Christopher Ward has announced its biggest and most rugged Sealander yet, the C63 Sealander Extreme GMT.
At 41mm, the fully brushed stainless steel case combines tactical aesthetics with anti-reflective surfaces to deliver a hardcore explorer’s watch that means business.
Features such as the ceramic fixed bezel, which contains lume-filled markers, shift the C63 Sealander GMT up a level in terms of functionality and robustness.
If you’ve been around watches for a while, you’ll understand how they evolve. Larger historic brands have the luxury of making glacially slow changes, often taking decades. Usually, as enthusiasts, we pine for potential new features to appear as models evolve, and inevitably, as brands rarely give in to the crowd, we get disappointed. Independent brands like Christopher Ward seem to have the upper hand in this scenario. Not only can the evolution of their watches move faster, but they can also add precisely what everyone wants.
The C63 Sealander GMT has been with us since 2021 and has gone on to prove itself to be a worthy explorer’s GMT with polar vibes, if you catch our drift. It could be argued, though, that the 39mm Sealander lacked enough rugged, hardcore appeal and needed to toughen up a bit. And so, Christopher Ward has gone and beefed it up —not just in size, but in everything.
The C63 Sealander Extreme GMT’s stainless steel case has bulked up to 41mm, making this the largest Sealander from the brand to date. The overall proportions have slightly expanded, with a 48mm lug-to-lug measurement, alongside a thickness of 11.65mm. Visually, the heft is softened by the subtle crown guards and chamfered case edges. This growth certainly doesn’t size the watch out of the market, though, as there are other notable watches in this niche that are around the same size.
As a rugged, adventure-focused watch, it features a fully brushed surface that reflects little and provides reasonable general scratch protection from normal wear and tear. The new lume-filled ceramic bezel goes further than that, with its ultra-hard, scratch-resistant surface keeping the bezel looking fresh and clean. The rear of the watch is closed with an embossed, lightweight case back that’s screwed down, providing the case with a reasonable 150 meters of water resistance.
Two dial options have appeared for the Sealander Extreme, and as you might expect, they’re perhaps more outdoors-centric than the standard model’s polar white dial. Available in either charcoal black or khaki green, both dials feature a fine-textured finish, paired with a matte-black-coated handset, and, of course, the bold orange GMT hand and tip of the seconds hand.
One of the most significant changes about this dial is the lume. The indices are solid, three-dimensional blocks of Globolight luminous ceramic, with the hour and minute hands also featuring big blocks of solid Globolight. This gives it a really Tudor Black Bay Pro vibe, and it suits the functional aesthetic, because at night, these things glow like crazy. Finally, a colour-matched date window at 6 o’clock is subtly added, uninterupting what is, on the whole, an extremely legible dial.
Under the hood sits the Sellita SW330-2 automatic movement, which also features in the other Sealander GMT models. A member of the SW300 family of movements, it features a 56-hour power reserve while beating at 28,800 Vph, and is a true GMT movement, allowing for quick setting of the GMT hand and date.
To add to the watch’s extreme intentions, the movement is housed in a specially designed rubber shock-absorber system within the case. A flexible ring links the mount to the outer case, allowing the movement and inner case to ‘float’ independently for maximum protection against shocks, working in unison with the movement’s Incabloc shock protection system.
Another Christopher Ward product to debut with this release is the all-new “V-strap”, a highly durable, two-piece Cordura strap that tapers by 4mm and fastens securely with Velcro. This chunky new strap features laser-etched stainless steel hardware and is available in either a vibrant orange or a much more stealthy black, and of course, in different sizes for different wrists.
If steel bracelets are more your thing, the Sealander Extreme GMT is also available on Christopher Ward’s 3-link stainless steel Bader bracelet. This has been fully brushed, just like the case, and integrates quick-release spring bars, should you wish to swap it out for the new V-strap.
Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Extreme GMT pricing and availability
The Christopher Ward C63 Sealander Extreme GMT is available now from Christopher Ward and via the Time & Tide Shop. Price: US$1,785 (V-strap), US$1,995 (bracelet)
Brand
Christopher Ward
Model
C63 Sealander Extreme GMT
Case Dimensions
41mm (D) x 11.65mm(T) x 48mm(LTL)
Case Material
Stainless steel, ceramic bezel
Water Resistance
150 meters
Crystal(s)
Sapphire with anti-reflective coating
Dial
Fine-textured green or black, block Globolight lume indices
Lug Width
22mm
Bracelet
Cordura V-Strap in black or orange
3-link stainless steel bracelet
Movement
Sellita SW330-2, automatic
Power Reserve
56 hours
Functions
Hours, minutes, seconds, date, GMT
Availability
Now
Price
US$1,795 (strap)
US$1,995 (bracelet)