Luxury watch maker Christopher Ward celebrates the 75th anniversary year of the Battle of Britain by unveiling the C8 P7350 Chronometer – 75-piece Limited Edition.
Commemorating the extraordinary contribution of one of Britain’s most iconic symbols, the Supermarine Spitfire, this new limited edition model literally incorporates a piece of that history – a fragment of original Dualumin from the oldest, most original and historically significant airworthy Spitfire to have flown in the battle, P7350. Indeed, “P7” is the only Spitfire still flying that actually flew in the Battle of Britain and today is part of the RAF’s Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF). The metal was retrieved by Christopher Ward’s historic metal partner, TMB ArtMetal, following essential restoration work on the plane in 2008 carried out by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.
The design of the 44mm C8 Chronometer is actually based on the Smith Mk II A clock that was used in P7’s cockpit, including a careful matching of the original index fonts and colours and the black, anti-reflective case. The SuperLuminova™ SLN C5 and T-C1 paints use green and blue emissions respectively.
The reverse of the watch reveals a piece of metal from the P7’s cockpit protected by highly scratch-resistant, museum-grade sapphire crystal. A silhouette of the plane’s plan has been precision-cut into the metal, showing the registration and unmistakable elliptical wing formation to great effect.
The C8 P7350 houses a small-second, hand-wound version of Christopher Ward’s groundbreaking in-house movement, Calibre SH21, launched in July 2014. As well as providing 120 hours of power via SH21’s twin barrels, each movement is a certified chronometer through COSC, further testifying to its quality and accuracy.
Adding to the very special nature of this remarkable watch, Christopher Ward have arranged with the BBMF for the 75 limited edition models and their fragments of P7350 to actually take to the skies as part of a Spitfire flypast on 18th June. The flypast is the centrepiece of a Battle of Britain commemorative evening at Bentley Priory, home of the Battle of Britain Museum. Christopher Ward have taken a table at the event and, from the pre-order list of customers for the new model, will be inviting two customers and their guest to attend and be presented with their numbered, limited edition watch.
The C8 P7350 is priced at £3495/US$4800/€4500 and is offered in a limited edition of just 75 watches. Pre-orders will be strictly limited to one per person.
Technical details
Model: C8 P7350, Swiss made chronometer
Special limited edition of only 75 pieces
Movement
27 jewel in-house hand-wound mechanical chronometer with historic metal from Supermarine Spitfire P7350 embedded into back-plate
COSC certified
5 day power reserve
Small seconds sub-dial
Anti-shock system
Vibrations: 28.800 per hour
Timing tolerance: +6/-4 seconds per day
Case
44mm marine grade, stainless steel case with PVD black coating
Diameter: 44mm
Height: 12.3mm
Water resistant to 50m/150ft
Museum-grade sapphire crystal
Diamond shaped aviator crown
Individual engraved serial number
Dial
Dial Colour: Black
Smith’s cockpit clock inspired dial and hands
Two colour SuperLuminova indexes with blue and green emissions
Strap
Premium quality leather strap with CW motif buckle
Strap width: 22mm
Strap length: 124mm x 82mm
Packaging
Deluxe box and owner’s handbook and Certificate of Provenance
