Christopher Ward C70 DBR1 Limited Edition

The watch for sale here was originally bought by longtime Christopher Ward Chat Forum member ‘Kevin_b1’ who then sold it to fellow forum member ‘Amor Vincit Omnia’ or AVO for short. Kevin sadly lost his battle with Cancer in 2017 and AVO (real name Steve) recently auctioned the watch to raise funds for Garden House Hospice in Letchworth Garden City, where Kevin spent his final days.

So this watch has already raised a nice donation for charity and to continue its good work, the profit from this sale will be split 50% to Garden House Hospice (a charity Steve supports) and 50% to ROHHAD Association (a children’s charity I support).

Anyway, enough about the back story, what about the watch?!

The C70 DBR1 is a 500-piece Limited Edition watch which was part of the original C70 Grand Prix series launched in 2009 - selling out in a matter on months. It was followed by a 300 piece COSC version in 2011 and a 100 piece (£2,000) Art Metal edition in 2013 (if anyone has one of those they’d like to sell please let me know!).

Most Christopher Ward collectors consider the C70 DBR1 a 'must have' watch, making it a very desirable and collectable Limited Edition which doesn’t come up very often.

The C70 DBR1 pays homage to Aston Martin’s 1959 Le Mans winning DBR1. As CW put it: "The strikingly designed quartz-powered watch is a multifunction three-eye chronograph powered by the superlative ETA 251.272 movement. It also has a date window, a tachymeter bezel and is water resistant to 10atm. DBR is an acronym for David Brown Racing. Brown bought Aston Martin in 1947 when the luxury carmaker was already an iconic brand in motor racing. He went on to build on the racing heritage. The DBR1 took first and second place in Le Mans in 1959, as well as winning the world Sports Car Championship in that year."

This first edition DBR1 sold out in 2010, but as often happens at CW, former staff/press/review examples often surface after the main production run has sold out - and that’s the case with this watch, with CW selling it to Kevin in Jan 2016, some six years after its official retirement! I can say with a good degree of certainty this is likely the last and youngest DBR1 ever sold!

Condition

The C70s exposed alloy bezel and thinly applied paint make it notoriously delicate, so finding one in good condition is becoming increasingly challenging (CW has long since exhausted its supply of replacement bezels/cases).

This example has inevitably picked up a couple on bezel dings, notably at 33 min, 57 min and a couple of tiny ones at 59 and 47 min. Elsewhere you’ll find light hairlines from use on the polished surfaces, but on the whole (and baring in mind that most DBR1s are now over 12 years old) I’d say this one is in great condition and one of the best I’ve seen in a while.

The strap has the original fitted ends which are prone to splitting up around the shoulders on regularly worn examples, but this strap is in great shape with zero sign of any shoulder deterioration. It’s also fitted with the optional upgrade Bader deployant clasp instead of the original (and more delicate) butterfly style clasp.

With this being a 2016 archive find, it was originally shipped by CW in a standard 2016 case with cream internals. However I’ve ‘stolen’ the correct original presentation cases with green internals from one of my other DBR1s, so this 2016 watch now comes in a correct original case. Also included are the Certificate of Authenticity, an unused polishing cloth and two covering letters; one of which explains that there’s a PDF version of the (out of print) owner’s book available on the CW website. Note the outer cardboard box is split on one of the corners

Congratulations to anyone who’s managed to read down this far - I’ll try to keep the next watch description a bit shorter!!

Specifications

• Case size: 42mm

• Lug width: 22mm

• Height: 10.7mm

• Waterproof: 50m

• Movement: ETA 251.272 quartz

User Manual

A PDF version of the owner’s manual is available on the CW website: https://www.christopherward.com/on/demandware.static/-/Library-Sites-cw-library/default/dwa255857f/pdfs/Motorsport/c70_manual.pdf

Final Notes

• Note the first photograph is a library shot, the rest all show the actual watch and package.