But, to back up, in early 2024, we reached out to Mike France, co-founder and CEO of Christopher Ward, to initiate conversations about creating a limited edition once again. With no preconceived notions of what direction this new collaboration could take, at some point during our kickoff call with Mike, Will Brackfield, and Jörg Bader Jr., Mike surprised his team by saying something along the lines of “Should we show them the new one?” After the shock settled, they pulled up early drawings of what was to become the C12 Loco. In awe, we said, as coolly and calmly as we could muster, that yes, we would be excited to go with the C12 Loco (then just called the open balance).
Over the next few months, concepts and general directions were shared, including the potential for the new collaboration to follow up on the first. A Loco Sandstorm, if you will. This was all happening concurrently to the C12 going through its final development, which, if you’ve seen the brand’s lovely documentary (featuring us truly), you’ll know, had its ups and downs. About halfway through the process, probably around two or three rounds of concept refinement in, Mike, on a call with their design team, politely suggested that he thought we should start over. That (paraphrasing from memory), the project needed to be more grounded, and that said ground should focus on Worn & Wound, our hometown of Brooklyn, and our story.
With the 10th anniversary of Windup Watch Fair just a little over a year away as the target launch date, this idea made sense. Although we’re not ones to celebrate ourselves, a milestone is a milestone, and with the C12 Loco as our conduit, we knew we were on the right track. But what to do? If there’s one thing we despise in watches, it’s literalism. We didn’t want to put a map on the dial, or the Brooklyn Bridge, a bunch of W&W logos, etc. And then it hit us, we just needed to look up.
Worn & Wound
2025-10-13 12:00:00