Win it: The Christopher Ward C9 Harrison GMT Automatic

Reader Appreciation Week: C9 Harrison GMT Automatic – $755

Consider this week five days of saying thank you. Without your readership, your emails, your terrific comments, and your willingness to spread the word, Dappered wouldn’t exist. The collection of good guys who frequent this corner of the internet is by far the greatest achievement of this website. And to say thank you, we’ve put together five, splurge-worthy giveaways that’ll hopefully express our gratitude. Welcome to Dappered’s Reader Appreciation Week. Good luck, and thanks a million.

If Christopher Ward is the Suitsupply of the watch world, with terrific design and goal-worthy quality without getting into a stupid luxury price range, then the C9 Harrison GMT is like the Suitsupply “Sienna” line. More expensive than their base offerings, but with a few extras that are worth it for some to save up for long term.

This GMT version is the dual time-zone option of the Harrison series. Created to mark the 250th anniversary of John Harrison inventing a clock that would keep solid time at sea, these watches are designed to honor his device that solved a major problem: How the heck can we know exactly where we are in the middle of the ocean, if we don’t know what time it is?

Pendulum clocks don’t work so hot when a ship is bouncing around in the ocean. Harrison was the first person to invent a device (after numerous tries) that compensated for all the hell that the sea could throw at a time keeping device. If you ever find yourself in London, and you like watches, are fascinated by time, and appreciate the rare human character trait of unrelenting persistence, head to Greenwich and check out The Royal Observatory. Pay the extra money to go and see Harrison’s clocks. They’re something else. Then stand on the Prime Meridian and take a couple seconds to think about what that one spot means.

Back to the watch… it’s a terrific blend of modern simplicity with a slightly complicated face. The right mix for a lot of us who favor chronographs, but want something cleaner while dressed up. The second hand and GMT hand are a deep blue, and they stand out nicely against the black 24-hr GMT ring and tonal (yet still easy to read) silver hands numerals.

It’s 43mm in diameter, and noticeably larger than their 42mm Trident dive watch. A dress watch at its heart, but those Arabic indices lean slightly casual. Maybe not something you’re going to wear with a t-shirt and a pair of cut off shorts while cutting the grass, but it’ll do just fine with anything north of jeans and a shirt with a collar. Absolutely suit worthy, and then some.

Movement is the hacking, automatic Swiss ETA 2893-2. 38 hour power reserve. Anti-reflective sapphire crystal. Hand polished surgical steel case with an exhibition caseback. Brown leather band on this one with a deployant clasp. Comes with a large but not cumbersome or gargantuan presentation case. That second time zone hand can come in awfully handy if you’re a traveler, or, are close with someone who hop-scotches around the globe. A click and a couple of turns of the crown, and you can see what time it is back home, or, where your on the road acquaintance happens to be. That’s a lot of romance to have on the top of your wrist.

Enter here to win (update: entries are closed) the C9 Harrison GMT seen above. One entry per person. Deadline for entry is 11:59 pm ET 8/13/13. Thanks to Christopher Ward for providing this watch to kick off Reader Appreciation Week.

Update: Congratulations to Matt V. who won the drawing for the C9 Harrison GMT! Thanks to all who entered, and once again, thanks to Christopher Ward for providing this incredible watch.