I own the white dialed version, and I love it! :-! In fact, it's the one watch that I've brought with me to Las Vegas. The titanium/ss combo bracelet is very comfortable in these hotter temps, and the lighter overall weight(due to the ti portions of the watch) is most welcome in 102 F afternoons. The lugs are curved in such a way as to make the watch conform very nicely to the human wrist. No other watch that I've ever tried on comes close to how well the Hydrocarbon does this.
I love the guilloche pattern dial and the blued hands. I also really like the tritium tube'd arabic numbers(fabulous for reading the time in the dark), but know that they're a love it or hate it design aspect of Ball watches. The ETA 2836 movement has been very reliable and accurate...no complaints at all.
Imho, the overall quality and fit and finish are favorably comparable to other watch makes costing considerably more.
Now I don't own one so I am talking from what I have seen in pictures, but I think that this watch is one classy piece. I was reluctant at first about the tritium tubes, but the more I see this watch the more I like it. The refined case with a novel crown, nice used of fonts on the face, and classy hands. It is not a watch I would buy tomorrow, but it is definitely on my future 'to buy' list.
Geoff nailed it dead on. Very comfortable to wear. Fit and finish comparable to more expensive watches. White dial version is one of the best looking white dial divers out there and the blue hands just set it off. Balls are out of the box accurate. Cool casebacks. Unique crown lock system. The only thing I wish were differant is the day date were both at 3:00. Purely asthetic.
i was choosing between black Titanium Chrono and white Cow, and i went with the Ti Chrno. and here's why:
i think the the curve crowns extrusion looks better with the buttons. The Ti case and SS bezel are the same thickness, but height difference (3-4mm?) is due to thicker caseback of the Chrono.
I think the black dial looks more classy and i like the color combo of black/yellow more than the white/blue of white cow
one of the major reason for my choice is the color of the tritium tube. ti Chrono has all of the time-telling tritium tube in green, so telling time is easy. on the white cow, the 12, 3, 6, 9 numbers are in yellow/orange. since your eyes are more sensitive to green color in the dark, when you first look at the white cow in the dark, the 4 numbers don't stand out much, and there an "emptiness" in those places. of course, the "emptiness" goes away once you look at the dial longer in the dark (when you can picked up more yellow/orange color). but that initial "emptiness" is not very satisfying.
and since i have the older version of the ti chrono, i like the SS bezel (without tritium tube) and the smaller SS clasp better. (yeah, i am weird like that :-d )
I have, had the EHC great watch, superb quality. Big but extremely light wight due to titanium/steel combination. I think the Engineer Hydrocarbon series are the best watches that the Ball lineup has.
I have a Brand new Mad Cow sat at home wrapped up, ready for me to open on my birthday. I got to try it on before though and I don't think it wears that large at all. Stunning quality for the money too.
I had a white dialed mad cow and flipped it a while back. The quality of Balls offerings is excellent and this model as mentioned in the prior posts is very comfortable to wear. It kept COCS spec time and all being said, I miss this watch. It also was sized nicely for my 7.5" wrist. These come up for sale from time to time and IMHO represent excellent value on the used market.
This is a dream grail for me. First time I saw a ball it was this model and i am still searching for a white dial one. It is absolutely gorgeous.
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