Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon Black Watch

Published by Pierre-Paul Godts

The latest member to join the very closed circle of the BALL Explorers Club, Alex Honnold is one of the most daring and talented rock climbers of his generation. As holder of numerous climbing records, he is considered a living legend of free solo climbing. This sport climbing discipline forgoes the use of harnesses and climbing aids. Demonstrating profound modesty and constantly surpassing himself, Alex Honnold pushes the boundaries of adventure with each ascent. His exploits have earned him a reputation far beyond the world of climbing.

The Engineer Hydrocarbon Black is the first model in the iconic BALL collection to use a DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon) coating. BALL Watch was one of the first watch brands to use DLC, which offers exceptional scratch resistance and increased durability for the materials. The titanium case gives the watch surprising lightness for its 42mm diameter and 13.25mm thickness. That’s a big plus for a timepiece designed to follow Alex Honnold on his breathtaking climbs where success depends on a perfect balance between each of the accompanying elements.

The design of the Engineer Hydrocarbon Black is deliberately free of superfluous detail and relies on the powerful intensity of the black color of the dial, case, bezel and strap. The dial has instant legibility thanks to the use of micro tubes containing luminescent 3H gas on the Arabic numerals marking the hours, the other markers and hands. This design element patented by BALL Watch uses a state-of-the-art Swiss luminescent technology for reading the time by day or night. The micro gas tubes provide light intensity up to 100 times more effective than conventional luminous paints and require no external source of light or energy. The green color of the micro-tubes on the dial and the yellow color on the needles enhance the readability in a final touch offering a set of nocturnal colors. Because of its optimal contrast with black, yellow has also been used for the minutes scale on the flange as well as the second hand.

As a natural complement to the DLC, the bezel is made of black ceramic benefiting from BALL’s pioneering process of adding luminous paint.
The figures and the scale of the bezel are made luminescent to allow instant readings in the dark. The ceramic bezel also gives exceptional resistance against corrosion, scratches and UV rays. Finally, the unidirectional rotating bezel is an additional safety guarantee that prevents accidentally extending a time preset through mishandling.

Conquering a rock wall can expose any real explorer to many sources of shocks. So the Engineer Hydrocarbon Black is equipped with the new patented SpringLOCK® system. Exclusively developed by BALL Watch, the device guarantees the movement’s working accuracy by providing the balance spring with a real “cage” to absorb the energy of external shocks to the watch. Such events can cause a standard mechanical movement to go out by up to more or less 60 seconds per day. The SpringLOCK® reduces the impact of external shocks up to 66% thus safeguarding the accuracy of the caliber.

The Engineer Hydrocarbon Black runs on an automatic ETA 2892-A2 movement whose accuracy is attested by its chronometer certification issued by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). The date appears in a window at three o’clock enhanced by the Cyclops magnifying lens fixed to the antireflective sapphire crystal.

The patented crown protection completes the case and ensures improved security in the mastery of time. This device is common to all models of the Engineer Hydrocarbon collection and protects the movement, to which the crown is directly connected, from the elements. The construction of the watch also ensures protection against magnetic fields up to 4,800 A/m and impacts of up to 5,000 Gs as well as water resistance up to 300 meters.

The Engineer Hydrocarbon Black is mounted on a black rubber strap that further enhances its sporty look.