Your Take on Ball Watches

I have the Ball Engineer III Marvelight. I would say it compares favorably to my Oris Aquis, but is not quite as good as my Longines Spirit Zulu Time.

I really like it! The case is very similar in design to the Rolex OP. I like a lot of their designs, but not all.

Hope that helps!

They look amazing.

They are great watches overall. I’ve owned three total, currently own two, and am looking to get another one soon. The brand’s design language and use of tritium tubes make their watches very unique.

I have three Ball watches, and enjoy them all. Ball watches are good quality, and can be acquired at great deals preowned or grey market. As a brand it makes the most sense for a person that likes a good watch at a fair price that understands that there is no likely appreciation in value in the future. If there is a model you like, keep an eye out for a deal with the plan on keeping for the long term. In my case I loved the TMT (mechanical thermostat) complication. I haven’t seen this on another brand, and it was a driving motivation compelling my interest in the brand. I bought one grey market at big discount, my Trainmaster TMT, which I liked enough to pay full price for the RoadMaster TMT (which is only available new through their website).

While I feel the watches are good, I also feel that the company would be better off with new ownership and management.

They are not good at marketing.

They have entirely too many ‘Limited Editions’.

They over produce watches. This then leads to products often ending up on big grey market sites - lowering perceived value of the brand. This in turn leads to ADs struggling to hold MSRP because of the grey market discounts.

Really, I love the brand and products. I see tremendous upside if it were managed more efficiently and effectively. The watches are good, now if Ball were owned and managed better the brand could really reach its potential. I would love to see the Swatch Group acquire the brand, because they seem especially good at letting brands under the umbrella flourish. Glashutte Original, Omega in particular come to mind as examples of this.

I know some people love it, but I don't like Ball's insistence on tritium tubes. I'd rather not have a source of radioactivity and X-rays strapped to my wrist on the daily.

I have the Engineer III Marvelight. It is comfortable despite the butterfly clasp bracelet (maybe I got lucky with the fit), quite nicely finished, robust feeling, and has run accurately. Probably my only complaint is the crown, which is just a little too small, making winding and time-setting more difficult than it needs to be.

Would I buy it again? Yes. Do I enjoy the watch? Indeed.

Thanks for your input!

BALL is probably one of the best in value for money. I own one, planning to get few more.

Weird though that they had so many cool designs some time ago, that are discontinued. Now on their website the models are slightly more boring comparing to some old ones.

Whatever you do, don't pre-order Ball watches through one of their authorized dealers. I pre-ordered a watch for myself and one for a friend. You have to pay up front (albeit with a pre-order discount) to preorder. The AD went out of business. I contacted several people at Ball and they acknowledged that I had made the order. But the order was through their AD and Ball would not do anything to fulfill my order.

Ball offered to sell me the watches I already paid for, at full retail price. WTF!

Ball is one of, if not my favorite, brands. Very high quality, expensive enough that it feels like something special but also cheap enough that really people can afford them (perhaps with a little saving first).