Ball Hydrocarbon Spacemaster Orbital

[Beachbum]

So been looking for a new watch for months. I most probably do not fall into the same category as most people on this forum, as I intend to buy and keep.
The watch needs to have a chrono and tritium. So the only options I have found that I truly like are the Marathon CSAR and the aforementioned Ball. Have manged to get a fair amount of info on Marathon, but virtually nothing on Ball.
So the question is, what are peoples opinions of the brand ? Are they worth the money ? The Ball is about a grand more than the Marathon, but then it is Titanium and has a GMT function too.

Does anyone have other suggestions that I should consider. Traser is out, I've looked and just dont like them.

Thankss

[LukeBird]

Ball are superb watches, I have one (a Moonphase) and it's a fantastic watch.
Definitely one of my favourites.
It's quite a chunky watch and certainly feels like you're getting your moneys worth out of it.
Check out my pics on this thread at the bottom of the page 2 and a wrist shot and the all important lume shots on this thread all down Page 27.

Any more questions fireaway, there are several owners on here.

[CardShark]

I passed through a couple of airports in Malaysia a month or so ago where they had darkened Ball displays allowing them to properly show off their lume, Ball really should get all their ADs to do it as they looked I tried a couple on to pass the time, very impressed!

[Ikemi]

Ball watches have a large following in Asia and Australasia, but have recently started concentrating on the European market and the fan base is building! Ernest Jones became a major AD for Ball last year

As Nemisis says, their watches are underated and easily overlooked. I personally feel the build quality rivals the mid-range offerings from Omega, surpassing the likes of Oris and Hamilton at a similar price point. It's also worth noting that Ball are the only manufacturer to use the tritium tubes as a way of displaying numerals, which is very cool! They also utilise a mixture of elabore, top grade and chronometer ETA movements - No 'base' spec stuff!

Website: www.ballwatch.com
Company History: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_watch
ADs:
http://www.ernestjones.co.uk/webstore/l/watches/br...
http://www.jurawatches.co.uk/ball-watches
http://www.chisholmhunter.co.uk/html/category.php/...

My Engineer Hydrocarbon Classic I Review: http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

A obligatory lume shot!



However I might sell mine to acquire this: http://www.jurawatches.co.uk/Ball-Watch-Company/En...

[the rev3rend]

I've got to say that for me Ball watches are very nice pieces for the money. I've had an Engineer HC for over a year now and I wear it almost every day. I also have a Bell&Ross Space3 as well as Tag Carerra Twin Time (not bragging, just letting you what it fights against for wrist time) and at least 3 weeks a month I wear the Ball. It's solid, weighty, accurate and comfortable (as long as you wear it on your right hand because the crown protection system can dig into the back of your hand if worn on the left hand loosely.)

One of the best things is the lume - I never tire of it and it's so bright all night long. The lume on the bezel is no-where near as good so bear this in mind.
You also get a 2 year warranty when you register it online too, which is nice.

It's well worth a solid look and what I like about it most is that most folks know nothing about them so it's not quite as showy as some other brands can be.
Give it a good test and I hope you enjoy your selection.

[Beachbum]

So the general consensus is they are worth the money.
The next Q therefore is, where can they be had at a decent price. The Spacemaster Orbital's RRP is £3000.
Any ideas where it might be had for less than at ?

[Ikemi]

Beachbum said:

So the general consensus is they are worth the money.
The next Q therefore is, where can they be had at a decent price. The Spacemaster Orbital's RRP is £3000.
Any ideas where it might be had for less than at ?

Chisholm Hunter and Jura Watches will entertain a 10% discount, but I found there was little movement from RRP Your best bet is second hand, but Ball watches rarely appear on the market (Chrono24, TZ-UK etc) and the Spacemaster Orbital is both new and expensive!

I'd try finding an AD that stocks the Spacemaster Orbital (Ernest Jones or Jura) and push for a good discount - If your paying £3K in one go, that will hopefully interest them! But I doubt you'll obtain the watch for much less than £2700.00

[LukeBird]

^^ Completely agree.

I tried to buy a new version of the Ball I now have and Jura wouldn't entertain any discount. Which IMO was ludicrous and they lost a sale because of it!

[Beachbum]

Well Saturday whilst wandering around Bournemouth Town Centre I passed Ernest Jones, saw it in the window and thought what the hell, lets at least look at it.
Good job I did. Its massive. I know I have skinny wrists, but you'd need to be a Gorilla, to pull this off. Dont know the dimmensions of it, but it must be close to 2cm thick and from lug to lug, the same width as my wrist.

So whilst I loved the watch, it has to come of the "possible" list, cos it aint.

Oh hell, back to CSAR, or a new manufacturer I have recently come across Nite Watches.

[LukeBird]

Have a look at other Balls (pardon the pun!) there are plenty that are a much more wearable size.

[Ikemi]

LukeBird said:

Have a look at other Balls (pardon the pun!) there are plenty that are a much more wearable size.

^This!

I personally think my Hydrocarbon Classic is a bit on the small side at 40mm - I'd rather it was 42mm like the original Spacemaster, but then my modest collection seems to be made up of rather large (not TW standard!) watches

Have a look at the rest of the Ball range - Not all of them are thick, massive watches. However they do all have tritium tubes I guarantee you'll be happier with a Ball over a Tsar Marathon.