Christopher Ward C8 Birkin's Blower TMB User guide

C8 Birkin’s Blower TMB

Limited Edition

Owner’s handbook

Time on your side...

Introduction

Contents

Birkin’s Blower 2–3

TMB Art Metal 4–5

C8 Birkin’s Blower TMB Limited Edition 6–7

Technical information 8–9

How to operate your C8 Birkin’s Blower

TMB Limited Edition 10–14

Our watch care programme 15

Keeping in touch 16

Your Christopher Ward watch has been designed

and engineered by experts to ensure not only precise

timekeeping, but also to give you a sense of pride

whenever you wear it.

You’ve made an investment, a good one, and the

aim of this handbook is to help you make the most of

it during what I hope will be a lifetime of ownership.

Christopher Ward

C8 Birkin’s Blower TMB Limited Edition

Birkin’s Blower

From one glimpse of its red bodywork, the mechanical

beauty of the Bentley Blower No.1 is obvious. Yet there

is more to this beauty than meets the eye: under the

ownership of one Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin, Blower No.1

became a record-breaking legend.

Its story is an extravagant one. Developed by Birkin,

a member of the ‘Bentley Boys’ gentlemen’s driving

club, with the intention of winning Le Mans, the

Blower was unveiled at the British International Motor

Show in 1929. Fifty supercharged Blowers were created

– the minimum number required to enter the famous

24-hour endurance race. The rst prototype, No.1,

was used for track purposes; Birkin subsequently set

a then-world record speed of 137.96mph driving

No.1 at Brooklands in 1931.

A daredevil to some, a certied lunatic to others,

Birkin pushed himself and the machine he was

driving to the limit. Look no further than the story

behind the Blower No.1’s nickname, ‘The Brooklands

Battleship’; derived from when its exhaust set the

car’s fabric body alight, Birkin expunged the re mid-

race – and then carried on driving! It’s this moniker

that is namechecked on the C8’s backplate, with the

Brooklands iconic banked track where it set a world

record also engraved into a piece of piston sourced

from Blower No.1.

But Birkin’s Blower wasn’t quite done making history

yet. Purchased by revered British watchmaker and

car collector George Daniels after Birkin’s death,

No.1 would remain in Daniels’ collection until his

passing in 2012, where it was sold at auction at

the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Its selling price?

£5,042,000 – breaking the record for the most

expensive British-built car ever sold.

C8 Birkin’s Blower TMB Limited Edition

TMB Art Metal

The latest collaboration between Christopher

Ward and TMB Art Metal, the C8 Birkin’s Blower

TMB Limited Edition focuses on the record-

breaking exploits of the Bentley Blower No.1,

as well as the legend of the man who drove it,

Sir Henry “Tim” Birkin.

Visible through museum-grade sapphire on the C8’s

reverse, a piece of piston metal has been engraved with

its chassis number, UU5871, alongside an image of Birkin

commandeering No.1 around Brooklands’ iconic banked

track – the location where the Blower set its 137.96 mph

land speed world record, an astonishing feat in 1931.

Blower No.1 was purchased from the Birkin estate in the

1970s by George Daniels – one of the most important

British watchmakers to have lived. Creator of the

co-axial escapement, an IP later purchased by Omega,

his hand-made watches each took more than 2,500

hours to complete; yet it was Daniels’ private car

collection that drew the attention of Christopher

Bennett at TMB Art Metal.

As the founder of a company dedicated to sourcing

materials of historical provenance, Christopher

personally met Daniels when tracing the piston

that would later end up in the C8 – although this

was before his involvement with CW and the wider

horological world, so Christopher readily admits his

unawareness of Daniels’ world-class talents!

With 90 watches built to commemorate 90 years

since Blower No.1 set its world record speed – one

that would stand for another two years – Bennett’s

successful eorts obtaining its piston mean you

are carrying a piece of British motorsport history,

wherever you go.

Piston metal from Birkin’s Blower No.1.

Sourced by the specialists at TMB Art Metal,

the piston was melted down and formed into

discs. The metal discs were then laser engraved

and lacquer filled with an illustration of Birkin

commandeering No.1 around Brooklands’ iconic

banked track and takes pride of place through

the C8’s exhibition caseback.

C8 Birkin’s Blower TMB Limited Edition

With the story of Birkin and his Blower No.1

already well documented in these pages, let’s

focus on the attention to detail throughout

the C8 that makes it a faithful representation

of the history and character of its subjects.

Dispensing with CW’s trademark location of numerals

at 12 and 6, the C8’s design echoes the Smiths

speedometer found inside the Blower No.1 – its

minute and pointed second hand are the same, while

the dial’s greyed area represents the car’s point of

optimum power. An outer minute track based upon

its rev counter is also included, along with an inner

track for how fast the car should be going (this was

before technology took half of the fun away).

True to the horology available when Birkin was

breaking world records, a hand-wound mechanical

movement keeps time inside the C8. The similarities

end from there, however, with the technical capability

of our Calibre SH21 in-house movement rooted rmly

in the modern era: SH21’s two barrels can store up to

120 hours of chronometer-certied timekeeping

when fully wound, while their series connection ensures

all-important precision even when their power reserve

is running low.

But the real gravitas of the C8 is drawn from its

backplate. One of Blower No.1’s pistons has been

melted down and cut into discs, and then laser

engraved and lacquer lled with an image of Birkin’s

world record-breaking run at Brooklands. With just 90

of these watches built to mark the 90th anniversary

of this milestone in British motorsport, the C8 Birkin’s

Blower TMB Limited Edition also serves as a tting

tribute to one of the greatest English cars ever built.

C8 Birkin’s Blower TMB Limited Edition

Features

–Swiss made

–Special limited edition of 90 pieces

–Disc of Bentley Blower No.1 precious metal with

‘Brooklands Battles’ engraving embedded into

exhibition backplate

–27 jewel in-house Calibre SH21 hand-wound

Chronometer

–5 day (120 hour) power reserve

–Marine-grade, sandblasted black DLC steel case

–Museum grade anti-reflective sapphire crystal

–Original Blower No.1 instrument panel inspired

dial with applied screw detailing

–Blower No.1 speedometer-influenced hands and

marking coated with SLN TC-1 SuperLumiNova®

–Crown stamped with Blower ‘No.1’ graphic

–Camel vintage oak leather strap with black DLC

sandblasted clasp

Technical information –Additional premium quality canvas webbing strap

with black DLC sandblasted clasp included

–Unique engraved individual serial number

–Deluxe presentation case with signed Certificate

of Provenance

Technical

Diameter: 44mm

Height: 11.7mm

Weight: 81g

Calibre: SH21 hand-wound

Chronometer

Case: 316L stainless steel

Water Resistance: 5 ATM (50 metres)

Vibrations: , per hour (Hz)

Timing tolerance: –/ secs per day

Lug to lug: 53.2mm

Strap: 22mm

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