Being a watch enthusiast and writer, I am often solicited for advice regarding first-time watch purchases or purchases to mark special occasions such as milestone birthdays, promotions, or weddings.
I usually hear similar requests: “I don’t really have the money to buy a Rolex, so I was thinking of going to Macy’s and seeing if they had a nice designer watch or something.” I usually blink once or twice, smile, and then offer actual watch wisdom.
While department stores do carry nice watch brands, they also have a lot of overpriced junk. There are so many incredibly underrated watch brands, especially Swiss watch brands, that are often overlooked because of a lack of marketing, brand recognition, or popularity here in the States.
And the competition in the sub $5000 price range is fierce—no doubt about it. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that some of the best offerings are often not even considered by the average consumer. And when I think of underrated and overbuilt quality timepieces, one brand comes to mind: Ball Watch Company.
So, what do you think? The “Ball’s” in your court—time to make your move. Keep reading if you want the inside scoop on the 7 best Ball watches to consider purchasing.
The History of Ball Watches
Ball Watch Company was started by “accident.” In actuality, this accident was a train wreck that occurred in the late 1800s. With the rapid expansion of trade and exploration within the United States, railroads began crisscrossing the nation.
With more and more trains being built and going into service, deadly accidents began to occur with greater frequency, and this was predominantly caused by bad timekeeping. Engineers and conductors relied on timepieces that just weren’t reliable, especially by modern standards.
Enter Webster Clay Ball in 1891, the General Time Inspector for the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. Ball was brought in to fix the timekeeping and infrastructure mess, and he created strict rules for keeping time and maintaining the watches used by railroad workers. This sparked the “Ball Standard,” a standard for timekeeping and watch maintenance for all railroad workers.
The “Ball Standard” was a game-changer. Because of the ever-expanding railroad network in America, the demand for high-quality and accurate watches rose incrementally. To meet this demand, Webster Clay Ball founded the Ball Watch Company in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1891.
In the wake of the quartz crisis, the company ceased watch production in the late 1980s,
but it was quickly acquired and resurrected in 1994, moving manufacturing from America to Switzerland.
What’s the Status of Ball Watch Company Today?
The Ball Watch Company continues to be a success, even as more companies vie for a piece of the market, with global competition continuing to increase. That said, Ball predominantly plays within the $1000-$5000 price range, competing with the likes of Swiss heavy hitters Tag Heuer, Tudor, Oris, and Frederique Constant.
Ball is known to have some of the best finishing and movement technology within the price range, offering COSC-certified in-house movements with 80 hours of power reserve. That said, Ball enjoys greater success internationally than it does domestically, but it continues to grab market share here in America.
7 Best Ball Watches For Men
You asked for it, and here at Exquisite Timepieces, we deliver what you want! When considering the best Ball timepiece to purchase, the following seven watches are worthy of your consideration.
It’s always a good idea to get a good point of reference, especially for a manufacturer whose catalog you might not be so familiar with. So sit back, relax, and let’s get into it.
Ball Engineer III Outlier 40mm (ref. DG9000B-S1C-BK)
For the “one watch” man, a robust GMT is always one of the most viable options, as it allows you to enjoy robust wearability every day along with great travel capabilities for time zone changes.
The Ball Engineer III Outlier is an exceptional watch with an MSRP of $3449. These watches can be found new, from authorized dealers, for under $3,000, and if I am to be honest, you’d be hard-pressed to find more bang for your buck.
This watch features a Manufacture GMT Caliber RRM7337-C, a true GMT with COSC precision and 42 hours of power reserve. This watch also checks all the “required” enthusiast boxes: a screw-down crown with 200m of water resistance, great dimensions, even as a GMT (40mm with less than 14mm of case thickness), and incredible lume via Ball’s tritium gas tubes.
If you are looking for a timepiece that packs an incredible punch, the Ball Engineer III Outlier rises head and shoulders above the competition.
Ball Roadmaster Marine GMT Meteorite Dial 40mm Black & Blue (ref. DG3000A-S11CJ-MSL)
I am an absolute sucker for Meteorite dials. Something about the juxtaposition of time-telling with the dial material itself—meteorite—really captures my imagination. Most meteorites are around 3.5 billion years old, dating back to the formation of our solar system.
It’s fascinating to consider that while the watch tracks seconds, minutes, and hours via modern horological technology, its dial holds a piece of the cosmos, a relic that has existed for eons! Okay—back to the watch now. The Ball Roadmaster Marine GMT Meteorite Dial is a full titanium (case and bracelet) timepiece with 300m of water resistance, superb antimagnetic properties, and shock resistance.
Yes, this is an extremely durable watch. It is sized to fit the vast majority of wrists out there, from small to large.
Moreover, the watch has three timezone indications with a patented quick set mechanism—and the reason for the inclusion of 2 additional “crowns” on the 9 o’clock sphere of the watch. It is a really sweet-looking watch, and the pictures don’t do it justice. You absolutely have to put this watch on your wrist prior to writing it off. Did I mention that it has an MSRP of $3,849?
Ball Fireman Enterprise (ref. NM2098C-S20J-WH)
Some don’t want or need fancy case materials, GMT movements with rotating bezels, or robust in-house movements. They just want a serious timepiece that will accurately tell time for decades to come while offering the flexibility of being dressed up or dressed down.
Most within the enthusiast community refer to these as GADA (Go Anywhere, Do Anything) watches, and the Ball Fireman Enterprise is a perfect execution of this. This watch features Ball’s amazing tritium tubes for lume, a date complication, 100m of water resistance, and strong antimagnetic properties. It’s also worth mentioning that the simpler the watch, the better the wearing dimensions are.
The Ball Fireman Enterprise has a case diameter of 40mm and is only 11.3mm thick. This is a perfect size to slip under a dress shirt cuff or to go with a pair of jeans and a T-shirt on the weekends. The watch does use a standard Swiss movement, but that doesn’t detract from its quality or accuracy. The MSRP is equally as impressive as the aforementioned features: the Ball Fireman Enterprise has an MSRP of only $1,199. Yes, you read the number correctly.
Ball Engineer III Marvelight Chronometer (ref. NM9026C-S33CJ-BK)
Continuing the GADA theme, the Ball Engineer III Marvelight Chronometer is a souped-up version of a daily wearer. It features a 904L stainless steel case and bracelet; for those who don’t know, due to its extra amounts of chromium, molybdenum, nickel, and copper, 904L steel features superior resistance to corrosion, rust, and acids.
And while the watch still features a standard Swiss movement, the movement has been adjusted and regulated to Chronometer standards, offering a deviation of -4/+6 seconds per day. This is a handsome watch! It has a wonderful H-link bracelet with polished center links, offering visual contrast to the brushed H-links.
The bracelet has really good articulation—a testament to its engineering and design. The black dial offers great flexibility and superior legibility, especially at night, due to the tritium tubes for lume. With an MSRP of $2,499, this watch packs more features than timepieces, double or even triple its price!
Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon Original 43mm (ref. DM2218B-SCJ-BK)
One of Ball’s claims to fame, at least in the world of watchmaking today, is their use of micro gas tubes (tritium) to offer a potent and omnipresent lume. The Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon Original is the first timepiece to integrate the tubes below the dial, giving a cleaner, more traditional appearance while maintaining superior luminosity.
Make no mistake: this is a big hulking watch. It has a diameter of 43mm and a thickness of 15.3mm. The Engineer Hydrocarbon Original is built like a tank. It can withstand shocks up to 7,500Gs, resist magnetic fields up to 80,000A/m and handle water pressure down to 200 meters. In other words, it’s ready to take on any duty beyond the standard “desk diving” to which we usually subjugate our timepieces.
We have to talk about the movement. Ball uses a heavily modified version of an ETA 2836. So, on the frustrating side, you only get 38 hours of power reserve. On the exciting side of things, you have Ball’s SpringSEAL® and SpringLOCK® systems that keep the regulator assembly and hairspring safe from bumps and drops.
Additionally, the Amortiser® anti-shock system wraps around the entire movement, ensuring that every part stays protected from impacts. So if you need a tank for your wrist, you can have one at an MSRP of $3,349.
Ball Watch Engineer II Green Berets (ref. NM2028C-L4CJ-BK)
A rugged combat watch combining excellent performance, tough materials, and smart functionality, the Engineer II Green Berets is inspired by the elite green beret troops from the United Kingdom and the United States.
The watch is manufactured from titanium carbide, which is titanium meets ceramic, all in one sexy, sleek, and matte black package. It won’t scratch, and it will keep ticking no matter what it goes through. The Ball Engineer II Green Berets is powered by a COSC RR1103-C automatic movement, so while it is an off-the-shelf movement, it does offer great precision.
Finally, as this is a combat watch, the extra large dial and hour batons and an anti-reflective sapphire crystal and Cyclops lens for date magnification make this watch extraordinarily legible. If you are looking for a military-inspired 43mm timepiece that will take anything, and I mean anything, you throw at it, you simply can’t go wrong with the Engineer II Green Berets, especially when considering its MSRP of only $2,299.
Ball Watch Trainmaster Eternity (ref. NM2080D-LL1J-BE)
If a business casual watch existed, this would be the poster child for it. The Ball Watch Trainmaster Eternity has a strikingly beautiful blue dial, a polished bezel, smaller tritium lume tubes to not overpower the simplicity of the dial, and a very wearable 39mm case diameter. It comes on a crocodile embossed leather strap or a jubilee bracelet—the choice is yours.
It also has the “vintage-inspired” day-date, which I personally see as one of the most underrated complications. It has a standard Swiss movement with 38mm of power reserve and only 30m of water resistance, so for adventurers seeking something more durable and robust, you should look elsewhere. With an MSRP of $2,099, the Ball Trainmaster Eternity is quite the value proposition!
Closing Thoughts
So there you have it. 7 of the best Ball watches worthy of your consideration. Sure, you can go the safe and more popular route, purchasing a Swiss watch from one of the more well-known Maisons. But in doing so, you will likely pay more for a Swiss watch with less features, less build quality, and less heritage. The ball’s in your court, mate—what will you do?
