Post by bullosa on Aug 6, 2007 11:48:28 GMT -5
Ball Fireman 40mm - Review
Introduction
Perhaps no other brand of watch is as exciting as Ball at this time. Selling them on 3 forte; 1) Make them bullet proof like a tank 2) Make them work reliably and accurately in the harshest conditions 3) Price them at such that they redefine value Swiss Made watches.
I was intrigued by Ball Watches the first time a dealer introduced them to me almost 2 years ago. A couple months later my business partner passed me a copy of the Ball Catalog 2005 which fueled my interest on these watches. While I was specs-fascinated with the Engineer Hydrocarbon in the beginning, I discovered that Ball offers quite a lot in their other watches as well. Among them that caught my attention was the Ball Fireman; a military style watch, highly legible and crafted as a rugged, tough and accurate time piece.
In the last few years, Ball Watches have been steadily establishing itself in the US, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Malaysia. This 116 year old Watch have an incredible heritage in the American history, where the founder Webb Clayton Ball developed a standard for time following the railroad tragedy due to faulty watch.
In 2000, former Citibanker and business genius Francisco Herrera took over the helm of this ailing company and began aggressively to place the Ball Watch brand on the global market. With production based in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Ball continues to build their brand on the strength of the American early explorer spirit. Ball sets to mark itself with the image of pushing oneself to the limit in the “harshest conditions”.
Hope you enjoy this review and thanks for reading in advance.
The Specification
Model No – NM1088C-SJ-BKOR
Case Size – 40mm (Also available in 43mm and 36mm size)
Case Height/Thickness – 11.1mm
Dial – 34mm
Dial Color – Black/Orange (also avail. Black/Blue; Black/Yellow; White/Orange; White/Blue)
Bracelet – 20 mm wide Stainless Steel with Engraved Twin Folding Clasp (also avail. Leather Strap with buckle and pin)
Crystal – Sapphire Flat Top Convex with AR coating inside
Movement – 25 Jewel ETA 2824-2 (Hour, Minute, Seconds and Date)
Crown – 6mm Screw-In
Luminous – 16 micro Tritium Gas Light Tubes (3H – Swiss Made by MBM)
Water Resistance – 100m/330ft
Shock Resistance – 5000gs
Weight – 150gm (S/S bracelet at 7in length)
Warranty – 2 years with additional 1 year when you register at Ball’s Website.
Price – US$620
By bullosa
Physical
Dial – The 40mm Fireman spots a 34mm sized dial. On this particular model the dial is matt black with orange and white Arabic markers flanked by the 13 Tritium Gas (3H) light tubes. The elegant design and attractive will easily introduce many watch collectors into Ball’s fine watches. Fine prints on the dial exude high quality of workmanship and finish.
Hands – The ‘hour’, ‘minute’ and ‘second’ hands fitted to this watch are painted black and white to bring a sharp contrast. The ‘second’ hand carries the intricately crafted RR logo at the end. The hands are very visible and remind me of other ‘Flieger” tool watches. This handsome design captivated me when I first examined it.
Casing - Constructed of a solid piece 316L stainless steel, this watch weighs in at 150gm (1 and a half bracelet lug removed). The watch have a nice balance of weight and size. When you wear it on your wrist, it does not feel like a gym barbell neither does it feels like a plastic watch.
Flipping it around one discovers a beautiful stainless steel back cover engraved with a Fireman attending to the Train Engine. The Serial No and Model of the watch is displayed here. The casing is well shaped and the bracelet/strap mount is curved downwards to fit and hug my 7in wrist. There are no sharp edges as the case and bracelet is well rounded.
By bullosa
The casing height at 11.1mm made this Military Style watch a versatile dresser as it fits comfortably under long sleeve shirt. I love the brush finish on this watch as it isnt so easily smudged by fingerprints unlike the mirror polished finish found on other models. Incidentally this is the only stainless steel Ball watch that is matte finish.
Crown - The sturdy and 6mm large screw in crown has a nice feel to it. Screwing in or out operation to wind the watch is smooth. Ball's RR logo is engraved on this crown. It is confident inspiring to learn that Ball Watch subject their watches to shock proof tests by striking the crown with at high impact.
Bracelet - The bracelet is made of stainless steel and brushed finished as well. Personally I prefer this bracelet design over the Engineers. The bracelet with a twin fold over clasp with the RR logo is very well made that it reminds me of fine pewter ware. The removable bracelet lugs employs screw pins and comes with half lug size as well. This allows me to use a combination to get the best length fit for my wrist. The bracelet is smoothly edged and has no unpleasant hair snatching feel.
By bullosa
Sapphire – The Firemen’s crystal is a flat sapphire with convex on the inside. It has Anti-Reflective Coating on the inside. There is some glare from reflections on the top of the Crystal but I can live with it.
Watches with AR Coating on both sides of their sapphire are very nice but scratching the top coating has been known to make grown men cry. On that basis, I thought Ball serve us better by specifying an inside only AR coating on the crystal. However I should mention that closer inspection reveals some optical distortion at the edge of the sapphire due to the convex. This is seen more acutely in darkness as the 3H light tube markers appears bent.
Performance
Movement – The ETA 2824-2 movement have been one of the most popular and reliable Swiss movement around. Although ETA belongs to the Swatch Group, ETA movements still account for 80% of all Swiss Made watches. The 2824 is one of the best tried and true workhorse around and can be found in many fine watches like Tudor, IWC, Breitling and many others. This 25 Jewel movement tells the hour, minute, seconds and date with great accuracy. Watch makers have been known at times to regulate this movement to the accuracy well within COSC’s standard.
The ETA 2824-2 has a power reserve of about 40 hours and beats at a frequency of 4Hz, 28,800vph. The ‘second hand’ can be hack allowing you to synchronize and adjust your time more accurately. Date adjustments can be done at any time except between 10PM and 2AM.
Timing Accuracy – I can only provide an unqualified report on timing accuracy as I don’t have access to a VibroGraf machine. This watch was checked with a reading from the NIST clock daily for the first 7 days and I record a total increase of 35 seconds. At +5 seconds per day this watch is still well within the claims for its performance by ETA. (After a almost a month of monitoring the timing, countless timing check, this ETA 2824-2 movement is gaining about 8.5 seconds a day).
Legibility
One of the nicer things about this watch is its simplicity and elegance. It is tool like yet appears timeless in its fashion. Take one look at the face of the watch and you could tell the time right away. Clear and uncluttered view while there is light. Come night time, this watch begins to set itself apart from many others.
In fact I woke up several times in the hotel room the night I bought this watch simply to stare at the 'glow' of this watch. (Bought this watch while on a business trip). My wife told me the next day that I am nuts! LOL! Ball Watch is one of the best examples of Swiss Made automatic fitted with 3H (also known as Tritium Gas Light Tubes) for its night lume. This one comes with 16 micro light tubes. All of which are green in color except for 2 orange ones set at 12. Some of the models come with blue light tubes on the markers for variety. I considered both but find that the green light tubes on the markers is more uniformed in their appearance. According to Jeremy Hogan of Ball Watch USA, the ‘brightest’ 3H tube appears to be yellow or green due to the spectrum of light travels. Again this is a personal preference; many have purchased their first Ball on account of the blue light tubes and they absolutely love them.
Unlike Super Luminova, Luminova or Tritium paint lume, 3H light tubes appears to get brighter the darker it gets and remains so through out the night. No charging needed.
Date – The date is positioned at 3 and remains visual except on the 15th minute of the hour when the minute hand sweeps over. The date change begins at precisely 12 midnight and completes the moment the 'minute hand' reaches 12.01am.
Miscl
Packaging - Paper box with soft velvet and pillow in a drawer/chest. The Owner’s Manual is a hefty little book that covers the Watch Company, History and Technologies employed. This multi-language book also provides instructions to operate and care for all their existing watches.
Ball Support and Sales have been very good in Malaysia. When I was seriously considering Ball Watch, I contacted them by telephone and requested for a copy of catalog. A couple of days later, the catalog arrive by mail. My purchase was made at The Hour Glass KLCC and handled very well making this a pleasant experience on the whole.
Conclusion
100 years ago Webb C Ball made a promise to the railroad folks, he vowed to make a watch that is accessible in price and would maintain its value and performance in the long run. Ball Watch is keeping that promise true.
Who knows why watch collectors buy all the watches? They all look great and we only need a reason to buy one. But the Ball Fireman has many that appeals to me. I love it’s look, tough build, value and last but the least, the night luminosity.
If you are a sucker for high luminous mechanical watch like me, then you owe it to your self to check out Ball’s excellent range of watches. The night truly belongs to Ball.
Introduction
Perhaps no other brand of watch is as exciting as Ball at this time. Selling them on 3 forte; 1) Make them bullet proof like a tank 2) Make them work reliably and accurately in the harshest conditions 3) Price them at such that they redefine value Swiss Made watches.
I was intrigued by Ball Watches the first time a dealer introduced them to me almost 2 years ago. A couple months later my business partner passed me a copy of the Ball Catalog 2005 which fueled my interest on these watches. While I was specs-fascinated with the Engineer Hydrocarbon in the beginning, I discovered that Ball offers quite a lot in their other watches as well. Among them that caught my attention was the Ball Fireman; a military style watch, highly legible and crafted as a rugged, tough and accurate time piece.
In the last few years, Ball Watches have been steadily establishing itself in the US, Hong Kong, China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Malaysia. This 116 year old Watch have an incredible heritage in the American history, where the founder Webb Clayton Ball developed a standard for time following the railroad tragedy due to faulty watch.
In 2000, former Citibanker and business genius Francisco Herrera took over the helm of this ailing company and began aggressively to place the Ball Watch brand on the global market. With production based in Neuchatel, Switzerland, Ball continues to build their brand on the strength of the American early explorer spirit. Ball sets to mark itself with the image of pushing oneself to the limit in the “harshest conditions”.
Hope you enjoy this review and thanks for reading in advance.
The Specification
Model No – NM1088C-SJ-BKOR
Case Size – 40mm (Also available in 43mm and 36mm size)
Case Height/Thickness – 11.1mm
Dial – 34mm
Dial Color – Black/Orange (also avail. Black/Blue; Black/Yellow; White/Orange; White/Blue)
Bracelet – 20 mm wide Stainless Steel with Engraved Twin Folding Clasp (also avail. Leather Strap with buckle and pin)
Crystal – Sapphire Flat Top Convex with AR coating inside
Movement – 25 Jewel ETA 2824-2 (Hour, Minute, Seconds and Date)
Crown – 6mm Screw-In
Luminous – 16 micro Tritium Gas Light Tubes (3H – Swiss Made by MBM)
Water Resistance – 100m/330ft
Shock Resistance – 5000gs
Weight – 150gm (S/S bracelet at 7in length)
Warranty – 2 years with additional 1 year when you register at Ball’s Website.
Price – US$620
By bullosa
Physical
Dial – The 40mm Fireman spots a 34mm sized dial. On this particular model the dial is matt black with orange and white Arabic markers flanked by the 13 Tritium Gas (3H) light tubes. The elegant design and attractive will easily introduce many watch collectors into Ball’s fine watches. Fine prints on the dial exude high quality of workmanship and finish.
Hands – The ‘hour’, ‘minute’ and ‘second’ hands fitted to this watch are painted black and white to bring a sharp contrast. The ‘second’ hand carries the intricately crafted RR logo at the end. The hands are very visible and remind me of other ‘Flieger” tool watches. This handsome design captivated me when I first examined it.
Casing - Constructed of a solid piece 316L stainless steel, this watch weighs in at 150gm (1 and a half bracelet lug removed). The watch have a nice balance of weight and size. When you wear it on your wrist, it does not feel like a gym barbell neither does it feels like a plastic watch.
Flipping it around one discovers a beautiful stainless steel back cover engraved with a Fireman attending to the Train Engine. The Serial No and Model of the watch is displayed here. The casing is well shaped and the bracelet/strap mount is curved downwards to fit and hug my 7in wrist. There are no sharp edges as the case and bracelet is well rounded.
By bullosa
The casing height at 11.1mm made this Military Style watch a versatile dresser as it fits comfortably under long sleeve shirt. I love the brush finish on this watch as it isnt so easily smudged by fingerprints unlike the mirror polished finish found on other models. Incidentally this is the only stainless steel Ball watch that is matte finish.
Crown - The sturdy and 6mm large screw in crown has a nice feel to it. Screwing in or out operation to wind the watch is smooth. Ball's RR logo is engraved on this crown. It is confident inspiring to learn that Ball Watch subject their watches to shock proof tests by striking the crown with at high impact.
Bracelet - The bracelet is made of stainless steel and brushed finished as well. Personally I prefer this bracelet design over the Engineers. The bracelet with a twin fold over clasp with the RR logo is very well made that it reminds me of fine pewter ware. The removable bracelet lugs employs screw pins and comes with half lug size as well. This allows me to use a combination to get the best length fit for my wrist. The bracelet is smoothly edged and has no unpleasant hair snatching feel.
By bullosa
Sapphire – The Firemen’s crystal is a flat sapphire with convex on the inside. It has Anti-Reflective Coating on the inside. There is some glare from reflections on the top of the Crystal but I can live with it.
Watches with AR Coating on both sides of their sapphire are very nice but scratching the top coating has been known to make grown men cry. On that basis, I thought Ball serve us better by specifying an inside only AR coating on the crystal. However I should mention that closer inspection reveals some optical distortion at the edge of the sapphire due to the convex. This is seen more acutely in darkness as the 3H light tube markers appears bent.
Performance
Movement – The ETA 2824-2 movement have been one of the most popular and reliable Swiss movement around. Although ETA belongs to the Swatch Group, ETA movements still account for 80% of all Swiss Made watches. The 2824 is one of the best tried and true workhorse around and can be found in many fine watches like Tudor, IWC, Breitling and many others. This 25 Jewel movement tells the hour, minute, seconds and date with great accuracy. Watch makers have been known at times to regulate this movement to the accuracy well within COSC’s standard.
The ETA 2824-2 has a power reserve of about 40 hours and beats at a frequency of 4Hz, 28,800vph. The ‘second hand’ can be hack allowing you to synchronize and adjust your time more accurately. Date adjustments can be done at any time except between 10PM and 2AM.
Timing Accuracy – I can only provide an unqualified report on timing accuracy as I don’t have access to a VibroGraf machine. This watch was checked with a reading from the NIST clock daily for the first 7 days and I record a total increase of 35 seconds. At +5 seconds per day this watch is still well within the claims for its performance by ETA. (After a almost a month of monitoring the timing, countless timing check, this ETA 2824-2 movement is gaining about 8.5 seconds a day).
Legibility
One of the nicer things about this watch is its simplicity and elegance. It is tool like yet appears timeless in its fashion. Take one look at the face of the watch and you could tell the time right away. Clear and uncluttered view while there is light. Come night time, this watch begins to set itself apart from many others.
In fact I woke up several times in the hotel room the night I bought this watch simply to stare at the 'glow' of this watch. (Bought this watch while on a business trip). My wife told me the next day that I am nuts! LOL! Ball Watch is one of the best examples of Swiss Made automatic fitted with 3H (also known as Tritium Gas Light Tubes) for its night lume. This one comes with 16 micro light tubes. All of which are green in color except for 2 orange ones set at 12. Some of the models come with blue light tubes on the markers for variety. I considered both but find that the green light tubes on the markers is more uniformed in their appearance. According to Jeremy Hogan of Ball Watch USA, the ‘brightest’ 3H tube appears to be yellow or green due to the spectrum of light travels. Again this is a personal preference; many have purchased their first Ball on account of the blue light tubes and they absolutely love them.
Unlike Super Luminova, Luminova or Tritium paint lume, 3H light tubes appears to get brighter the darker it gets and remains so through out the night. No charging needed.
Date – The date is positioned at 3 and remains visual except on the 15th minute of the hour when the minute hand sweeps over. The date change begins at precisely 12 midnight and completes the moment the 'minute hand' reaches 12.01am.
Miscl
Packaging - Paper box with soft velvet and pillow in a drawer/chest. The Owner’s Manual is a hefty little book that covers the Watch Company, History and Technologies employed. This multi-language book also provides instructions to operate and care for all their existing watches.
Ball Support and Sales have been very good in Malaysia. When I was seriously considering Ball Watch, I contacted them by telephone and requested for a copy of catalog. A couple of days later, the catalog arrive by mail. My purchase was made at The Hour Glass KLCC and handled very well making this a pleasant experience on the whole.
Conclusion
100 years ago Webb C Ball made a promise to the railroad folks, he vowed to make a watch that is accessible in price and would maintain its value and performance in the long run. Ball Watch is keeping that promise true.
Who knows why watch collectors buy all the watches? They all look great and we only need a reason to buy one. But the Ball Fireman has many that appeals to me. I love it’s look, tough build, value and last but the least, the night luminosity.
If you are a sucker for high luminous mechanical watch like me, then you owe it to your self to check out Ball’s excellent range of watches. The night truly belongs to Ball.
WOW 
