BALL Watch Engineer Hydrocarbon Black
Boasting a striking design and unusual strength of character, the new BALL Watch Engineer Hydrocarbon Black was developed for Alex Honnold, the new brand ambassador.
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 using only the rock holds during an ascent.
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 black dial has outstanding instant legibility thanks to the use of micro tubes containing luminescent 3H gas to form the Arabic numerals marking the hours. This design element patented by BALL Watch uses a state-of-the-art Swiss luminescent technology for reading the time by day or night.
Also present on the other markers on the dial and hands, 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 thus 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. The accuracy of this caliber is attested by its chronometer certification issued by the Swiss Official Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC).
In addition to the basic time display, the date appears in a window at three o’clock enhanced by the Cyclops magnifying lens fixed to the antireflective sapphire crystal.
Technical details
Model: BALL Watch Engineer Hydrocarbon Black, Reference DM2176A-P1CAJ-BK
Movement
Automatic caliber ETA 2892-A2, chronometer certified COSC
Patented SpringLOCK® anti-shock system
Functions
35 micro gas tubes on hour, minute, second hands and dial for night reading capability
Shock resistant to 5,000Gs
Anti-magnetic to 4,800A/m
Water resistant to 300m/1,000ft
Hours, minutes, sweep seconds and magnified date
Case
Titanium with DLC coating
Ø 42mm, height 13.25mm
Top ceramic luminous unidirectional rotating bezel
5.3mm anti-reflective sapphire crystal
Patented crown protection system
Dial
Black
Band
Rubber strap with standard buckle
