Readers would know that I have a soft spot for the tough-as-nails Ball timepieces, having added 4 such pieces into my collection over time, no pun intended. Well today, I would write a little about the more elusive Spacemaster Orbital II (SOii). This is a piece that you would not easily spot if you were to just walk into any of Ball ADs, and the salesperson in One Utama informed me that this model was on a deposit-order basis; as this was not a mass market piece (no thanks to its RRP : USD6k / RM26k price tag).
I must admit that I was initially rather undecided if I was going to purchase it only for a review and then treat it as a catch-and-release; as online pictures had me at a crossroad over it. On one hand, it's the highest range in the Engineer Hydrocarbon series with state-of-the-art 39 tritium tubes and patented Amortiser functionality (to protect the rotor from excessive shake damages); yet on the other hand, I wasn't fully-sold on the very busy dial (a balanced chrono, in my mind, would be designed along the lines of Speedy and Daytona), and rather large and thick case. I wasn't sure if it would wear well on one's wrist.
I should not have worried. Make no mistake, this was one large watch. And it actually had quite a heft for a titanium construction. If this SOii was built with stainless steel case and bracelet, then I would deemed that it'd have been a rather unpractical piece for daily wear. But Ball managed to design such a comfortable and easily-adjusted bracelet (with mini-links), that it was easy to get the watch to stay exactly the manner that it should be on my wrist. It's snug enough that it doesn't wriggle about, yet it's flexible enough that it doesn't dig into my flesh. Those mini-links truly worked wonders to ensure that the weight of the watch was properly-carried on my wrist. And that solid clasp was wonderfully-easy to operate, and there're even additional hidden links therein for your thick jacket or scuba suit. With that concern neutralised, I knew that the watch was pretty much a keeper.
Movement was via the Swiss ETA 7754- basically an improved 7750 with a GMT module. As with ETA movements, this workhorse was very smooth and should be a reliable and dependable piece over time. I have tested the chrono over hours long and all the works had been smooth so far. The bezel is a bi-directional compass that you could align for direction, with the hour hand aligned to the sun.
I would skip the normal stuff and jumped into the core strength of this SOii - the tritium tubes. This watch simply came to life in the still of the night. It was so bright that I was attracted to go sneak-a-peek at the winder quite a few times over the night, to see the colourful displays of both the Ball watches therein. I felt like a small boy in a candy shop indeed.
I went for a medical check-up today and the radiologist remarked that I had came prepared with an anti-magnetic watch, when she sported my SOii. It would seemed that the people in the medical faculty were well-aware of the strength of Ball watches, and the Hydrocarbon's case was a give-away of its tough-as-nails properties.
After getting my clean bill of health, I tucked into the people's champion of lunch choice i.e. nasi lemak with beef rendang, and I was already looking forward to having some wonderful adventure aheads armed with this piece of Ball armoury.
Enjoy the rest of the pictures below :
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