Anyone own a Edouard Lauzières or a christopher ward

[petertb]

HI,
I'm interested in a EL watch with the Claro 888 movement. Does anyone know how good the watches are?

How about the movement, is it accurate, reliable, with a nice "sweep"?

What about the Chris ward automatics? How do the two brands compare?

I'd be grateful for any information I could get.

Regards,

Petertb

[ulackfocus]

Hi Peter; welcome to Watch Talk Forums. We have several members who own one of these brands, and maybe a member who owns one of each. They're both very nice watches and great values.

[BP348]

As Dennis sted there are members whith each or both. As I understand EL even had a limited edition WTF watch. I was going to buy one but I had some car problems the ate up the money I was going to use to buy one

The CW are very nice as well. I have my eye on a CW C1 right now.

[petertb]

Thanks. How about the movement, is it chinese - I'e read conflicting reports - it it any good?

Petertb

[vik]

Hi, new here. just finishing my degree and becoming very interested in watches :)

my first purchase (and start of my collection) is intended to be a dress watch (gradball + several weddings) and unfortunately given my unemployed student status (only a few more months) i can't quite afford the Longines etc.

i was looking at EL Park Avenue vs CW Malvern 5

please provide some opinions on which one to go for and why

[ulackfocus]

Welcome vik. You're looking at 2 very nice watches. Both are great pieces, and we have members who rave about them. I'm currently comparing a Malvern C5 with an IWC Spitfire. Initial impressions are that it's quite a product for the money! Have a look through this forum for threads on both companies - you'll find a lot of praise for each of them. And EL's own James Elsener is a member and contributor here. (he frequently sets us straight when our speculation goes down the wrong path) As far as which one to buy, I think that will be ultimately a choice based on which looks better to you since by all accounts the performance and value is about even. Good luck with your decision, and post a few pics when you receive your watch.

[bio]

I found this from another forum, where James talks about the EL-18 movement:
"What do we do with the movement? Routinely, we receive them fully built up from SEMAG. Each movement is taken apart again. It is cleaned using a special solvent that takes all residues of oils and grease off. Then the movement is oiled and greased up again, re-built from scratch using different shock-absorbers, screws made of extra-hard 904 L steel, all screws are blued by hand using temperature and not chemicals. The rotor SEMAG supplies is thrown away. Our own rotors carrying the Geneva stripes etching are used. These rotors have a higher density of material and every single rotor is calibrated to its movement. The rotor is swinging on around a ball-bearing. The latter being specially made for us as well. Then the movement is calibrated again and housed. Once it is housed we calibrate it again."

[popol]

I own the Chris Ward Malvern 5. I also own a Gevril GV2 with the CL-888.

The Malvern come with the Selita SW-200. That movement have a very nice and smooth sweep movement.

The CL-888 sweep movement is not nice as the SW200. About the reliability, it seem to be reliable and popular in Europe.

I didn't had any problem with it yet.

I also own several watches with the SW200 and didn't had any problem with them also.

Finally, i think Chris Ward have a more classy look than the EL, just IMO.

[ulackfocus]

The Malvern come with the Selita SW-200.

Some of them come with the ETA 2824. Apparently you can tell by the number of jewels - 25 for the ETA; 26 for the SW.

BTW, the sweep is very smooth on the ETA as well. It's one of the first things you notice.

[Solex]

I have a Chris Ward Malvern watch, it has an ETA movement and I cannot fault the whole thing: excellent build quality, high quality box and packaging, customer service that's second to none, and of course very good value for money. I went on to buy two others from them. They also look better in person than on the photos.
The auto movement likes to be worn; if I wear it daily I have had +2 a day out of it, although on a winder it runs more like +10 a day.
Hope this helps.