ensued: 5,000 members, 5,001 opinions; and he had to give up. Another chap agreed to take over but also faced the daunting prospect of trying to garner and unify opinion across a massively diverse membership base, so nothing really moved for a while.
Personally I wanted CW to make us 50-100 Batman-style C60s much like Prof. Glenn’s prototype but no chance unless we were making 100 or 300. Homages are a hard sell anyway! Moving on and I’d been considering the C60 Blue for quite some time but as with the Sapphire I just don’t get on with the little black screws that hold the dial in. Just personal preference but I do love the case and bezel - especially the lume - despite normally being a 42mm+ guy.
Enter stage left the C63 Sealander and a crisp white dial with no logo at 9 that would complement a blue bezel perfectly. I set about mocking up a few designs including the C60 Blue LE bezel, one with the C63 dial, another with a blue ombré dial and a third frankenwatch blue dial / red bezel combo I actually rather like but might mash together myself.
So I got in touch with CW and sent the designs over for ridicule but with the other two guys back involved we pushed until they finally found 30 spare C60 Blue LE cases and bezels hidden in Switzerland on top of the repair parts allocation they needed for future servicing.
The C63 dial was an obvious non-starter in the C60 case for reasons of mechanical fit but a white C60 dial was an easy win with no logo at 9, Twin Flags at 12, LE text at 6, standard SW200 date at 3 and a full sized index baton to replace the logo.
Given CW have no white dial, blue bezel at the moment this is the perfect respectful nod to the original CWE Mk2 Trident in an updated Mk3 guise without the red, white and blue colourway - gone are the days of 50 spare red seconds hands lying around for us to snag!
We considered using the handset from the C60 Blue LE with pale blue seconds hand but then all we would have is effectively an existing LE redialled to white and there is already enough pale blue on the design. Orange highlights were considered but quickly excluded...
Finally an exhibition caseback with a new printed blue ‘halo’ that CW have been wanting to trial for a while was offered and accepted within seconds! So there you have it, the CWE 2.0 LE in all it’s mocked-up glory. Prototypes arrive in August with delivery in December.
Sadly it is so highly limited that allocation will be a logistical challenge and we are already well over-subscribed with initial declarations of intention to purchase. I pondered the appropriateness of discussing this LE in here but one of your senior members agreed it made sense as we all have a common interest and it might spark new impetus for another FLE?
My advice, if worth anything, is just have someone with a unitary vision to spec up a cool watch and enough people will be there to buy it. How on earth you shift 100 or 300 for a fully bespoke design though I’d love to know, but always willing to help if I can. Cheers all!
PS. Our project code name was Evil Eye Trident (or Nazar Trident) although that doesn’t seem to have taken off with the masses just yet...
Hi everyone, still quite new here and honestly haven’t posted much as I’ve been busy with other things, particularly in the (FB) CWE... though perhaps of little interest to many here?
One of the guys tried to start a new CWE LE after several years’ hiatus and the usual, awkward and predictable cycle ensued: 5,000 members, 5,001 opinions; and he had to give up. Another chap agreed to take over but also faced the daunting prospect of trying to garner and unify opinion across a massively diverse membership base, so nothing really moved for a while.
Personally I wanted CW to make us 50-100 Batman-style C60s much like Prof. Glenn’s prototype but no chance unless we were making 100 or 300. Homages are a hard sell anyway! Moving on and I’d been considering the C60 Blue for quite some time but as with the Sapphire I just don’t get on with the little black screws that hold the dial in. Just personal preference but I do love the case and bezel - especially the lume - despite normally being a 42mm+ guy.
Enter stage left the C63 Sealander and a crisp white dial with no logo at 9 that would complement a blue bezel perfectly. I set about mocking up a few designs including the C60 Blue LE bezel, one with the C63 dial, another with a blue ombré dial and a third frankenwatch blue dial / red bezel combo I actually rather like but might mash together myself.
So I got in touch with CW and sent the designs over for ridicule but with the other two guys back involved we pushed until they finally found 30 spare C60 Blue LE cases and bezels hidden in Switzerland on top of the repair parts allocation they needed for future servicing.
The C63 dial was an obvious non-starter in the C60 case for reasons of mechanical fit but a white C60 dial was an easy win with no logo at 9, Twin Flags at 12, LE text at 6, standard SW200 date at 3 and a full sized index baton to replace the logo.
Given CW have no white dial, blue bezel at the moment this is the perfect respectful nod to the original CWE Mk2 Trident in an updated Mk3 guise without the red, white and blue colourway - gone are the days of 50 spare red seconds hands lying around for us to snag!
We considered using the handset from the C60 Blue LE with pale blue seconds hand but then all we would have is effectively an existing LE redialled to white and there is already enough pale blue on the design. Orange highlights were considered but quickly excluded...
Finally an exhibition caseback with a new printed blue ‘halo’ that CW have been wanting to trial for a while was offered and accepted within seconds! So there you have it, the CWE 2.0 LE in all it’s mocked-up glory. Prototypes arrive in August with delivery in December.
Sadly it is so highly limited that allocation will be a logistical challenge and we are already well over-subscribed with initial declarations of intention to purchase. I pondered the appropriateness of discussing this LE in here but one of your senior members agreed it made sense as we all have a common interest and it might spark new impetus for another FLE?
My advice, if worth anything, is just have someone with a unitary vision to spec up a cool watch and enough people will be there to buy it. How on earth you shift 100 or 300 for a fully bespoke design though I’d love to know, but always willing to help if I can. Cheers all!
PS. Our project code name was Evil Eye Trident (or Nazar Trident) although that doesn’t seem to have taken off with the masses just yet...