Introducing The Ball Engineer II Moon Calendar

Ball is famous for making the original railroad watch. The brand was founded in 1891 by Webb C. Ball, an American jeweler who was commissioned to create safer, more accurate watches for the nation’s railroads. His watches were built to a high standard. If they varied by more than 30 seconds over two weeks, they would be pulled from service for replacement or readjustment.

It may have been a long time since railroads relied on mechanical watches for safety, but Ball is still famous for their quality and accuracy. They’ve recently announced the release of a new watch, the Engineer II Moon Calendar, which is now available for pre-order. Here’s what you need to know.

The Ball Engineer II Moon Calendar

The Ball Engineer II Moon Calendar is an elegant but surprisingly intricate timepiece. The 40mm case is crafted from polished stainless steel, and is 14mm thick. This gives it a medium wrist presence, and it feels nice and solid on your wrist. The bezel is curved smoothly on the outside, but ends abruptly at the top. This leaves it fairly narrow, the better to showcase the large dial.

The back of the case is 12-sided, with a screw-down design that makes it easy to service. It sports an attractive display back, which provides a clear view of the gorgeous Swiss movement. The case is manufactured with anti-magnetic technology, that protects the movement as much as possible from ambient magnetism. And with 100 meters of water-resistance, taking it in the water is a non-issue.

The main index consists of a set of lume hashes at the 5-minute marks, with a double-hash at 12 o’clock. These hashes glow green in the dark, except for the 12 o’clock hashes, which are orange. The silver hour and minute hands are fat and 3-dimensional, with sloped sides that taper to a tip that’s still on the wider side. Both hands have a lume stripe that glows orange at night. The second hand is very slender, with an orange lume block near the tip that matches the other hands and the 12 o’clock hashes.

You’ll also notice a fourth hand. This slender hand with a crescent moon tip sweeps along a secondary index that sits outside of the main index. This index shows the date of the month, and has 31 separate positions. It pairs well with the day and month windows in the top half of the dial, and it fits the watch’s lunar theme.

The stand-out feature of the Engineer II Moon Calendar is the large moon subdial at the 6 o’clock position. It features a full moon against a starry background, which travels across an arc throughout the month. When the moon passes out of view on the right, a second moon will begin to emerge on the left, beginning a new lunar cycle.

There are nine dial options in total. You can order it in black, grey, green, blue, pale blue, or champagne. There are also three white versions, each with a different colored subdial.