[scuba dude]

Hello again, my friends!!

Last Tuesday I received the Christopher Ward C9 Moonphase. As some already know, I won £ 1,000 to spend on the web, thanks to #makehisday contest held by Father's Day in the UK.

I had wanted to have a Moonphase and I liked this, but at the PVP (1,800 € approx) always found more interesting options. With the gift of the prize I just had to put £ 320, about 420 €, and for this price .. was clear.

Many told me I should choose a diver, but I left a few pounds without spending. Although I'm more of Dive Watches, I had long wanted to have a dress watch that met certain requirements, such as white, gold accents, 40mm .. and this had everything, including the moonphases. To cap it, I dreamed about it the night before the resolution of the contest, so pretty much I don't even think about it.

Christopher Ward C9 Moonphase

- Case 40 mm x 48 mm x 13.3mm, hand-finished stainless steel (surgical grade).
- Moonphase cetral.
- Sapphire crystal with AR.
- Moon 3D printed, semi-matt galvanized nickel.
- Dial decorated with guilloche.
- Calibre JJ04
- Blue crocodile strap with deployment clasp.

The watch comes in typical branded box, accompanied by a microfiber towel and manual:

The case combines a polished bezel with brushed side, perfectly finished. The claws are curved clock, allowing a perfect fit on the wrist, which along with its 40 mm, make it a very comfortable and very wearable watch.

It is not too thick, but offers a great sense of consistency in the wrist. The glass is flat and very very good antireflection treatment. The crown bears the initials of the brand.

The date is located at 6, accompanying the symmetry around the dial. The needles are Dauphine type, quite long, and gold plated?, as indexes.

The dial is white, type board with the logo of the brand under the barrel of needles and decorated Guilloché . In my opinion, very well finished. Live roughness or texture of the photos is not appreciated.

The caliber is the CW JJ04 base ETA 2836-2 as modified by incorporating a new mechanism of gears and adjustment, by Johannes Jahnke, the watchmaker brand.

- Designed and assembled in Biel, Switzerland.
- Reserve of 38 hours.
- Stop seconds.
- Fast Pass moon in any position without damaging the mechanism.

Johannes Jahnke has achieved Calibre JJ04 with a truly remarkable achievement. A set time, the 'moon' continuously tracks the exact position of the moon, and if it stays in place, should not depart one day every 128 years.

The strap is alligator, blue and electric blue stitching. It is one of the things that I really liked the watch. The deployant is TAG type, the most comfortable there. Combines brushing and polished parts and also includes the logo of the brand.

And finally, the official photo on the wrist and the original photo I submitted to the contest:

Muchas gracias por leer la review y gracias a Christopher Ward por organizar el concurso.

Un saludo!!

:-!

 

[Watchman83]

Very nice and a cool story enjoy !!


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[the.watchdoc]

Lovely watch, terrific story, and a great review.

Congratulations, and wear it in good health!

 

[MadMrB]

Beautiful watch and great pictures. Congratulations and enjoy!

However, I think your review might be about to cost me....

 

[Bill_KS]

Gorgeous watch. Wear in good health.

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[sticky]

This crazy hobby should be all about what makes you happy so if a Moonphase makes you happier than a diver then Moonphase it is. Congratulations on a beautiful watch and many thanks for putting up so many fabulous pictures of it.

 

[gangrel]

It's one of the three moonphase watches worth considering, IMO; the others are the Ball Trainmaster, and then of course the sine qua non, the Arnold. Which is about 4x more expensive, and IIRC is a touch larger...41mm. And I'm shying away from 40mm; it's a bit big.

Not to slam...I saw a similar comment in a blog post...1 day in 128 years is *PLENTY* good enough in practice, but it's not remarkably good any more. The average cycle length is ~29.53059 days. You can convert that to seconds...2,551,442 and change. Then you just play around with 4 numbers that when multiplied together, get as close as possible. The 4 numbers become gear sizes. Some companies claim accuracy to 1 day in 10,000 years. That's largely meaningless IMO, but it can be done, and 4 additional parts is still fairly simple.

Anyway, it is a nice watch. Enjoy.

 

[Sleeken]

It's one of the three moonphase watches worth considering, IMO; the others are the Ball Trainmaster, and then of course the sine qua non, the Arnold. Which is about 4x more expensive, and IIRC is a touch larger...41mm. And I'm shying away from 40mm; it's a bit big.

Not to slam...I saw a similar comment in a blog post...1 day in 128 years is *PLENTY* good enough in practice, but it's not remarkably good any more. The average cycle length is ~29.53059 days. You can convert that to seconds...2,551,442 and change. Then you just play around with 4 numbers that when multiplied together, get as close as possible. The 4 numbers become gear sizes. Some companies claim accuracy to 1 day in 10,000 years. That's largely meaningless IMO, but it can be done, and 4 additional parts is still fairly simple.

Anyway, it is a nice watch. Enjoy.

The 1 day in 128 years had me impressed until you explained the mechanism! Nevertheless, congrats on the attractive piece and I appreciate the variety of detailed photos.

 

[gangrel]

The 1 day in 128 years had me impressed until you explained the mechanism! Nevertheless, congrats on the attractive piece and I appreciate the variety of detailed photos.

I'm a math geek who likes moon phase. I also recall a blog post last year, about the most accurate moon phase watches, and a comment that several were doing it with just 4 gears. Then came some late night when I was going...hmmm, how...... Who needs sleep anyway? The big trick is realizing you can do everything in seconds per cycle. If you can find a number that you can break down into 4 components, and those 4 components multiplied together are within 100 seconds of the average cycle length, then you're off 100 seconds per lunar month, or about 1250 per year. That would mean a day about every 55 years.

The rest is just a little brute force programming.

Now, the sick-crazy accurate ones *start* at 1 day in 1000 or so years. The ridiculous is a Strehler; it claims accuracy of a day in...wait for it...2,000,000 years or so. Yes, well, I doubt this a great deal, because the period changes a bit. That's SO long that I think that becomes relevant.

Here's the blog post for the curious:
The 8 Most Accurate Moon Phase Wristwatches Today | Quill & Pad

I love the Moser, and like the DeBethune quite a bit...even if the moonphase isn't any great factor in the dial. NOT that I could afford either, but one can dream. And they're both a bit too big. That might be a good thing, right?

 

[The Naf]

I was gonna enter the competition but never quite got around to it. When I read your story I felt much better as there was no way I could have topped that. Lovely story and a lovely watch to go with it ;-) Enjoy and wear in the best of health.