Hi, Teddy. I'm a little late watching this video but I just want to say that if you cut a railroad track 'en face', you will notice that it has the shape of the big thick letter "I" which is transferred to the same look of the bracelet (on the brushed portion, not the square portion). I am not sure if Ball company had this in mind or if it is pure coincidence. For me, it is a statement of how strong the watch is, alluding to the strong steel of the railroad track. Or, maybe I am hallucinating. LOL. But I own several Ball watches and I love them all. I wear each watch, one week or two weeks at a time and go everywhere with it. I like watches that are elegant but at the same time wearable everyday even when I'm working. They are very much underrated. But now that you are an AD for Ball watches, the watches are getting noticed and prices are starting to go up. Thank you for your excellent review, as always.
I got this piece in 40mm with blue dial after watching your video a year ago. This has been a extremely impressive model, very accurate and a practical watch with dress like asthetics despite being a tool watch. Everyone who has seen it on wrist has given a nod. For a brand I have never heard of last year its been a very enjoyable experience. Its certainly given my datejust a run for its money despite its thickness, but I enjoy the presence and weight. It just feels solid! And at night those tritium tubes never fails to impress. This one is a keeper for me, excellent value.
@@fredfredburger5150 No issues the clasp is well made. But it can be tight since there is no micro adjustments, so i ended up replacing it with a leather strap.
I own several Ball watches. I've been telling Ball to change their bracelet design for years. They need a Pelagos/Sea Master/Submariner style adjustable bracelet. If they had proper bracelets, their time pieces would be extremely hard to beat. I put their watch construction on par with other top Swiss brands in this category. Great watches. I completely agree with Teddy's assessment of the bracelet.
Not everybody wants a Rolex style adjustable bracelet. I prefer the non adjustable bracelet on my Ball Fireman Enterprise (cheapest Ball watch) than any Rolex bracelet. If I wanted a Rolex bracelet, I'd buy Rolex. I don't buy Rolex because I refuse to associate with typical Rolex owners - losers.
Yeah I agree. The bracelets honestly keep me from buying a Ball. Way too polished and there is barely any taper from the looks of it. Reminds me of some cheap blingy watch that a mall jewelry store employee would wear. Kind of the same reason why I wouldn’t buy a Longines Conquest. Can’t stand this design of polishing everything on the watch.
Its a beautiful watch that has very good performance with a bad bracelet. I immediately put mine on a strap. I enjoyed mine while I had it, but I would say is that if you buy it new, make sure its a keeper for you cause the trade-in value is absolutely horrendous.
Those ball in-house movements really keep the time - have one 40mm and one 43mm and they are both at either 0/+1s a day. Even better than a Tudor north flag or zenith el primero. For that price considering the built quality and the accuracy in holding the time for 80hours it's a steal!
Ball has been on the edge of my radar for a while but seeing this review it is certainly getting closer to the cross-hairs. I love the use of the tritium gas tubes on the watch and the high contrast hands and markers against that blue dial. That little splash of coulour with the Chronometer in yellow is a nice touch as well. The movement is impressive with 70 hours and a 4Hz beat rate. I might have to check out this watch some time in the future at the AD.
I wanna chime in after owning this watch in 40mm grey for three years. The movement actually fell apart on my wrist. A screw and a little plate got loose and lodged themselves in the balance spring. I took them out myself and now the watch runs seemingly fine. It was crazy accurate when I bought it, though. 0/+4 per week. Now it's at +5/+8 per day. Edit: to add that I bought it 08/2020, it fell apart 04/2022 after *never* leaving my wrist, and I fixed it in 08/2023 after deciding that if I had to replace the movement anyway I might as well learn on it. Too off the back, prodded the balance wheel a couple of times, and *watched* a 2mm steel screw and a super thin 1.5mm by 2mm steel plate fall out of the balance. Came back to life immediately. Feels like an alien abduction.
Own this watch for a year now . Overall I think it’s great value for the money and can recommend it . Pros : the lume, power reserve , build quality, dial , beautiful movement and great accuracy . Big con is the bracelet which is simply for the price not great . It looks ok and is comfortable but it’s not easy to open , close it and also change it with a normal tool is pretty tough. However as mentioned in the video you can pair it with all kinds of strap colors .
You introduced me to Ball, and I was fascinated from the get go. I bought my Ball Fireman Enterprise about 6 months ago, and I love it! I keep looking at others, and hope to own a second one one day.
I love my Fireman Enterprise. And the service is better than Omega or Rolex. I called the factory in Switzerland and they sent me extra links for my bracelet via FedEX. Direct response from the factory for a watch I paid $840 new versus being ignored by brands costing 10 times as much.
Good to know because I just bought a preowned Fireman Enterprise (black dial) for about £550 (UK RRP £1000), after admiring them about 4 years ago. I pick up the package tomorrow. I really hope, all things accuracy and condition being well, it's a keeper.
@@clips1071Plus, they all do. If you put one up for auction, prospective buyers are very picky about, even, swirly hairline surface scratches in the brushing, etc, and they will use the presence of scratches like that, even though they don't bother you, even though they would amass the same amount of them in about 2 months, themselves, to devalue the worth of your watch and keep bids or offers low. Moral: buy if you're sure you're going to like and wear it for a long time and don't fuss or care about any depreciation if, one day, you decide to sell. Everything, just like cars, deprecates the minute you drive out of the showroom.
I acquired a Ball fireman racer which is very similar in all the specs albeit the movement (not an 80hr power) and no saphire caseback and with white dial, cant be happier at its performance, quality, looks and the gas tubes lume.
Owning a tritium watch is something special. I have had a Ball in the past, this ones styling is perfect they get better and better at hiding the tritium tube chunkiness into the design. Imagine a Seiko Spring Drive Marine Master Diver with this Tritium...wish more companies messed with it
I own 2 Ball watches. I became interested because Webster Ball had a connection to Hamilton where my family worked for 3 generations. I’m trying out a few straps.
After your previous video about Engineer M Marvelight, I have already bought the one with the grey dial. I love the steel bracelet though. Proprietary design and very comfortable. Great watch!
Yes, and possibly without crown as it ruins symmetry. And, let’s be honest, nobody buys watches to tell the time or the date, so even the hands are a bit redundant and tend to spoil the design at certain times.
Teddy, can you please make a video about how Ball collections are structured. To me it’s a complete mess. Watches from different collections look often much more similar that watches within the same collection. For example, how different Engineer collections are different from each other, etc. I think this could help potential buyers to find a Ball watch that is for them. Thank you.
I'll tell you something else that would help prospective buyers find a Ball watch that is for them: Take a peek through the catalogue of inventory on their website and pick one. Instead of badgering other people into doing their homework for them or being their own very own, private, fact-finding Google. Yes, a Fireman Racer Classic looks nothing like a Fireman Racer and more like something from a different range and their naming policy is not very well structured but people should do the fact-finding homework themselves. It's not hard. This guy and people like him are doing enough, in my opinion. Seems like some people can never be satisfied or have enough of what, really, is their own responsibility, carried out for them by somebody else. ('Teddy, could you just pop over to my house tomorrow and iron a couple of shirts for me. I think this would really help this prospective watch buyer to sit around on the couch, for an hour, watching watch review videos and still have a well ironed shirt at the ready, every day, for the next couple of days. Thanks'!)
I love Ball watches, for the money hard to really beat...! Solid, reliable, beautiful time pieces... Agree about the bracelets not being what they should....but the watches are outstanding... Having been an Engineer on the railroad I knew about them years ago because a lot of the guys had them.... Love Ball's and that incredible TRITIUM LUME...! GG...IN
Hello Teddy. Nice review. My questions: What kind of steel is used in this watch? As the bracelet is the weak point of this review, what comprable quality oyster style bracelet would be a desired match to swap this bracelet out? Thank you Thank you
In case anyone was wondering I did get a reply from ball.......The brightness of the micro gas tubes lasts for a minimum of 10 years. It will then slowly decrease year after year. When they become too dim, it is indeed possible to replace them. Depending on the number of them, we sometimes directly change the whole dial. However, to give you an idea, the price per tube is CHF 13.00 rrp w/o VAT
Did Ball ever manufacture their own watches when they were a domestic company? During the time if Webb C, they commissioned watches from, Waltham, Elgin, Hamilton, perhaps others and sold them u see their own name. Ball set the standard and specs quite high for sure. I’ve got no idea how long that lasted, but you could say a Ball watch was a more a standard of timekeeping than anything. Not a llot of domestic options, but there are a few.
@@abhs1141I like Ball watches and have owned one in the past although there designs are often ugly. I buy what appeals to me and what represents value foremost. An American company or manufacturer is more like a bonus. A lot of Timex do represent good value so I don't understand your snobbery.
A link to that video you mentioned would have been nice. I've spent too much time searching through your channel and I can't even find it. Is "Ball" or the watch itself even in the title?
Ticks basically all the boxes. Better value than an Explorer that’s for sure. That said, it doesn’t ‘wow’ me at $2800. Maybe it’s the rather basic design.
I would have lvoed and was a bout to purchase one but i've been reading quite a few posts on reddit about how this company is a bit shady and secretive about where they produce their watches. Apparently their address in Switzerland is too small a building to be a manufacture and their other address is a HK company which owns them and other watch manufacturers. Not against chinese manufacturing but not when its at swiss prices. Anyone else have any information on this?
Ball is absolutely terrible in delivering on time, keep on telling one more month. Keeping time? Very bad experience - ordered Engineer III Outlier in 15/08/2022 ffw 13/05/2023 update might ship June 2023
That has to be the largest gap between attractive movement and ugly bracelet that I’ve ever seen. I think you could do a brown leather strap (like you said) or dress it up with a black leather. Then, you’d be in business.
