Ball Fireman Night Train III Review

5 Total Score
The New Ball watch with Insanely Amount of Lume

The automatic watches that lights up your way in the middle of nowhere. The robust watch with shock-resistance and lights that won't fade anytime soon.

User Rating: 3 (7 votes)

For most of us, a watch is just another piece of jewelry that helps us tell time. As long as it’s precise and feels comfortable on our wrist, there’s nothing much to look in the watch.

You couldn’t be any further than the truth as watches can do so much more than helping you not be late on your meetings. Apart from the looks, which can be selling points in some situations, the build and the features of a watch can make your life easier and even help you succeed in the most challenging conditions.

In all fairness, watches have traveled a long way ever since their creation and come with functions that only the new era people are going to understand and appreciate.

Why is Ball watches a respected name within the watch industry?

Ball Fireman Night Train III 2 colors

Ball Watch Company is an American watch company with its headquarters in Switzerland. It was founded at the end of the 19th century in Ohio, and it’s connected to the American railroad history.

Ball Watch Company is one of the most appreciated watch brands in the United States, and its efforts to keep pace with the continually moving tastes of customers have never stopped. Even though the looks may have changed throughout the years, the fundamental spirit of the brand (which is an industrial function) never did. The original details (the dial always relates to the standard railway watch) never went away, and they all (the shape of the hands, the style of numerals and many more) sustain the precision of the watches.

Ball has been creating watches that are loaded with features and come for reasonable prices. The brand had changed the strategy only recently when it started to offer new watches at pre-order prices.

What the Ball Fireman Night Train III at a glance?

Ball Fireman Night Train III 3 colors

If you know a thing or two about watches, you may also be aware that Ball watches are affordable ETA-based mechanical timepieces that include self-illuminating tritium tubes chief.

Ball watches fall in the category of tough and adventure watches, and several features stay behind this nature. The watches present a patented Amortiser system (it’s made of an antimagnetic ring between the movement and the case and a system for locking the rotor), which sustains the shock-resistance. Let’s not forget that the company used to make chronometers for America’s railway conductors as they needed highly-accurate pocket watches for preventing fatal accidents when trains would go behind schedule.

Coming back to the Ball Fireman Night Train III, we see a reasonably simple three-hander watch that includes a magnified date at three o’clock. The watch makes a pleasant first impression, but it’s a lot more than meets the eye. The watch comes with a strong ETA2824-2 automatic, and the anti-magnetic ring protects it well. The Ball’s reliable shock-absorbing “Amortiser” system doesn’t miss from this one either.

The watch is also outfitted with the famous tritium gas tubes that we find in most Ball watches. If you know nothing about tritium gas, we’re here for the rescue. Tritium gas doesn’t need to “charge” from a light source (the way any other photoluminescent materials do) and doesn’t fade either. It means that you’re going to be able to read the watch for a very long time. The most impressive part comes from the fact that the Ball Fireman Night Train III is equipped with no less than 61 tubes around the dial, which is more than enough even in the darkest night.

The watch comes in three sizes: 31mm, 40mm, and 43mm. However, you get to customize it too, and you can select the dial color, the strap, and even the lume color. Just make sure you put a buck aside for paying when pre-ordering.

All in all, the Ball Fireman Night Train III is a typical Ball watch that is very easy to use and dependable for a long time.

Let’s go over the details as well!

Ball Fireman Night Train III back view

If you’re a timepiece aficionado, you should never miss your chance of owning a Ball watch. A Ball watch is all about rugged build, long-glowing tritium-tube-equipped dials and antimagnetic system for protecting the movements. The Ball Fireman Night Train III doesn’t make an exception, and the watch impresses with the nighttime performance and functionality.

As we’ve stated, the watch comes in several diameter and thickness options, and you can choose the diameter you think it’s going to fit your wrist the best. You can have your pick when it comes to the color of the dial too. Black, green or blue are the options to choose from.

The case is made with stainless steel, which ensures excessive wear, without losing its abilities. The 40 and 43 mm versions feature tritium tubes for the hours and minutes, whereas the 31mm version comes with tritium only for hours.

You can select between green or orange color for the Lume. You may also decide which type of strap you want for your watch as well. The 31mm version only comes with steel bracelet, whereas the 40mm and 43 mm options include a leather strap, steel bracelet or rubber strap. You may want to take a look at the extra Nato straps that come in two sizes.

The build of the watch doesn’t disappoint, and the watch has 100meter water resistance. The case back is solid and comes with engraved train iconography.

When it comes to functions, there are some differences. The ETA 2671 includes hours, minutes and seconds, whereas the ETA 2824-2 displays hours, minutes, seconds and date as well.

The winding is automatic, and the power reserve is 38 hours.

What’s our final line?

The Ball Fireman Night Train III isn’t your regular watch. It’s a long-lasting, robust and impressive watch that takes the wear and the abuse for a long time, helping you stay on track even in the middle of the darkest night. Some things should never change. And Ball Fireman Night Train III is proof that some things can work without changing that much. It’s the classic Ball watch with a subtle touch of the modern era for the customer of the 21st century. Why not take the plunge?

RESOURCES

Ball Watch Co.

Introducing: The Ball Fireman Night Train III – HODINKEE

Ball Watches Fireman Night Train III Pre-Order • Gear Patrol

 

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