Two key things spring to mind when Ball Watch Company is mentioned. Firstly, accuracy. Secondly, its tritium filled gassed tubes. The American watchmaker, unlike many other luxury watch brands, did not begin its journey in the epicentre of horology in Switzerland. Instead, it would be formed across the pond in Ohio, America. Ball was founded in 1891. This date can be seen in the dial of every Ball watch, emblazoned upon its surface next to the brand lettering. Webb C. Ball had already built a reputation for using standard time in his pocket watches but it was not until a data train crash occurred in between Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway that his pioneering skills would be called upon. Before the crash occurred, there was no real need for standardised time and the incident occurred solely due to one train driver’s watch running behind by a mere 4 minutes. Ball was made Chief Time Inspector for the railways after the crash and was responsible for ensuring that universal timekeeping was adhered to across all American railway lines.
Up until the 1990s, Ball watch company remained a family run business before it was taken over by Asia Commercial Holding Ltd. That said, the watch manufacturer has continued to recall models of its past, remaining faithful to the brand’s heritage and some of its most important flagship pieces. The founding spirit of the brand is upheld in Ball’s original details including the style of every numeral and shape of every hand, with instantly recognisable designs like the Skindiver and the Engineer Hydrocarbon watch amongst many others.
Ball Watch Company has always been associated with supreme accuracy and the ability to withstand dynamic environments. Having entered into a slumber during the quartz crisis, the manufacturer resurfaced, putting itself on the map once again but this time for its Swiss made MB microtec tritium gas tubes, which replaced lume coated appliques. As a result, Ball watches promised to yield a constant independent light source with the release of its first dive watch the Skindiver. An impressive degree of luminosity was delivered even in the darkest environments with a technology that wouldn’t require charging for at least 25 years. The Ball Inspector II used these gas tubes too, but the manufacturer would soon refine this technology to create models like the backlit Engineer Master II Moon Glow watch and the Fireman Night Train watch. The latter saw these gas tubes used in the hands and every hour marker, creating a remarkable light show on the dial’s surface by night. Wider, flatter tubes were then incorporated into Ball watches like the Engineer Master II Diver Chronometer and the Engineer Hydrocarbon Original model. The latter uses cleverly concealed pads that have been meticulously sandwiched in between the sapphire glass bezel and the watch’s dial for a display with no tube edges.
To ensure that the mechanics of a Ball watch are as capable of thriving in the environments of which the rest of the watch is designed to cope with, Ball Watch Company has been creating robust movements with impressive power reserves since 2017. In addition to this, it has worked hard to develop over 30 patents. Folding buckles and crown protection systems soon led to helium escape valves, as well as a proprietary hairspring cage called the SpringLOCK that protected the most sensitive elements of the movement. Other movement patents included the A PROOF and SpringSEAL. The former was designed to protect the engine from the damaged caused to a movement from magnetic fields.
Ball Watch Company has also yielded various partnerships enabling it to create innovative timepieces in honour of significant causes. Some of the collaborations include the Army’s Green Berets, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Navy’s Experimental Diving Unit. Ball Watch Company continues to create wristwatches synonymous with legibility, reliability and dependability. Its advances in gas tube technology and the importance weighted on uncompromised accuracy in every timepiece are equally as significant to the history of watchmaking, whether looking back on Ball’s past or forward into its exciting future.
