# The claimed durability of ball watches



## crash525

Is the durability that they claim built in all the watches or just certain ones? Ive never broke a quartz or mechanical watch but i always worry. From what i have read that ball watches are pretty tough. Ball had shown a drummer wear one with the springlock and not have an issue. I still have no idea what that is and how it works. 

Does any one have personal experiences where they would use a ball watch but not others? Or thought it would have broke but still works fine?

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


----------



## nimbushopper

My first Ball watch was a fireman 43 that I purchased new 10 years ago. It still runs fine at +2 secs a day. I have since obtained used an Aviator(original)and an engineer hydrocarbon classic II, both over 7 years ago and have had no problems with either one. The latter mentioned I had overhauled because it was running 25sec slow daily. Now it runs +1 sec a week!


----------



## timefleas

Over the last 10 years, I have bought, worn and sold well more than 100 watches--of which, more than half were Ball watches. Of the 60+ Ball watches, only 2 needed work of any kind (both minor issues, and not costly to repair). On the other hand, of the handful of Panerai that I had, two needed costly service, of the 6 or 7 IWC that I had, two needed costly service....

I still have one Ball Fireman, getting close to 12 years old, no service, no issues, now running at about -5 secs/day. I wore this when I was ski racing for several years, exposing it to extreme cold, hard shocks (tumbles where I broke ribs, separated shoulders, and so forth) but no problem with the watch--in my small "rotation" it is my "tool' watch, but really is a great all rounder. I have two others, a Grand Central Terminal, which in many ways is really a refined Aviator, and a Trainmaster Flying Scotsman--both are within 2 seconds of perfect time, incredibly reliable, but have not been subjected to the punishment the Fireman has.


----------



## crash525

Thanks for the reply. This puts me at easy more. I hear they are really durable and do not doubt it, its the fact that wearing a watch that cost $500.00 or more makes me nervous. Im afraid id smack a doorway or something and i just ruined my watch. I have been a fan of ball ever since ive seen one and i will own one some day. Thanks again! Nice watches BTW.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


----------



## appview

They are tough and durable, no question about that.


----------



## ghloo

Is the error acceptable for my new EMII Diver running about +8 sec per day. It is on my wrist 1 week.


----------



## samanator

ghloo said:


> Is the error acceptable for my new EMII Diver running about +8 sec per day. It is on my wrist 1 week.


For a non COSC movement this is right it spec. Generally they will settle in over time.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## SteveJ

I hope that they are as robust as they claim they are because I just put an Engineer III King on pre-order to wear and use here in rural south central Alaska where I live. The H3 illumination and all of the durability upgrades to the eta movement sold me. Because an automatic Traser, (a brand I also like because of their H3 dials and their overall robustness for low costs, in quartz at least, also), would have cost 3/4 of what this Engineer III King cost and the dial is way more legible on the Ball. not to mention that the Ball has a steel instead of a composite case. Won't get delivery until sometime this coming summer. So .. I'll see and let all y'all know.


----------



## Alysandir

crash525 said:


> Is the durability that they claim built in all the watches or just certain ones? Ive never broke a quartz or mechanical watch but i always worry. From what i have read that ball watches are pretty tough. Ball had shown a drummer wear one with the springlock and not have an issue. I still have no idea what that is and how it works.


The watch in question is the Ball Skindiver II and the drummer, KISS' Eric Singer. The SpringLock component is essentially a cage around the escapement that minimizes the amount that the balance spring can move laterally, in order to minimize the effect of shock on the accuracy of the watch. It's not a panacea, meaning that it doesn't outright prevent accuracy issues due to shock, but it does help minimize changes in accuracy due to shock.

I cannot say what other watches beyond the Skindiver II have the SpringLock system; to my knowledge, it's the only one. However, in owning one, it's done a very good job in keeping up with my daily use. The only complaints I'd have against it are A) it's a little on the heavy side, particularly on bracelet, so if you have narrow wrists that might be a consideration; and B) being a modified ETA 2824-2, winding via the crown provides no tactile feedback or resistance. But that latter complaint is true of all 2824-2, I believe.

Regards,
Alysandir


----------



## samanator

Alysandir said:


> The watch in question is the Ball Skindiver II and the drummer, KISS' Eric Singer. The SpringLock component is essentially a cage around the escapement that minimizes the amount that the balance spring can move laterally, in order to minimize the effect of shock on the accuracy of the watch. It's not a panacea, meaning that it doesn't outright prevent accuracy issues due to shock, but it does help minimize changes in accuracy due to shock.
> 
> I cannot say what other watches beyond the Skindiver II have the SpringLock system; to my knowledge, it's the only one. However, in owning one, it's done a very good job in keeping up with my daily use. The only complaints I'd have against it are A) it's a little on the heavy side, particularly on bracelet, so if you have narrow wrists that might be a consideration; and B) being a modified ETA 2824-2, winding via the crown provides no tactile feedback or resistance. But that latter complaint is true of all 2824-2, I believe.
> 
> Regards,
> Alysandir


Actually Eric Singer used Robs Skindiver I as a non SpringLOCK test watch (Ihave a link to the story in my EHC Black Rock Review in the review area). It required service after the test to bring it back in Spec. The SpringLOCK watch returned to normal after the test with no service. The EHC Black and Airborne, Magneto, and second gen CannonBall are SpringLOCK watches. The Skindiver II is not. I may have missed a few SpringLOCK models. Ball notes which have SpringLOCK in each watches specs.

Alysandir your description of how SpringLOCK works is excellent.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro


----------



## drewhenson

My opinion... Not very durable. I've had a crown / date wheel issue twice on my stormchaser dlc glow.


----------



## crash525

Did they break from being banged up or normal use?


----------



## Alysandir

samanator said:


> The EHC Black and Airborne, Magneto, and second gen CannonBall are SpringLOCK watches. The Skindiver II is not.


That blows my mind, because of all the talk about the SDII being the "Eric Singer" watch, that it wouldn't contain the anti-shock system that he helped test. But I cannot find any evidence anywhere that it does. That really makes me rather angry.

Regards,
Alysandir


----------



## gossler

I believe BALL watches are very strong watches. My first BALL watch, an Engineer Master Diver II bought in 2009, had two problems. First the crown broke off the movement while attempting to set the time. This was fixed under warranty. The second problem was my fault. For some reason the watch got caught on something while putting on a back pack. I pushed hard, and when I felt it get unstock.... I saw my watch fly over my head and land on the asphalt. I found the spring bar and put the strap back together. The watch has been working ever since... there are of course some dents because of this... but other than that. its all good.


----------



## Boblalock1

Ive been wearing Ball watches for about 6 years and they are as robust as a mechanical watch can be. Especially the EHC series


----------



## Ard

I've been abusing the Fireman racer here in an active outdoor lifestyle in Alaska for 2 years, no problems. The most jarring treatment it gets would be the snowmachine rides to the cabin, 75 miles each direction over rough frozen trails. Let's put it this way, the trip makes my butt sore but my watch is handling it fine. No worries with a Ball watch, BTW. my Fireman Racer runs at +/- 3 or 3 a week depending on activities.


----------



## Cocas

I put my mad cow tmt into fridge to test see if the thermometer is working or not. My another mad cow survived from a car accident without the need of service and repair.

Both tick perfectly till today. It's built like a tank!


----------



## Daso

i personally wanted to love their watches but have only had bad experiences with their quality and company tactics. chronograph pusher fell off my trieste (yes, fell off) and they forced me to have a $500 overhaul just to replace part and dont sell parts to any watch dealers. my last trieste's second subdial stopped working and my last Nedu's crown lock piece kept flopping open. never had issues like these with other brands. subjectively they make some cool watches out of seemely quality materials but unless you must have tritium (which I'm starting to outgrow) i would invest my money in better known brands that build a reliable product and don't force customers to do unnecessary repairs to just make money. yes if you buy an Omega they charge a ton to service but you can also have an omega serviced with parts by any good watchmaker. just my two bits. waiting to see when they return my trieste so i can sell it. i know this is a very pro Ball forum but the last (and current) forced overhaul really ended my desire to try to support this company as a customer. starting to see less and less of their watches in their dealers windows lately as well.


----------



## [email protected]

I've had a Ball engineer for 5 years. The crown broke off a few months ago. No history of abuse, just regular usage out of a daily.


----------



## colonelpurple

crash525 said:


> Is the durability that they claim built in all the watches or just certain ones? Ive never broke a quartz or mechanical watch but i always worry. From what i have read that ball watches are pretty tough. Ball had shown a drummer wear one with the springlock and not have an issue. I still have no idea what that is and how it works.
> 
> Does any one have personal experiences where they would use a ball watch but not others? Or thought it would have broke but still works fine?
> 
> Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk


All 316L watches are the same. Ball is about to introduce a 904L watch, but it's only 10% stronger

I do find Ball watches use very well built designs, for example the Engineer II Mavelight with its lovely bracelet.

Ball have excellent construction, amongst the best, but like any 316L watch it still scratches

If you want a non-scratch watch you have to buy a ceramic watch or a tegimented (Sinn). Some makes, like Damasko and Bremont, use extra hardening .


----------



## tricosene

I took my Spacemaster Orbital to my officer basic course. 

Wore it during range practice, combatives, PT, and more. No opportunity to baby it in an environment like that. It's held up fine for me. It's got plenty of scratches on the case, but that's to be expected considering what I put it through.


----------



## timefleas

Anecdotal experiences are just that--anecdotal--to be useful, we need to add them all up and see if there are patterns. If you look over the thousands of threads here (I've been here awhile) you will see several issues regarding the crown guard coming loose, a pusher or two coming off the Trieste type watches, and as with _any _watch, the crown coming loose or breaking off--however, as documented in the forum threads, the vast majority have few if any problems--overall, the record of durability is well attested to, with a few problems equally well-noted, but thankfully those are in the very small minority.

To add my own two cents, based on experience with more than 70 Ball watches over the course of the last 13 years, I can offer more (68?) to the "plus" column with only a couple in the negative--I've had only two manufacturing-related problems out of the 70+, with only one related to "durability"--that one was a loose crown on an Ionosphere, while the other was a single fleck of dust embedded in the painted dial of a Limited Edition Fireman B&O. The latter was one of the very few I bought new from an AD, and within days, was given a replacement--the other, the loose crown, was on a watch I had bought used, and arrived that way--the problem was rectified by a local watch repair guy for about $20.

Beyond that, only two that I have ever owned needed a regular service--one, my 13 year old Fireman (first generation, in my signature, below), needed one after 12 years, and the other, a hand-winding 21st Century, needed one after about 4 years.

I wear my watches anywhere and everywhere. Until I had one accident too many, I used to be an alpine ski racer (Downhill, GS, SGS, SL), and wore my Fireman (it was and still is my "GADA") everyday that I skied, often in sub-zero, wind-blown, above-treeline conditions, with many a tumble--including ones where I ended up with separated shoulders, cracked ribs, punctured lungs, torn ACLs, broken skis, destroyed bindings, and the like--and all the while, the Ball kept on ticking...

Ball is as advertised in most adverse conditions, while of course the mileage of individual pieces by individual users may vary, as is true of watches of all brands.


----------



## Combat Jump

I've worn my Trieste chrono for 11 years, without so much as a service being done. Robust as they come.


----------

