CUSTOMER CARE E


eight huskie dogs is pulling a sled on Rhone-Glacier. In control is European and World Champion sled dog racer Ulrich Gerber, owner of a Christopher Ward C40 SpeedHawkTM


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Christopher Ward’s customer service team – led by the indomitable Wizzy the Wiz – deals with some odd requests. In the first of a series of her best stories we look at the intriguing tale of the sled dog racing master


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He is not racing now, but touring, as is his habit every June to make


magine the scene: it is early summer in the beautiful mountains of the Valais in Switzerland, and a team of


“Unfortunately our team got out of control and all of us – eight dogs and me – slipped, almost into a crevasse.” But the worse thing was that during the fall, Ulrich damaged his C40. First the watch was lost, then found, but smashed by the violence of the accident. “Fortunately after refitting the team I found the watch by chance,” Ulrich says, “but in a bad state, as you see on the picture.”


The intriguing case of the sled dog disaster...


the most of the last snow. As always his two children and some friends accompany him. All is going well. Ulrich takes up the story: “As you probably know, due to global warming, our glaciers are melting like ice-cream in a Finnish sauna. Passing a steep place, where there has never been a problem before, I met a completely new situation. The surface of the glacier had changed since we had toured the same place last summer. I could not turn back, so I had to pass forward.”


Ulrich is no amateur on the slopes he won the category C2 European sled dog Championship in Kandersteg in 2009, and then became World Champion in the same category in Oberwiesenthal this year. Despite his experience, a


mini-disaster struck. He goes on:


Ulrich Gerber, on the podium, with his sled dog team and the damaged C40 SpeedHawkTM


44 www.christopherward.co.uk It is at this point that Christopher


Ward’s renowned customer service stepped in. Headed by Wera Mettes, better known inside the business and on the Forum as Wizzy the Wiz. As soon as the watch arrived from Switzerland, she took over. “The damage to the watch was some of the worst I have ever seen. But we put it into the workshop to see what we could do.” And the outcome? Wizzy’s team looked at an extensive rebuild, but in the end decided to replace the watch at no cost to Ulrich – in exchange for a small mention on his sled.


Ulrich says: “I was very content with my C40 SpeedHawkTM


, which


I bought because I had wanted to be the owner of an ETA 7750 Valjoux movement chronograph watch. I was very content with the very nice Christopher Ward design and the fascinating precision.” After the CW’s Wizzy the Wiz stepped in, Ulrich Gerber can once again be happy with his C40 SpeedHawkTM


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