When you think tritium-equipped watches, there are likely a few brands that jump immediately to mind. That aside, what sort of watch do you picture in your head when you read the words “tritium watch”? Probably something that’s at least sport-oriented, if not outright “tacti-cool”. As you should be well aware, that’s not the only choice we have. You can definitely have a very refined look, along with tritium illumination, as the Ball Fireman Storm Chaser Pro proves.
This particular watch comes out of a long collaboration the brand has had with the meteorologist Dr. Joshua Wurman, and also continues the trend they’ve established of creating watches intended for use in some fairly “extreme” scientific endeavors (for example, prior watches have been in space).
While you might expect a watch intended for storm chasing to be something rather large and bulky, the Storm Chaser Pro actually comes in at a reasonable 42mm (though it is 15.65mm thick). Even with that, the telemeter scale, being printed out the outer bezel, still remains legible.
With chronographs, we’re more used to seeing tachymeter scales incorporated, which allow you to calculate speed easily. When you’re dealing with storms, however, that’s less important than knowing how far away an event is – hence the telemeter scale. For example, if you wanted to know how far away a particular storm is, you’d start the chronograph when you saw the lighting strike, and then stop it when you hear the thunder. The resulting spot on the telemeter scale will let you know how far away it is.
Along with that functionality, you’re also picking up 30-minute and 12-hour registers (at 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock, respectively), with the running sub-seconds making an appearance over at 9 o’clock. Doing its best to balance out the dial, you’ve got the day/date display at 3.
As you would expect from Ball, the hands and main indices feature tritium tubes, in a total of three different colors. It’s perhaps not as bombastic of a light show as some of their other models give, but it’s very adequate, and is in keeping with the more refined take on a sport watch they’ve got here.
Powered by the automatic caliber BALL RR1402 movement, the Fireman Storm Chaser Pro comes in three different dials (black, grey, or white), and comes on either a calf strap ($3,199) or steel bracelet ($3,299). Whichever model you’d go with, I think you’d have an eminently capable watch – just don’t try to re-enact Twister with it, ok? ballwatchusa.com
Watch Overview
- Brand & Model: Ball Fireman Storm Chaser Pro
- Price: $3,199 (leather), $3,299 (bracelet)
- Who we think it might be for: Professional storm chasers, or those who always have The Weather Channel on
- Would I buy one for myself based on what I’ve seen?: It’s unlikely – I’m not much for chronos these days
- If I could make one design suggestion, it would be: I wonder if flat tubes could have been used without compromising the look of the watch
- What spoke to me the most about this watch: Plain and simple, it’s refinement
