The new Ball Engineer III 00BLU is a proud heir to the heritage of the brand, characterised by its precision, resilience, and innovative technology.
The Ball Watch Company’s history is a curious one: and one that makes their wristwear a serious dinner party conversation starter. In 1891, in Kipton, Ohio, a tragic head-on train collision caused by an engineer’s watch stopping prompted railroad officials to appoint a local watchmaker, Webster Clay Ball, to be Chief Time Inspector. Not a man to take his position lightly, Ball established strict guidelines concerning resistance to magnetism, isochronism, power reserve and dial arrangement.
Similar rigid standards govern the company’s ethos today, making this a brand for serious connoisseurs of the finer micro-engineering nuances of watchmaking: and this makes CronotempVs Collectors, a private community of dedicated horological chin-strokers, perfect creative partners for them.
The “train” on the caseback of the Engineer III 00BLU is a nod to the “Railroad” heritage of the brand.
This isn’t the two’s first collaboration: those harbouring fond memories of the 00Red 43mm model launched in 2022, but longing for a more diminutive version, will see the new model before you as their prayers being answered. Offering, like its larger predecessor, a fresh alternative to complicated “tool watches”, the Ball Engineer IIII 00BLU is a pragmatic piece that goes back to basics and simply tells the time: reliably, thanks to the anti-magnetic shield created inside the case by mu-metal (a nickel–iron soft ferromagnetic alloy); and eligibly, whatever kind of ambient light the wearer is in, thanks to the 33 tritium micro gas tubes – small, precise, lightweight, and produced using CO2 laser technology that illuminates the dial and hands. This technology, a unique selling point on all Ball watches, offers up to 100 times more luminescence than other treatments on the market.
The Engineer III 00BLU’s design reflects the functionality and legibility of Ball watches. Tritium gas tubes, which last much longer than other luminous materials, illuminate the dial in the dark.
Featuring a case made of 904L stainless steel, the Ball x CronotempVs Collectors new Engineer III 00BLU is also subjected to arduous testing to ensure resistance to shocks of up to 5,000Gs, ensuring that the RR1103-C automatic caliber inside is unimpaired in doing the job it’s been certified to do by the Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres.
Only 91 units of the Ball Engineer 00BLU will be produced, with deliveries scheduled between 2025 and 2026. Brand superfans should also look out for the Ball Watch Company’s Roadmaster M Model A, an automatic piece – and, unashamedly, a “tool watch” – that combines alarm and GMT functionalities.
In the case of both these releases, horological dilettantes need not apply…
Author: Nick Scott
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