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The BALL Orbital II: The Return of the Amortizer!

6K views 14 replies 7 participants last post by  MarkingTime 
#1 ·
The BALL Orbital II: The Return of the Amortizer!


The BALL Orbital II in Black, retailing for $5,799.

When it comes to shock resistance, the innovation that BALL is most known for is SpringLOCK; a cage that protects a watch movement's hairspring and ensures accuracy against the strain of mild repetitive shock. Since it is an extremely small cage and can fit in almost any movement, SpringLOCK can be applied to any BALL Watch. (In 2013, the year of it's introduction, it came out in three models: The Engineer Hydrocarbon Airborne , Hydrocarbon Black and the Trainmaster CannonBALL II. )

The Orbital II doesn't feature SpringLOCK, but the evolution of a different anti-shock technology: The Amortizer. The Amortizer differs from SpringLOCK in that it protects the rotor of a movement instead of the hairspring. Rather than protecting the accuracy of the timepiece over mild repetitive shock, it inhibits the rotor from damaging the watch during a moment of anticipated extreme shock. When toggled to the "on" position, the Amortizer locks the rotor in place.

The Orbital II is the third model in which BALL has used the Amortizer. It was first introduced in the original Spacemaster Orbital in 2010, and then later in 2012 in the entire BALL for BMW collection. The Orbital I uses the "heavy duty" manual version of the Amortizer, while the BALL for BMW collection features an Amortizer that automatically engages if the watch experiences shock. BALL CTO Phillipe Antille has referred to the BMW version of the Amortizer as "Amortizer Light."


The automatic version of the Amortizer in a BALL for BMW Chronograph."Amortizer Light."

Fittingly, the Orbital II refines the manual style Amortizer from the original Orbital Limited Edition. The Orbital II features a manual toggle switch on the caseback where the user can toggle it backwards and forwards to disable and enable the rotor. The new toggle switch is considerably larger and easier to use than the one found on the original Orbital.


A photo of the much larger amortizer toggle switch on the Orbital II.


A photo of the case back and profile of the original Orbital. The Amortizer's switch was smaller and not as easy to toggle as the one found on the new Orbital II.

Cosmetically, the two different generations of the Orbital are very similar. Both watches feature massive 45mm titanium cases with a thickness just over 18mm. That having been said, the Orbital II is a little more minimalistic than its predecessor. The original Orbital featured a dial with a compass pattern, 360 degree scale, and a 24 hour scale, all on the flat surface of the dial. Both of these scales have been moved to the chapter ring of the Orbital II and the compass pattern has been replaced a smooth black dial. The original Orbital's triple tube hour markers have been replaced by Arabic markers made out of tritium tubes.

The Orbital 2 is available in a black dial with either a titanium bracelet or a rubber strap.


The chapter ring of the bezel features a 24 hour scale, along with a angular compass indication scale.


The Arabic hour markers of the Orbital II are composed of tritium tubes.


The cyclops date magnifier and red GMT hand of the Orbital II.


The circular guilloché pattern of the six and nine o'clock subdials of the Orbital II.


The compass bezel of the Orbital II.


The Orbital II has the same highly unique feature of tritium tubes in the chronograph pushers used on the Orbital I and NEDU.


The caseback and Amortizer toggle on the Orbital II.


The clasp of the Orbital II is similar to other titanium HydroConquest models such as the NEDU or Deepquest.


The Lume of the Orbital II. The subdials and bezel feature traditional sun charged lume. The hour markers and hands feature BALLs signature tritium gas tubes
 
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#4 · (Edited)
Still a Beast retaining the 57.5mm lug-to-lug monster that is 54mm wide. I'm certain we'll hear about the missing tubes on the chronograph registers and the actual watch second hand at the 9. Would really like to know the weight on this watch?

The picture of the BMW watch confused me for a second since I tried on the Orbital II prototype in August and it had the switch so when I saw this had me thinking at first they switched it to the Amortizer Lite.
 
#5 ·
Why would they illuminate the sub-dials, but not the actual hands themselves? Seems odd to be able to see the plungers in the dark, and the sub-dials in the dark, and not the sub dial hands. In that respect, I think the NEDU which doesn't illuminate the subdials or their hands (except the superluminova on the second hand) makes more sense. Either you can use the sub-dials at night, or they should go away and let you see the time at a glance.
 
#8 · (Edited)
It is and it shows it. The DQ is also this thick, but the way it sits on the wrist it actually looks thinner than a normal Spacemaster. You really need an 8 inch or larger wrist to wear this one. I've had a few 48mm and a 52 mm watch (Auto Tuna) and they were not this long lug-to-lug. On 90% of the wearers the answer will be yes it does look big on you.
 
#9 ·
My opinion is voiced above. Rob at Topper discussed that today. We agree the subdial hands need lume. We agreed the watch is silly. We agreed that the clasp needs replacing for some wrists with the old Mad Cow style clasp. We spent a lot of time at his brick and mortar store at 1315 Burlingame, Burlingame, discussing why this watch doesn't make sense for some enthusiasts.

So, after all this agreeing, I bought the Orbital 2 and wore it out of the store, with its Mad Cow clasp replacement their jewelers did

Very comfortable. It is a silly watch, but the lume is great and the quality is there. Suddenly I own another Ball watch.
 
#11 ·
I think I understand part of what Ball was doing with the sub-dials. Once the luminova dies off (around 2:15 a.m.) the sub-dials and outside bezel disappear and you effectively have a Ball Trieste appearance but without the confusing sub-dial lume interfering with the ease of reading the time. And if you run the chronograph you have a sweep second hand illuminated, without the mini second hand showing up at all. The GMT vial is a different color than the main hands so it isn't confusing either. Makes for a clean reading time and sweep second hands in the middle of the night. Still begs the question of why bother to illuminate the subdials at all, much less the plungers to start and stop the chrono. That still makes no sense. But if they do retro-fit the subdials with luminous hands, I'm not certain that I will want the retrofit. A clean reading dial with the arabic hours mark for instantaneous, semi-conscious time readout does have its advantages. And with the Mad Cow clasp substitution (much more comfortable than my once and former Spacemaster), the watch sits very comfortably if you size if fairly tightly so it doesn't flop around.

Additional thoughts. They should lose the Rolex date bubble. It looks out of place and ruins the symmetry of an already very busy dial, and they should bring out a white dial version (not with the globe, just straight white/silver like on the NEDU and Spacemaster. That would make for easier day time reading of th subdials (like on the NEDU) and since you are already wearing a very large watch, would underscore the size even a bit more (think white dial Breitling Super Avenger).

So next up I have to decide whether to also buy the 1962 Omega gold pie pan that Rob has for sale. Unfortunately after staring at the Orbital 2, I'm not sure I can wear anything that small :)

Anyway, that's some feedback from one owner.
 
#13 · (Edited)
At the request of the Green Arrow, here are some photos of the MAD Orbital 2 he sent me and asked me to resize.





And Just for fun, here are photos of a forum first! A Mad-Nedu. (this requires a lot of drilling of the center link of the mad-cow bracelet to change the angle, and the utilization of the existing NEDU end pieces.) Making a Mad-Nedu is much more labor intensive than the Mad-Cow mod on the Deep Quest. The reason is the NEDU is at a steeper slope.



 
#14 ·
Thanks, Rob. For me, the Mad Cow clasp makes for a much more comfortable wearing experience than the original clasp. I also want to thank Rob, and the Topper staff for allowing me to compare lume of several Ball watches, and showing extreme patience with my ongoing debate of which of these watches to own. It was a bit of a drive from Santa Cruz to Burlingame, but Rob and Topper made it worthwhile. Good people.
 
#15 · (Edited)
They've certainly made the subdial indices much easier to read. On my SMO I, it's pretty hard to read the subdials many lighting conditions. I like the new look and think the cyclops adds a bit of panache. I may have to trade mine in on this model sometime.

Edit, forgot to mention. The watch doesn't wear as thick as you'd think. The convex case back slips into the hollow between your wristbones and sits down quite a bit.
 
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