CHRISTOPHER WARD OF LONDON FACES UP TO THE BIG NAMES

CHRISTOPHER Ward is proud of his watches. With Swiss-made mechanisms and quartz movements, they are as good on the inside as many selling at 10 times the price, he says.

With classic English faces and diamond-encrusted cases, his range of 200 watches is a fair match to the likes of Gucci, Tag Heuer and Omega on the outside, too, he reckons. But Christopher Ward watches are missing one vital element: a brand name.

Despite selling watches that Ward says are as good as, if not better than, the well-known names, he needs to convince the watch-buying public of that if he is to see his pounds 1m business reach its pounds 15m income target in a market worth an estimated pounds 850m.

"Having a good quality watch is seen as something of a status symbol,'' said Ward. That's his problem: flashing a watch with the Longines logo or Breitling badge is an instant way to broadcast affluence, he admits. Despite the pedigree of its components, it's here that a Ward watch wanes a little. It may use the same Swiss-made timing, Far Eastern-produced cases and Italian leather straps as its better-known rivals, but without the same big marketing budgets, celebrity endorsements and high street shop window space, Christopher Ward has to rely on other ways to reach the target market. It's that lack of a costly ad campaign and high profile ambassadors that allows him to sell watches so much cheaper, he says. Ward only sells his watches online and if any famous fashion icon wants to wear a Ward watch they'll have to log on and buy like anyone else, he says.

"I'm not paying anyone to wear my watches, I want people to pay me. We're not into that ethos that surrounds perfumes and Prada bags. One of the reasons why we are able to offer watches for a fraction of the price is that we don't have to pay Tiger Woods or Nicole Kidman to wear one.''

The Ward sales pitch is simple ... Why pay pounds 1,620 for a Longines La Grande Classique when you can buy an equivalent Christopher Ward Divine Ronde diamond for pounds 275?

"Ours is better, but we can only prove that once they get the product in their hand - or on their wrist,'' said Ward, who trained as a watchmaker after a career as a buyer with the likes of Littlewoods and Olympus.

Last year Ward sold 5,000 watches at an average price of £200. His most expensive is pounds 450. "I don't think of our watches as cheap, £200 is still a big slice out of a pay cheque for most people.''

He plans to expand the range to include watches aimed at the highly brand-conscious younger market.

"We are also planning a £1,000 watch. The equivalent Longines would cost £10,000,'' he said. The aim this year is to double sales, and turn a profit for the first time - the target is 10pc pre-tax margin.

The bulk of this year's business, 85pc, was generated by one mail shot. It has prompted Ward to contemplate progressing his online business into a mail order firm with a coffee-table type brochure.

"We mailed 300,000 catalogues and got a 1.4pc conversion rate. If we mailed out 3m, we'd sell 42,000 watches on the back of it. And that's just from the UK. There's no reason why we can't do the same in the US, Canada or France. We are only scratching the surface at the moment.''

He targets the same aspiring 35- to 50-year-olds as the big name brands.

"But we are something of an anti-brand. As you get older you become a little more discerning. Luckily, there are a lot of smart buyers out there who realise one reason you pay pounds 3,000 for a Breitling is to cover the cost of paying John Travolta to endorse it.''

Christopher Ward London was created three years ago by Ward and financed by Mike France and Peter Ellis. The Berkshire-based business is owned equally between all three. "We realised that there was a gap in the market. We wanted to produce the cheapest 'most expensive' watches in the world,'' Ward said.

The firm outsources most activities - including marketing, customer care and design, alongside the watch assembly, which is currently done in the Far East but which will soon move to Switzerland.

"We don't use agents or distributors, who add a 40pc margin, and we don't use retailers who demand evidence of a marketing campaign to guarantee window space.''

With the exception of Google ads, the business model precludes advertising. "We rely on referrals - 26pc of our customers came to us by word of mouth.''

So unless you are told otherwise, those people who are looking for a quality timepiece will be left wondering, as they contemplate a Cartier, just what a Christopher Ward watch is all about.

"When you see a Christopher Ward watch you'll either think it's in the £50,000 bracket - and that's why you've never heard of it - or that it's a piece of tat. When you are an unknown brand, a lower price gives the perception of cheap. The problem we have is convincing people that's not the case.''