A Trio of Rapides

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gaf1958
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A Trio of Rapides

Post by gaf1958 »

So... I had a C7 MkIII, but I initially bought a quartz one; loved the dial, but was disappointed that it didn’t have the “signature” hollow lugs and coloured mid-case. I later sold it and toyed with the idea of getting an automatic. Queue the archive sale late last year and the later arrival of the orange / blue C7 day/date prototype at gaf towers...

Love it. It arrived on the yellow-brown suede leather strap that seems to be popular at the moment and matches the watch perfectly. I bought a bracelet for it, and while I like the look, it does hide a large part of one of the big features of the watch - the orange mid-case!

This is - seriously - a great case. The case is one of the nicest looking ones I’ve ever seen, and I’ve owned one or two watches in my time. I understand from comments on the forum that the numerals on the dial are not to everyone’s taste, but they *are* to mine. :)

I recently posted a WTB for a C7 Hornet Image and found it answered very quickly - the Hornet has now landed on my door, coincidentally the same day I received a 55% off black dialled steel finish C7 auto.

The Hornet is a lovely looking piece if kit - only my second PVD watch out of perhaps a hundred kicking around at the moment. I’m quite particular these days about all black watches. In my mind, they need something bright and blatantly obvious to lift them out of all black obscurity and make them “sing” on the wrist. My C600 Tri-Tech Elite has a black case, bezel and bracelet, with a black dial, but has the most outrageously vivid lime green hands and hour markers, providing that “pop” of colour that makes it unique.

The Hornet has an all black case and dial, with a basically black strap, but instead of green it uses orange Image to provide the colour pop. The hands and hour markers are orange, but so too, is the mid-case. Similar in concept to the C600, but very different in execution. The orange mid-case is also, quite a different orange to that found on my prototype. It’s darker, with almost a burnished coppery tinge to it, whereas the prototype is a lighter, brighter orange, almost tending toward a yellow-orange. It matches the prototype’s second hand nicely.

The standard automatic C7 has a black mid-case, which I was hoping I would not find too disappointing. It’s not. The black mid case, has a class all of its own and matched with the black dial and red second hand, looks fabulous. It arrived on the same yellowish suede strap that was fitted to my prototype, which did not suit it at all. Fortunately, that gives me a brand new spare for the prototype, which looks terrific on that strap. What to do? The bracelet I bought to go with the prototype has been fitted and, my god, it looks great. What looked “pretty good” on the orange mid-case of the prototype, looks fabulous on the standard black mid-case.

So I’ve ended up putting the standard auto on the bracelet, keeping the prototype on the standard strap and putting the Hornet on a Hirsch black leather & orange rubber strap that matches nicely, with the orange matching the hands/markers more so than the mid-case.

So here are some photos. Quite a few photos...

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

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And some wristshots...

Image

Image

Image

Image
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by Thegreyman »

A great looking trio Gary and I think really excellent choice for the strap you have made for each of them.

The Hornet's orange quite difficult to get a match for but the Hirsch goes well, despite the orange being a slightly brighter shade.
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by Clach77 »

Fantastic collection Gary. :thumbup:

I keep looking at the Hornet, then remember that I’m trying not to buy any more black watches. It does look great.
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

Top notch trio Gary.

Glad to hear that your WTB for a Hornet was responded to so swiftly. :wink:

Enjoy all three.

Guy



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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by 0uatiOW »

Great little collection there. I’m with you as a fan of the Rapide - just can’t understand why they haven’t sold like hot cakes. I have my ‘standard automatic’ as you call it, also black, on the bracelet and it looks amazing (all brushed, well done CW 👍), giving some much needed stability, as I found it just a little too light on the original black/red piccari leather strap.

Your prototype looks fantastic. The dial has plenty of room to fit the day window without looking cluttered, and like the other two, the balance is perfect, with the twin flags at 12, and crucially, the use of identical indexes at 3 & 9. So often a date at 3 requires a different index or none at all, and that irritates me.
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by H0rati0 »

Gorgeous. I too have toyed with the idea of a C7 but my rule against coatings prevents. Pity......

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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by monkeymax »

Great photos of lovely watches. The C7 never massively appealed to me from the photos on the CW site, but these photos make me realise the error of my ways! Especially as a life-long fan of Orange! I know that you can use the 60/60 but the problem is that every time I think about that, I talk myself out of it somehow... Loving the blue & orange prototype most of all though, I think. Nice trio Gary!
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by stefs »

Thanks for that Gaz. very interesting. I know it is too big for me but at some point I have to try one of those Hornets...really striking watch :thumbup:
Cheers now, Paul
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by Essex Paul »

Love the blue face on camel strap. :thumbup:
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by StrapMeister »

A great write up and some amazing watches...nice one Gary :thumbup:

Re: the straps, on the whole they work well.
I can see that the Hirsch strap on the Hornet would also work well on the blue dial C7 - talking of which, I'm personally not sure about that camel strap on the blue dial C7. I would go for something like an Dassari M5 in blue and orange (https://www.dassari.com/product/m5/) or a Jonathan GP298 Pro in black and orange (https://www.watchgecko.com/jonathan-gp-298-pro-perf.php).

Mid-case colours could almost be described as Gold Orange and a Copper Orange.

Reading about your thoughts on all black watches...
In my mind, they need something bright and blatantly obvious to lift them out of all black obscurity and make them “sing” on the wrist. My C600 Tri-Tech Elite has a black case, bezel and bracelet, with a black dial, but has the most outrageously vivid lime green hands and hour markers, providing that “pop” of colour that makes it unique.
In my opinion, you've "hit the nail on the head" as to say, that is, I've just realised :idee: (and yes it's taken me some time) that I'm of the same opinion when it comes to all black watches (in that they need that "pop" of colour) and why I have in the past not kept them long.
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by albionphoto »

0uatiOW wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:42 am Great little collection there. I’m with you as a fan of the Rapide - just can’t understand why they haven’t sold like hot cakes.
In my case (pardon the pun) I loved the case but hated the dials. I'm not a fan of those big arabic numbers at all. I guess the numbers fit the motorsport theme but there are other ways to do a motorsport watch without them. I'd love to see the C7 case used again but with more subtle dial designs (the C60 Trident comes to mind) and without the big numbers.
The dial design of the C65 is why I have avoided temptation there too, I can't abide the numbers at 6 and 12. Weird ain't I.
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by Molan »

I’ve somehow amassed a collection of these as well now!

Started with the white panda and blue LE COSC quartz and soon followed with the blue face auto.

Then couldn’t resist the red/dlc prototype just before Xmas.

After that I spotted others in the sale so bought a couple to compare - both black face but one is the dlc with a red band and the other the steel case with black band.

I also have 4 of the previous collection - it’s possible I may have a problem. . .
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by Viognier »

Fantastic mini-review Gary, I learned a few C7 things from that!

Enjoyed the pictures and that Hirsch strap on the Hornet is absolutely on point!
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by MiniMpi »

Such a fantastic trio Gary !
Congratulations on having all three of those. Perfect straps for each watch too.
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Re: A Trio of Rapides

Post by 0uatiOW »

albionphoto wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:22 pm
0uatiOW wrote: Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:42 am Great little collection there. I’m with you as a fan of the Rapide - just can’t understand why they haven’t sold like hot cakes.
In my case (pardon the pun) I loved the case but hated the dials. I'm not a fan of those big arabic numbers at all. I guess the numbers fit the motorsport theme but there are other ways to do a motorsport watch without them. I'd love to see the C7 case used again but with more subtle dial designs (the C60 Trident comes to mind) and without the big numbers.
The dial design of the C65 is why I have avoided temptation there too, I can't abide the numbers at 6 and 12. Weird ain't I.
From the Edinburgh GTG, it would seem I’m the weird one. One of the founders, can’t remember which one, because I was multi-tasking at the time, referred to the C7 as “a disappointment”. My only disappointment with it is that I bought mine before the sale. :-(
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