Watch brands that use a person's first and last name..

It depends on the name and how it sounds. Christopher Ward sounds "strong" to me, no issue. William Wood, however, sounds like someone's porn name 😑

I's go so far as to say I like it, when the name is actually a real person.

Christopher Ward is named after one of the three co-founders of the brand. He had the most English sounding name, so they went with it.

It doesn’t bother me too much but I feel a twinge of discomfort from them. Now that I think of it, the full name is reminiscent of fashion designers. Eww

Comes down to branding for me. Before their rebrand, seeing 'Christopher Ward' in such a plain boring font on their dials was a big turn off. Now, I think they've corrected that with their current look.

I completely understand your sentiment though.

Plenty of historical examples of this with respected brands. So is the discomfort just because you remember when the brand didn't exist?

I'm afraid William Wood just became schoolboy humour once I'd shortened it to Willy Wood...

you won’t like the Trinity as they are two surname affairs.

Lucien Piccard

This how I feel about it

Girard peregaux

Weiss. Which I hope to soon purchase.

Cartier, and first name? Nope! But an icon, for sure one small but important puzzle was keeping the name simple, easy to spell and to remember and elegant the same time. 🧐

I doubt it would have become that successful and famous brand we all know today, if they used the full name: Louis-François Cartier (that no one can pronounce). And where to place the long brand name on the narrow dials? 😅

I am with you! Christopher Ward are better now they have ditched the name and just use the logo, but others with names are a turn off for me.

I’d sure have no problem owning a Felipe Pikullik or a Moritz Grossmann watch…

Jack Mason and Daniel Wellington, those names are all in the same camp. Actually same with Thomas Earnshaw. RGM is a tad better, although the whole monogram as company name thing has been old for me for about fifteen years.

I have little problem with a company being named after the founder. With most of these, it seems contrived. Back when they were smart enough to write it Chr. Ward it seemed more official. This Jack and Dan crap is for the birds though. I'm not your drinking buddy, so have some dignity and don't put a shortened nickname of products. Just because Willard Romney and Warren Wilhelm do it doesn't make it right.

Also, it always makes me think of this gag on some bad old sitcom where they pretended that "J. Crew" was a person.

Ahh! J. Petermen in Seinfeld! Coincidentally, I just received their newest catalog in the mail today.

Jack Mason! That was another brand that I dismissed just based on the name.

Not crazy at all. I've made several mini rants about it on this forum over time. One that comes to mind is in this thread: https://www.watchcrunch.com/willinsf/posts/any-watch-brands-that-are-well-liked-or-popular-that-just-don-t-do-it-for-you-232547

Where I said, Any brand where a businessman, in a fit of hubris, has put their name on the dial. I just can't go there. It's an instant 'no deal', yet I know these brands can be popular.

When queried on how many watches that would close me off from, I said:

That’s why I deliberately use the term ‘businessman’. In ye olden days, a legit watchmaker had every right to put his name on a watch. It was his creation, his work. No problem with that. So there are historical brands where I think that’s fine. But brands that have popped up over the last 10, 20, 30 years where some guy has put his name on a watch when he isn’t a watchmaker… I just find that hubris. I don’t need anyone to agree with me (although I’ve seen similar sentiments in here before), it’s simply my line in the sand.

I'm ok with this because it's simply the last name, just like so many other famous brands. What bugged me was when he had "Los Angeles, CA" on the logo! I'm glad he dropped that.

Could you name a few? I could very well hate those brand names too! hah. But all joking aside, you might be right, it could be because Chris Ward was a brand that came to existence after I really got into watches.

I agree completely - In the case of CW specifically, combined with seeing the founders/Execs being old, fat, bald, vitamin d defecient dudes i could never wear. Just me.

I think the problem with these forename+surname watch brands is that it immediately gives fashion brand vibes.

Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren ... yeah, apparently they make watches. It does not help that there is also Felipe Loreti and Daniel Wellington.

If the name is the name of the founder, and it's a watch person then it tends to be less of an issue, but even those can be vanity projects - I am thinking Roger Dubois or Richard Mille.

puts me off as well....sounds really narcissistic to name a product after your full name, I don´t even check these watches out because of that.

Be creative and come up with a product name....or do it like WAlter STOrz ---> STOWA

I don't know, I kind of have a positive bias for the ones with multiple people's names on them a la Lange or Baume & Mercier. Gives a really old school small business vibe

I really don’t like the current twin flag logo on Christopher Ward watches I feel that it cheapens the brand. I much prefer the Christopher Ward name at 12 o’clock.

I see what you mean, another person's full name on a watch. It does put me off slightly I suppose, would prefer just a single word name, but wouldn't stop me on a watch I really liked.

Well you are going to save bunch of money not buying F.P. Journe😉

Absolutely, which is why I made the distinction earlier in this thread - and make the distinction whenever this topic comes up - that it's when it's the name of a businessman on the watch, that I react. If it's the name of the actual watchmaker - a very common thing back in the day, which I said earlier, and which you have ably demonstrated here - I have no issue at all. But if it's the name of some guy, who likely doesn't know one end of a loupe from the other, but through sheer hubris needs to see his name on the dial, I avoid it.

Yes, parking the fact that they aren't watches anyone will come across anyway, rubbing shoulders with Christopher Ward, Dan Henry, and the like, the concept is very different. Although none of the people you've listed there are watchmakers, it's also true that none of them started a watch company and, in an act of hubris, put their name on the dial. If someone else does it in tribute to you, that's a whole other story/concept to my mind.

Not sure if you don't understand my meaning; the point I was making (note the, "rubbing shoulders with Christopher Ward, Dan Henry, and the like" part of what I said), is that such watches aren't available en masse, brand new, like the kind of watches I've said I don't like. I can see you've got a passion for these certain kinds of watches, but you don't have to keep hammering it home to me - especially when I'm not arguing with you over them.

I have no problem with it, in fact I prefer this version to the new version