Christopher Ward's Latest Features Metal From Historic Aston Martin
If you read our recent review, you'll know that Christopher Ward has made a name for itself producing high-quality timepieces that cost significantly less than the competition – typically selling for hundreds, not thousands of dollars. So why does this one cost $2,675?
It's not the movement, which is quartz – albeit a high-quality, COSC-certified, Swiss-made quartz movement. And it's not made of gold or embedded with little diamonds, either. What makes this particular timepiece stand out is the actual sheet metal from the Aston Martin DBR1/2 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1959.
The car in question, which marked Aston's only all-out victory at Le Mans in the company's hundred-year history, recently sold for £20 million, making it one of the most expensive cars ever sold at auction. While undergoing restoration, TMBArtMetal helped Ward acquire a piece of original sheetmetal from the car, from which it has crafted special backplates for a limited run of its C70 DBR1 Chronometer.
"We had been looking for something special to mark this occasion," notes Christopher Ward. "And when Christopher Bennett of TMBArtMetal showed us the piece of aluminium that formed part of the winning Aston Martin DBR1/2 in the Le Mans 24 hour race of 1959 – our wildest hopes were immediately exceeded."
The medallion sits under the same museum-quality sapphire crystal as the face and is etched with the same number 5 as the car wore on that fateful day. The rest of the 42mm case is made of marine-grade stainless steel, with a metallic British racing green dial and an Italian brown leather strap, top stitched in tan and perforated through which the red underside can be seen. Only 100 examples will be made, and are available for pre-order now for delivery in November.