The year of updates continues. This time the American watchmaker Ball Watches has presented its new Ball Engineer Master II Diver (ref. DM2020A-PA-BKGR).
Like the similarly named line of timekeepers from IWC, the Master II comes with a magnetically shielded, shock-resistant movement, but also adds to the mix a massive, rugged-looking body designed to withstand pressures up to 30 ATM. Coupled with the almost unrivaled legibility of a tritium-lighted dial and an inner diving scale, it indeed makes an impression of a winner.
As you can see, the changes to the outgoing Engineer Master II Diver are purely cosmetic.
The dial of the 2012 MY piece now looks more refined thanks to its day of week and date apertures finally placed on the same line (they sacrificed a luminous hour maker at 3 o’clock to make the fit possible).
The hour and minute hands are also new with the minute hand featuring the trendy arrow-shaped point, which is painted in the same shade of green as the 15-minute scale on the diving ring (the ring, by the way, is operated by a second crown at 2 hours).
As it was with the outgoing model, the watch features the same 3H micro-tubes that are filled with mildly radioactive tritium gas either in yellow (the 12 numeral and the three hour-markers) or green (the numerals on the diving scale and the three hands).
Compared to the widely used Superluminova, the tritium tubes are more convenient for a serious diving enthusiast for they do not need to be “charged” under the sun or a desk lamp, are much brighter and thus better visible in murky waters and, last but not least, do not lose their properties for decades, which makes it easier to sell the watch when your son finally gets tired of it.
Although the ETA 2836-2 movement is still there, the body finally lost some of its excessive weight (while retaining the same athletic proportions) and now measures 42 millimeters in width and only 13.3 millimeters in height. To make it look more elegant, the American brand has also introduced small crown guards and slightly changed the massive stainless steel bracelet (the watch is also available on a black rubber band).
Can’t say anything about pricing, but there is a good chance that the watch will be sold at some $3500-$3800 or maybe even less.
See also: Oris Maldives Edition 300M Diver (643 7654 7185 RS/MB)
Photos: Ball Watch
Ball Engineer Master II 300M Diver (ref. DM2020A-PA-BKGR) specification
Price: $2300 (MSRP)
Movement: Automatic, caliber ETA 2836-2, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 25
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 40 hours
Functions: Hours, minutes, seconds, date, day of week
Case: Stainless steel
Shape: Round
Size: 42.00 mm
Case height: 13.30 mm
Dial: Black, sunray guilloche pattern
Numerals: Arabic, luminous (tritium tubes)
Hour markers: Luminous (tritium tubes)
Hands: Steel, luminous (tritium tubes)
Water resistance: 300 meters
Strap: Massive stainless steel bracelet with a steel folding buckle / Black rubber strap with a standard steel buckle
Crystal: Sapphire, antireflective
Back: Solid, engraved