Ball Watch Company's perfect track record

Railway timetables are a national joke in this country, typically seeming to be random sets of numbers that bear no resemblance to the actual time that trains arrive or leave. But, of course, timetables should be no laughing make a difference. Indeed, the historian AJP Taylor once put forward the theory that WWI broke out because the German railway timetables meant that once troops were mobilised, the order couldn't be rescinded.

So accurate railway timekeeping has constantly been of vital importance. And, after a horrific fatal collision in Ohio back in 1891, thanks to an engineer's view stopping for a mere four minutes, railroad officials appointed a Cleveland watchmaker, Webster Clay Ball, as the chief inspector. He was entrusted with the task of establishing precise and uniform time standards also as a reliable inspection process for all railroad chronometers. The reason Ball was chosen for the task was that he had been the initial watchmaker in Cleveland to use time signals from the United States Naval Observatory to set clocks. This ensured that the city kept accurate time, rather than relying on vague approximations based on clocks on church steeples. (Indeed, up until the 1880s, American towns often operated their own, local time zones.)

From this appointment grew the prestigious Ball View Company. While it did not manufacture its own movements, its timepieces all adhered to Ball's strict guidelines for accuracy and reliability, and were seen because the standard by which the American railroad network was run. Indeed, most of your major American manufacturers (as well as some Swiss ones, including the world-famous Geneva watchmaker Vacheron Constantin) soon adopted Ball's exacting standards. By the time he died in 1922, Webster Clay Ball had been awarded numerous international awards to honour his contribution to saving lives around the railway.

Today, the Ball Observe Company is based in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and uses Swiss-made movements. Possibly its most famous model line is the Engineer series, which pays homage to the company's railroad roots. They have been described as "no-nonsense" pieces - in a complimentary sense. One of your series' one of a kind features is patented "micro gas tubes". The company claims that these will glow continuously for up to 25 years, lighting both the numerals and hands 100 times more brightly than any other luminous material.

The Engineer Master II Officer may owe its heritage to the age of steam, but this model is incredibly much designed with flight in mind. With its classic, simple-to-read dial and clear Arabic numerals, this really is 1 of by far the most handsome aviator watches around the market. The hinged caseback provides antimagnetic and shock resistance while still allowing you to see the manual-wind movement, which is perfect for checking that your timekeeping is around the right track.

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