Two-tone GMT bezels: they’re so hot right now. You can thank Rolex and Tudor’s Pepsi-bezel madness form Baselworld in 2018, though the style, used to separate AM from PM on a watch bezel, has been around since the dawn of the GMT complication in the 1950s and plenty of other watches from other manufacturers have used it since. Not that there’s anything wrong with this — it’s a utilitarian (albeit bold) look, which suits the complication well. And this new limited edition watch from Ball is an excellent example of the design done right.
The Engineer Hydrocarbon AeroGMT II is, in the same vein as the Rolex GMT, a tool-oriented travel watch with a focus on legibility. Obviously, the blue-and-black rotating bezel is part of that, but this being a Ball watch, the dial features the brand’s signature tritium tube lume. Tritium gas tubes shine bright and crisp and don’t need to be “charged” by the sunlight like the more standard SuperLuminova does, so there will always be plenty of lume when it’s needed.
This is a robust timepiece, too. At 42mm the case it chunky, and the movement is rated anti-magnetic to 4,800A/m and water-resistant to 100 meters. It even features a locking mechanism that protects the watch’s crown from any hard knocks. Inside ticks away a Ball-modified 2893-2, rated accurate to COSC specification.
The watch is meant as a limited tribute to commemorate the 115th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ flight and, as such, only 1,000 pieces are available. You can get the watch for pre-order right now, and at a special price to boot: just $1,970 for the rubber strap version and $2,040 for the bracelet, a savings of $1,050 and $1,100, respectively, though only until August 8th when the pre-order period closes.
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