CWC Navy Eighty CD-1: those sword hands still do it for me

I really like the Navy Eighty CD-1, especially the blue version with white hands. The sword hands, broad markers and compact-looking case give me most of what I want from this sort of diver. CWC has left the face readable, and the ceramic bezel adds a little shine without turning the whole watch into jewelry. I would happily spend a while comparing the lume options.

There are five executions: blue with dark vintage lume and white hands; blue with BGW9 and either white or silver hands; and black with light vintage lume and either white or silver hands. They share the Navy Eighty CD-1 platform and item code 74144. I prefer the cleaner contrast of white hands, but the warmer markers change the mood enough that I wouldn't choose from a small thumbnail.

CWC links the design to its 1980 Royal Navy diver. The current watch uses a ceramic bezel insert, applied markers and a Sellita SW200-1 Top Grade automatic. I like seeing a familiar serviceable movement here. I would care more about the actual regulation and the eventual service arrangement than about discovering an obscure caliber merely to make the specification list sound more expensive.

The case is 41 mm without the crown, 47 mm from lug to lug and 12.7 mm from the crystal to the caseback. The maker also gives a 40 mm bezel diameter. That is useful context because the outside case measurement can exaggerate how much dial and bezel I would see on my wrist. For a 300-meter diver, the height sounds reasonable to me.

There is a sapphire crystal, screw-down crown and back, a 60-click unidirectional bezel and fixed strap bars. Fixed bars are a real choice I would need to accept. They suit the watch's purpose, but they also limit the sort of strap changes I can make. I couldn't just treat this like a normal spring-bar case and try any two-piece strap I happen to like.

The blue watch comes with a navy stretch strap, the black with a black-and-tan ribbed single-pass strap, and both also include a standard military nylon strap. I haven't worn any of them, so comfort, buckle quality and extra height from fabric under the case remain things to check. The case dimensions alone don't settle that.

CWC lists £2,500, and November 6 Hodinkee coverage introduces the five versions. The maker page itself is undated. As of November 7, 2026, I haven't verified a US dollar price, import total or US fulfillment, so it stays off the priced chart. I'm giving it 105 out of 120 bezel clicks, with the blue dial and crisp white sword hands my first choice to inspect.