Christopher Ward Debuts Their First GMT Worldtimer, for the Frequent Travelers Among Us

Travel watches have been having something of a moment for longer than I think most moments in the watch world last. It’s beyond a simple trend at this point, travel watches are just a staple of the enthusiast watch culture. Whether they fall into the worldtimer or GMT category, they offer a ton of functionality that almost anyone can make use of, whether they’re criss-crossing time zones or planted somewhere and just need to keep tabs on friends, family, or colleagues abroad. Christopher Ward’s latest release, the C65 GMT Worldtimer, mixes world time and GMT capabilities in a package fit for everyday wear and versatility. Let’s take a closer look.

Christopher Ward C65 GMT Worldtimer 

• Case Material: Stainless steel
• Dial: Black with yellow accents
• Dimensions: 41 x 12 x 47mm
• Crystal: Sapphire     
• Water Resistance: 150 meters
• Crown: Screw down             
• Movement: Sellita SW330
• Strap/bracelet: Bracelet, leather strap
• Price: ~$1,275
• Reference Number: n/a
• Expected Release: Available now 

First, it’s useful to define our terms when discussing the different flavors of travel watch complications. A GMT watch, the more common of the two major traveling complications, uses a 24 hour hand that allows the user to either track a third time zone (through either the independent setting of the 24 hour hand, or the “local” hour hand). This is a classic pilot’s watch feature, and perfect for travelers who find themselves jumping across time zones frequently. With a reference time that never changes, it makes it easy to see time differences at a glance and keep your local time up to date. 

The other common travel watch complication is a world time display. A worldtimer, in practice, also lets you keep track of multiple time zones as you travel, but the key functional difference of a worldtimer is its ability to display multiple time zones across the globe simultaneously. This is accomplished, usually, through the implementation of rotating disc with the names of international cities arranged around the perimeter of the dial. When you look at the watch, you can read your local time, and through the city disc, determine the time in, typically, 24 other time zones around the world. 

The Christopher Ward C65 GMT Worldtimer combines, as you’d guess from the name of the watch, both complications into one package. This is the first time Christopher Ward has offered a watch with both complications, and it also marks the first time a Worldtimer has been offered in the brand’s Trident collection. Using the C65 GMT Worldtimer is fairly intuitive: the yellow GMT hand can be set to track a second time zone using the 24 hour scale at the outer edge of the dial, and aligning the local time with your location on the city ring lets you see the correct time in 24 different time zones across the world, at a glance. 

The C65 GMT Worldtimer is very much a modern tool watch in the way it’s made to be durable and provide a very necessary functionality to travelers, but its style is modeled on elegant divers of the past. The case is 41mm in diameter but just 12mm thick – a very reasonable height considering the complications at work. Like other Christopher Ward watches in the Trident collection, the finishing uses a mix of brushed and polished elements in the brand’s “light catcher” style – a process that punches well above its weight class in terms of the overall quality of the case lines and transitions.

Even if you’re not a globetrotter, there’s an undeniable romantic appeal to a watch that is made to tell the time all over the planet, and evokes the sense of adventure that comes with the very idea of traveling. Of course, it’s also a sensible and practical sports watch, so even if you find yourself sticking to your home time zone, you’ll still be ready for more localized adventure with this particular C65. Christopher Ward