Christopher Ward The Twelve 40 (Ti) Hot

Integrated bracelet sports watches are all the rage, and understandably so: tough, handsome and sophisticated, they make the perfect day-into-night companion. The problem is, the best of them command the sort of intimidatingly high price tag that’s anathema to Christopher Ward. And they’re often intimidatingly heavy too: great chunks of steel that are hefty by design

Quite the impasse. But we’re here to say that you can have it all, and here’s the watch to prove it. The Twelve Ti takes the distinctive semi-industrial, quasi-nautical sensibilities of celebrated designer Gérald Genta, all sharp creases, exposed screw heads, textured dials and unusual bezels, and reimagines them for the world most of us live in.

As with all Twelves, it’s boldly designed, the unique twelve-sided bezel looking, from some angles, like a range of low, smooth arches. It has a heavily textured three-dimensional dial too, built of tiny pyramids. And it’s all rendered in grade II titanium, a metal with many benefits, but one that’s notoriously difficult to finish pleasingly. Even now, integrated bracelet titanium watches are rare beasts indeed.

We did it, though, because switching metals promised to be a game-changer. This is a watch style that tends to throw its weight around – both physically and metaphorically – and to remove much of that heaviness reinvents the genre. At just 41g – a whole 24g less than the steel model – wearing The Twelve Ti becomes a totally new experience.

The Ti differs in other ways, too, inside lives a more sophisticated movement than the one in the standard steel model too. Sellita’s SW300-1 boasts chronometer certification and longer 56-hour power reserve, while its slimmer size allows for an even more wrist-hugging case. Indeed, it’s just 8.95mm tall, a full millimetre shorter than the steel version – just another remarkable stat about a remarkable watch.