Well, to be sure, Ball has had divers before, but this particular model from the Engineer Master II line really grabbed my attention.
I will admit, some models in the Ball line can seemly over complex or busy, but here, we’ve got a beautifully simple presentation. The 40mm stainless steel case is in a classic (and understated) style, and I really like the looks of the slightly oversized (compared to what you might expect) bezel. Of course, that bezel (aluminum) also features another thing I really dig – lume.
And with Ball, that’s one of the uniting features across their lines – nighttime visibility. In some cases, it’s good ol’ lume (as on the bezel), but they also make quite liberal use of tritium tubes. Here, they’re present in the main indices, as well as the hands. In daylight, it’s a clean black/white look to things, but when it gets dimmer out, then you see the additional colors come into the mix.
So, tritium and lume are big selling points with this piece. In terms of technical prowess, the piece is powered by an ETA 2836-2 automatic movement, and offers day/date complications, on top of the regular timekeeping (with sweep seconds). This is protected by the steel case, of course, as well as the convex sapphire crystal (AR-coated, of course).
In terms of resistances rated on the piece, you have:
- Shock resistance: 5,000 Gs
- Magnetic resistance: 4,800 A/m
- Water resistance: 300m
In short, this watch should stand up to most things you’ll throw at it. And, if you’re throwing somewhere in the neighborhood of two grand down to get a watch, you definitely would want something that will hold up for the long haul. Yes, there are cheaper tritium watches out there, or more visually impressive Ball models you could get. For me, however, this is one of the best non-train models in their lineup.
