CHRISTOPHER WARD C7 RAPIDE AUTOMATIC SPECIAL BUILD (2020)

With the exception of a few military specials, the Christopher Ward C7 (and C70) range has always been home to their sport/motorsport inspired watches. The C7 Rapide first arrived in 2008 as a quartz chronograph and that battery chrono theme continued with the launch of the Mk2 in 2012, which was essentially a Mk1 case with some new face designs.

It wasn’t until 2017, when the C7 Rapide range got a complete overhaul, that an automatic movement became available in a C7 for the first time. The watch for sale in this listing is one of those ‘Mk3’ C7 autos - although CW never officially called it the Mk3.

In 2020, CW called time on the C7 range and cleared their store of virtually every piece (although a handful of Hornets and Rossos survived until 2021). The watch for sale here is one of the very last pieces they made. It was assembled from the spare parts of two different models; the black and the blue models. It has the face and strap from the blue model (which are usually found in silver cases with black case rings) and the case and case ring from the black model (which usually has a black face and black strap). I don’t have any exact figures on how many they made, but if previous ‘parts bin run-out specials’ are anything to go by, it’s probably in the region of 5-15.

Condition

It’s in brand new, unworn condition. Fitted with a brand new hybrid quick-release strap (one of the later, softer ones).

Supplied a s a ‘full set’ including the current bamboo box, owner’s book, warranty card and unused polishing cloth.

Also included is a high quality Zulu Diver NATO strap with a blue/black weave and red stripe (worth £20). As soon as I saw this strap I thought it would be a perfect partner for this watch’s blue, black and red colour scheme, so I had to buy it!

Specs:

• Diameter: 42mm

• Height: 11.15mm

• Calibre: Sellita SW200

• Water resistance: 10ATM (100m)

• Strap lugs: 22mm

• Lug-to-lug: 48mm

Owner’s Handbook

A PDF of the owner’s book is available on the CW website: https://www.christopherward.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-cw-library/default/dw543007a4/pdfs/Motorsport/c7-rapide-auto.pdf

Final Notes:
Note the first pic is a library shot. The rest show the actual watch and package.