Driven to Succeed: Ball Unleashes Ball for BMW - Men's Folio
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Driven to Succeed: Ball Unleashes Ball for BMW

  • By Men's Folio

When Ball Watch and BMW first announced their joint production of a series of BMW-inspired Ball timepieces to be launched at the end of this year, we were excited to see what would spring forth from this collaboration. After all, the stalwart Swiss watch manufacture and the Bavarian Motor Works car company are, like the cogs of meshing gears working in tandem, a perfect fit in terms of prestige, history and company values. 

Ball, in particular, has steadily cultivated a reputation for itself as a purveyor of trusty timepieces that are meticulously tested, accurate and good-looking to boot. Both companies also share a storied history of starting out in engineering and machinery, so we were very curious indeed to see how their shared love for pioneership and adventure, not to mention their exacting standards for technical and aesthetic polish, would translate into the new watches. After studying the new Ball for BMW watch collection for ourselves, we can say the timekeeping steward has truly outdone itself on both design and mechanical fronts.

A Brief History of Time

Before we examine the new models in the collection, a quick detour into the fascinating founding of Ball would allow for a better appreciation of the timepieces and the brand as a whole. Ball was established back in 1891, in a stirring, classic tale of triumph over adversity. In that year, Webster Clay Ball, the man from which the company gets its name, was working as the Chief Inspector for the Lake Shore Lines section of the then burgeoning rail-road industry.

All was well till tragedy struck on April 19, 1891, when a fundamental lack of precision timekeeping caused two trains to collide on the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railroad in Kipton, Ohio. This was as much a case of bad “timing”, so to speak, as it was human error: the Conductor of Accommodation later admitted that from the time the train departed Elyria till the second it collided with the Fast Mail at Kipton, he had neglected to check his pocket-watch, assuming that the Engineer would look out for the Fast Mail. Little did he know that, in a seemingly benign twist of fate, the Engineer’s watch had stopped for four minutes before running again, a malfunction that sadly became a literal case of life and death. 

The resulting accident prompted a serious rethink into the need for uniform timekeeping. This was when Webb C. Ball stepped up his game, establishing fortnightly checks on the watches worn by all railroad workers. Ball set strict standards, forbidding variations of more than 30 seconds among the watches. The rest, as they say, is history, with Webb C. Ball writing himself into the annals of horology as the man who got the ball rolling, so to speak, in setting the standard for railroad timekeeping in North America and the evolution of the fine watch industry in general.

Driven To Succeed Ball Unleashes Ball For Bmw 2

Eschewing horological fads, the innovative spirit inherent in the Ball Watch company stems from functionality and precision timekeeping, the ethos laid down by railway revolutionary and Ball founder, Webb C. Ball

Engineered for Perfection

Flashforward to the year 2012, and the Ball Watch company has moved from one form of automotive transport to another. With all that prior history in mind, surely there can be no more fitting and memorable tagline for the new partnership between Ball and BMW than the daringly ambitious phrase, “Engineered for Perfection”. 

Design-wise, a slew of variations and materials are proffered—the exclusive collaboration will yield 28 versions for you to choose from, with a limited edition Ball for BMW Thermometer watch said to be in the works—yet all of the specimens in the collection hew firmly to Ball’s athletic, industrial aesthetic.

We particularly appreciate the restraint in design here: nary an oversized, jarring BMW logo is to be found on the dial. Subtlety is surely the way to go in such partnerships, because no taste-maker and fan of Ball would want a vulgar, logo-emblazoned clunker on their wrist. Influenced by the heart-pounding lines of BMW’s beloved range of cars, head designer Magali Métrailler has instead created masculine, refined pieces that evoke the heady freedom of careening down a country road in your Bimmer. Note for instance the lightweight cases, with some models featuring tapering horns that lend proportion and a sexy, sporty silhouette to your watch. 

Turning to the models proper, the watches fall into one of three families: Classic, GMT and Power Reserve. The most minimalist model is the 40mm Ball for BMW Classic, a functional, elegant version in steel with a range of dial colours from gleaming silver to a version with a lovely blue sheen. Offered with a metal bracelet or crocodile leather strap, the Classic will feature a Swiss ETA 2892 automatic movement, and a tone-on-tone BMW logo etched into the dial at eight O’Clock.

Ball 5 

Reference NM3010D-LCFJ-SL with black crocodile strap. This is from the Classic range of the Ball for BMW collection. The German automaker’s circular logo is engraved on the dial at the eight o’clock position

A Whole New Ball Game

Ball

The signature orange accent on BMW’s instrument panels, a pop of color used judiciously in the GMT and Power Reserve families

Meanwhile, the GMT and Power Reserve models come in generously sized 42mm models, offered in polished or DLC black coated steel cases. A splash of so-called Inka orange, BMW’s iconic dashboard colour, has been applied to the second hands on the Power Reserve and GMT counters, for visual interest and maximum legibility. For these latter two models, the star is a version with a striking design centred on a DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) case. This novel material provides superior scratch resistance and longevity, said to be approaching the hardness of natural diamonds. Metal coated with DLC have been demonstrated to show impressive resistance to wear and even electrical insulation, so you can be assured that your Ball for BMW watch is in the best of hands.

Of course, the new Ball for BMW collection also boasts the manufacture’s watchmaking expertise, chief among which is its revolutionary patented Amortiser® anti-shock system. This marvel of micro-mechanical engineering absorbs lateral impacts and so protects the mechanical movement whenever it is on the wrist. Here’s how Ball’s Amortiser® technology works: with a deft press-and-screw-down motion on the caseback, the wearer can secure the automatic rotor whenever he expects the watch to endure shock or trauma. This locking mechanism serves to protect the movement during “crisis” situations. When the storm has passed, so to speak, you can then disengage the Amortiser® to resume your watch’s automatic winding.

Ball 1

Reference GM3010C-SCJ-BK with stainless steel bracelet

Driven To Succeed Ball Unleashes Ball For Bmw 3

Close-up illustration of Ball’s H3 technology. The diamond-cut metal indexes of the Ball for BMW watches will house Ball’s famous gas tubes, which give off light that is said that be one hundred times more intense than conventional luminescent paint

All of the Ball for BMW watches also feature futuristic tritium gas tube illumination. The self-powered gas tubes require no external source of energy:  instead, light is produced when the electrons of the tritium gas strike the luminous phosphors on the inside of the mineral glass tubes. In dimly lit spaces, these micro-tubes of H3 gas will glow bright orange, with a single blue tube at 12 o’clock, ensuring that the dial remains perfectly legible even in pitch-black environments.

Naturally, all of these innovations incorporated into the BALL for BMW watch collection tie in nicely with features present in the high-end automobile world. The motoring concept has even been pushed as far as the packaging for each watch: the box opens to reveal a BMW digital key. Indeed, these timepieces will appeal to both car and watch lovers precisely because of all the clever design elements that appear perfectly natural on a Ball watch.

Some final details worth highlighting include the angular lugs of the cases of some of the models, which evoke the muscular front grille of a BMW. Screwed-in crowns feature convex and concave surfaces that Bimmer fans will recognize as being inspired by the brand’s cabin knobs. The interesting polished and satin-finish steel cases are also a hallmark of the collection, creating a pleasing textural contrast that hints at the German automaker’s own sporty design philosophy without being too in-your-face. The takeaway? The Ball for BMW collection constitutes an understated selection of timepieces that respects the heritage of both brands without pandering to the logo-obsessed, making them fine gifts this festive season for yourself or the style-savvy sportsmen in your life. 

Ball 4

A sketch of the BMW logo. The finely wrought index and four color printing on the discreet 2.6 mm BMW logo surface is in itself a fine work of art

Ball 7

Reference PM3010C-P1CFJ-BK

Ball Watches