CHRISTOPHER WARD C7 RAPIDE AUTOMATIC

Introduction

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.

Apart from the name and the fact that it’s a 42mm watch, the Mk3 (2017-on) C7 Rapide range has very little in common with the previous C7 models. The standout feature of the automatic watch has to be the multi-part case construction with its contrasting case/ring colours and its hollowed out lugs. Both those made it a pretty expensive watch to manufacture and pretty unique to look at.

I’m a huge fan of this design, the applied indices and textured dial means that it is an absolute winner for me - such a shame that they discontinued it.

Condition

I bought this from the original owner and it is in fabulous condition. The bezel often gets marked up, but this one is perfect. It’s a lovely example.

It’s running at +8spd on the timegrapher, so keeping decent time.

Comes complete with box, manual/certificate of authenticity and covering letter.

Strap options

It comes on its original red motorsport leather strap which is also in lovely condition. If you’d rather, I’ll swap it out for either a CW black hybrid or brown vintage oak leather strap at no cost difference, or do it head only for a discount of £40.

Warranty

It comes with a three month Ward Hoard warranty

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.