Ball Watches have always caught my fancy, especially since they combine the coolness of Tritium tubes with fine Swiss horology. While they have not yet created their own in-house caliber, they have made some contributions such as the Amortiser anti-shock system for watches. Currently all their watches use modified ETA movements.
This is the Engineer Master II Diver, which seems to be one of the more popular Ball Watches that I’ve seen around. They are available in a few different colors besides green, such as Orange and White. The inner dive bezel is operated by the crown at 2 o’clock. The watch features 53 Tritium tubes on it’s dial, which has a wave sunburst pattern.
Clasp is a semi-hidden button lock variety, which is odd for a diver. I’ve seen this watch offered with a flip-lock style bracelet as well. I’m not sure which is correct, or if it was changed partway through production or if it was possibly an option.
The watch case measures 42mm, but due to the rounded edges of the case sides, wears a bit smaller than most watches of a similar size. For those of you that have not owned a Tritium tube lume watch, the Tritium tubes tend to be slightly duller than SuperLuminova after its been charged, but while SuperLuminova needs charging, Tritium tubes do not. They simply glow and glow for their entire lifespan, which is rated from 20-30 years, depending on the make. They glow at a similar rate as SuperLume once its settled down after about 15-20 minutes in the dark.
The caseback features an engraving of a submarine, with Webb C. Ball etched on it, representing Webster Clay Ball, The company’s namesake and also the company’s founder. The screwdown caseback offers 300m of water resistance.
There’s the watch shown on my 6 3/4″ wrist. As you can see, its a decent size. The bracelet is fairly narrow, at approximately 21mm, and has no taper. The inner bezel freely spins, so its hard to make it line up perfectly because when the crown is screwed in it sometimes moves slightly. Overall its a nice watch, and I really did like it, but I found that it sat funny on my wrist, making the watch overall have an odd appearance. Ultimately I liked it better in the pictures than I did on my wrist, so I won’t be keeping this one. Hope you guys enjoyed the review.
Specs:
Movement: ETA 2836-2
Functions: Illuminated rotating inner bezel
3 hands and day, date
53 micro gas tubes
Shock resistance: 5,000Gs
Water resistance: 300m
Antimagnetic: 4,800A/m
Case: 42mm made with stainless steel, height 14.9mm
Anti-reflective sapphire crystal
Screwed-in crowns
“You actually own a Ril Watch. You do not need to wait for the next generation.”
That’s their slogan. Obviously this is a reverse take on Patek’s slogan which is, “You never actually own a Patek Philippe. You merely look after it for the next generation.” Now, while they use a spin-off of Patek’s slogan, their watches have absolutely no relationship in look or pedigree to Patek Philippe. They’re more of a Rolex Sub “homage” to be diplomatic.. others would call it a copy.
Ril Concept states that their watches are designed in London and use precision automatic Japanese movements, selling for $999US. They feature a 38mm case, sort of like a mini-submariner. To me they look more like they were designed in Switzerland (by Rolex) and then copied by someone in London. Also, the 30m water resistance doesn’t really seem like its up to the task of being a scuba watch, which is what it’s marketed as.
Features:
-Scratchproof sapphire glass
-Stainless Steel
-Rotating Scuba bezel
-High precision Japanese automatic movement 21 jewels
-48 hours power reserve
-Screwed winding crown
-Water resistant (30m)
Like many watch companies now, Nomos has also started opening watch boutiques and their new Flagship store is located in Zurich, Switzerland. They’ve also released a limited editon watch to commemorate the event, the Zürich watch. It will be colored RAL 7032, or Pebble Gray, one of the major accent colors used in the boutique.
If you’re interested in visiting:
Spiegelgasse 13 (Niederdorf)
8001 Zürich
Telephone: +011-410-44-400-1417
Email: spiegelgasse@nomos-glashuette.ch
Opening times: Mondays to Fridays 10 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment.
Finally got the Breitling Dynamic Pricelist Updated to include the new 2010 Models such as the B01 and Galactic series. I haven’t had a chance to format it into the PDF one yet, but I will when I get the chance. Its a very time consuming process!
Its interesting to note than in this May 2010 pricelist (Yah, I know I’m late!), that the prices for ALL models that have not changed have remained the same. Breitling used the new model introductions to justify price increases and have discontinued nearly the entire Windrider line to be replaced with the new Galactic watches. Enjoy!
Now, I guess it depends on whether you think Badass CEO Erik Prince of Blackwater, now Xe Services, is a cool guy or just a power hungry ex-Marine, ex-CIA turned Private Security Expert who’s a dangerous man with a license to kill. Since I’m not American I don’t really follow the politics behind it and likely don’t really have an opinion either way. I just love cool military gear, and Blackwater used to make some cool stuff before they renamed themselves and changed up.
Erik Prince wears a Breitling Emergency, and has now fled to the UAE and is working in the Energy Sector. Here are a couple shots of Erik Prince with the side of his Emergency showing and a funny Blackwater Inspiration image! Actually not entirely sure if Erik Prince is a celebrity, but his exposure in the news has definately gained him some notoriety.
So please vote for us. I don’t even know what this site is… seems like they are pretty new, having started September 24th of 2010, but hey… I don’t mind winning even if its a new site. So please vote for us!
While I like Tag Heuer’s designs, I somehow get bored with their watches very quickly, and they don’t get much wrist time beyond the first week I have them. I’ll see a Tag and want it, then once I get it the novelty seems to wear off. One of the best Tag’s I’ve owned is this Tag Heuer Carrera Chronograph. It has a great size and design, and is sporty and a bit dressy at the same time.
This dial is a silver color, and the bezel is the grey. I think this is one of the nicer color configurations available for the Carrera Chrono, but the previous owner (I purchased it used) sold it because he had trouble with the color matching. Oddly, it was the dial I wanted the most! Very different from anything I had owned, but still an easy accessible color palette. I found the watch really easy to wear and match up with different styles of clothing.
As you can see, the case is on the thicker side given the modest 41mm case diameter. This is the Tachymeter version that has the smaller 41mm case. It is also available in a Day-Date variation that uses the same Valjoux 7750 based Caliber 16 but without the day-of-the-week wheel removed. The Day-Date version measures a larger 43mm across. I personally like the cleaner dial and look of this Tachymetre version myself.
Pusher and crown layout is identical to other Valjoux 7750-based movements with the chrono start/stop at 2 o’clock and the chrono reset at 4 o’clock. Crown is of the signed, screw-down variety and located at the usualy 3 o’clock position. One small visual complaint I have is that the crown was a bit small and would have liked to see it stick out a bit more to compliment the pushers.
Exhibition back shows off the nicely decorated Caliber 16 movement, which I have already mentioned is a based Valjoux 7750. I’m not sure what has been done to earn it a Caliber 16 designation, but it does have gold-etched lettering and cote de geneve striping on the rotor and bridge. It does not have a Chronometre COSC certification, however.
Finally we have the bracelet shot. The Carrera bracelets are among Tag’s best designed bracelets, and feature individually machined 5-piece links, with the polished thinner links actually separate pieces fromt he larger brushed ones. Very nice detail. Clasp is a semi-hidden machined and signed piece with dual push-button release and a machined hinge, a nice upgrade from the Formula 1 and base Aquaracer fliplock bracelets.
Overall a very nice Tag Heuer piece. With most of my friends that have no interest in watches, they are always looking for a Tag Heuer (Or a Rolex, but assume Rolex costs too much). So Tag’s are always of interest to them, since they always want to buy one. As long as the price is right, and the look is right, there’s always someone in the market for a Tag.
Just posted a Youtube video of my Eterna Cambridge Pulsometer Automatic Chronograph watch. I haven’t had a chance to do a write-up on this beautiful little watch, but will probably put one up one of these days. This is one of my favourite Eternas, and has one of those dials that everyone comments on when they see it. Its a bit on the small size at 38mm, but wears pretty good when mounted on a Di-Modell Chronissimo or something like that. Hope you guys enjoy the review!
