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Interview with Ball Watch U.S.A CEO "Jeff Hess"
- Why is the company named Ball Watches?
- "Railroad Watch" and Webb Ball intrumental in its action
- Where were the original Ball watches of the 1890's made?
- In what country are Ball watches made today?
- Micro Gas Lights vs Superluminova, or Applied Tritrium Markers
- Ball Watches Tritium markers and the government standard
- How is "Moon Glow" different from tritium gas tubes?
- Shock Resistant testing and industry standard
- What is the connection that Ball has to the Space Exploration program?
- John Madcow Hemble and Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon
- The creation of the Trainmaster Heritage and the stylistic influences
TOPPER: Why is the company named Ball Watches?
JEFF HESS: The man who started the company was named Webb C. Ball. He was a farm boy from Fredericktown, Ohio who was always good with tinkering with parts and tools and stuff. His childhood nickname was "Clam", as in clam shell, because he would make jewelry for his parents. Around the age of ten, he got a job at a local jewelry store as an apprentice for ten dollars a week. He moved around from jeweler to jeweler, and eventually started his own watch company in 1891. Before that, he started a retail store in Cleveland that was in business until the 1960's called The Ball Company. He is very well known, and even considered to be the inventor of the modern watch. He decided to upgrade all of the theories and practices of the time to more modern time-keeping capabilities including the use of sapphire palette in the jewels instead of steel, only using a Breguet overcoiled hairspring, making sure the watches were adjusted to temperature and positions. When he was able to do this, he was able to change time-keeping, not only in America, but in the entire world.
TOPPER: What is "Railroad Watch" and how was Webb Ball instrumental in its creation?
JEFF HESS: The Railroad Watch was created long before Webb C. Ball was involved, however, he more or less perfected it. Before he decided upon the standards, what is still known as "the standard watch," there were no standards. Any guy could use any watch he wanted on the railroad, from the 1840's to the 1860's the majority of engineers used Swiss and English watches. Sometimes they would even use a little old ladies pocket watch. The lack of standardization created havoc because there were not only bad watches on the line, but everyone's times were off. While the exact number of time zones in the U.S. is subject to some debate, many people say there were as many as 200 time zones in the US at the time, because every city had different time zones. The combination of poor watches and confusing time zones made it very difficult to know for sure when one train was coming and one train was going. There was a string of train wrecks and crashes, and before long, Webb C. Ball was called in before congress to testify as the man that would standardize time keeping. The watches had to be perfect. The watch had to have the aforementioned Breguat overcoiled hairspring, the proper jewels, the proper number of jewels, and the proper adjustments and temperature adjustments as well.
TOPPER: Where were the original Ball watches of the 1890's made?
JEFF HESS: The watches were assembled and modified in his jewelry store and factory in Cleveland. Webb didn't manufacture the base-movements of his watches, but relied on the Ebauches of the best movement manufacturer's of the time. (In horology, Ebauches is the term for an incomplete watch movement. The Valjoux 7750 is probably the best known Ebauche of today.) Over time Webb's two favorite sources became Hamilton and Howard. He would completely re-work their base movements to his own specifications. Because he was working with Ebauches, there are some in the industry that do not consider him a pure manufacturer, but when you look at the amount of modification he did, and his overall imput on the way the companies of the time changed their own specifications based on his imput, you really have to consider him one. His work became thought of as so important that companies such as Waltham, Hamilton, and Elgin came to rely on his standards for their own watches. He also became a vice president of Hamilton.
TOPPER: In what country are Ball watches made today?
JEFF HESS: Today Ball watches are made in our factory near Basel Switzerland. Our company's home office is in Neuchatel. We are very proud of our Swiss designation. While the watches were of American origin in Webb's day, his son Sydney Ball started ordering Ebauches from Switzerland in the 1940's. to be assembled in the Ball factory in Ohio Today the watches are officially Swiss Made.
TOPPER: For Night Vision, Ball watches use Micro Gas Lights. How are these Gas Lights different than Superluminova, or Applied Tritium markers?
JEFF HESS: Applied Tritium markers and superluminova are both paints. In contrast, the markers that we use are contained tubes that are filled with tritium gas, and a phosphorescent substance that excites the tritium. The tritium gas gives off electrons which causes the phosphor to give off a cold light. With Tritium paint and superluminova, the light up effect only lasts a few hours. The gas tubes that we used will light up for years.
TOPPER: Do the Tritium markers used in Ball watches adhere to any government standard?
JEFF HESS: In the United States, there are very strict government standards for the use of tritium gas. The overseeing body is the NRC, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission which has very strict standard to ensure the wellbeing of the public. We have filed all of the proper paperwork of our design specifications of our gas tubes with the NRC, and all of the watches that we sell in the U.S. have been approved.
TOPPER: What is "Moon Glow", and how is "Moon Glow" different from your tritium gas tubes?
JEFF HESS: The Moon Glow is Ball's patent-pending design, which was patented by one of Ball's own inventors. It is essentially a way of making the date glow from underneath, so you can see the calendar at all times. The name comes from a 1947 train called the Train of Tomorrow that had an observation car with magnificent views called the "Moon Glow" compartment.
TOPPER: The Hydrocarbon watches are Shock Resistant to 7500G. How do you test them and how is this different from the industry standards?
JEFF HESS: There is an independent testing agency called The International Standard that rates the shock resistance of most high end Swiss made sport watches. The shock resistance test that they use measures the watches with a hammer swinging weight device. The industry standard is for a watch to be able to absorb a 1 meter shock both against the case at the nine o'clock side and against the glass. The Hydrocarbon watches are tested to a much higher standard. They must endure a hammer swinging from 1.5 meters and a third swing against the crown at 3. These watches are different than industry standard because we decided a long time ago that Ball had to be a rugged watch, that's one of our claims to fame, its' ruggedness.
TOPPER: While Ball is a watch primarily tied to the railroad industry, there is also a space theme to the Fireman series, there is an astronaut on the back of the case of the Fireman lonosphere Chronograph and there is a Skylab limited edition chronograph. What is the connection that Ball has to the Space Exploration program?
JEFF HESS: We have never been involved in any space exploration programs, however, we do have a very good relationship with Mr.Owen Garriot who is the astronaut who once held the record for the longest spacewalk for the longest amount of time on Skylab. Skylab was the first manned to Orbit earth. Due to the relationship we have with Owen Garriot, we have chosen to honor American space exploits in a few different ways. First, a portion of the sale of every Ball Fireman watch goes to the Astronaut Scholarship Fund. Second, as you noted there is a space theme to a few of our Fireman watches. On the Ionosphere Chronograph, the space suit on the back is actually the space suit that Owen Garriet designed. The Skylab limited edition comes with both an an exact replica of the patch that Mr. Garriot wore on his space ventures, as well as a to scale model of Skylab itself.
TOPPER: Whos is John Madcow Hemble and how does he embody the spirit of Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon?
JEFF HESS: John "Mad Cow" Hembel, is a speedskier, who is one of the fastest men in the world, the fastest in North America, and is a former Speed Skiing World Cup Champion. One of the reasons that John Madcow Hemble likes the Engineer Hydrocarbon is that the watches are as rugged as he is. You have to understand that if a man is going down the side of a mountain at 151 miles per hour on skis, he is going to need a watch that can hold up to any condition. The Hydrocarbon series can withstand temperatures from -40 degrees Celsius cold to 60 degrees Celsius warm. These watches also have a double-locking crown. (another invention of Ball's) The most common way that dust or moisture can enter the watch is if the wearer forgets to screw down their crown. With our double-locking system, it is practically impossible to forget not to screw down your crown. When you add in these factors to the anti-magnetic aspect of the watch, and the fact that it can withstand 7500G of shock, then you have a watch that meets all the requirements of John Madcow Hemble.
TOPPER: What was your specific role in the creation of the Trainmaster Heritage? What are the stylistic influences used in the watch?
JEFF HESS: My role primarily in the watch was that I conceptualized the watch from the ground up. Of course, it was our Swiss designers who put it all together, and they should get most of the credit, however, I thought about it and I decided it would be GREAT to honor Ball's 115 years of existence, since they started in 1891, with a watch that is superior. I noticed at Sotheby's that a watch with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineer's insignia had sold for around $18,000.00, and I thought, this would be the ideal watch to recreate, if you will. So it had to be 18 karat gold, it had to have the B of LE moniker on the bottom, it had to have the soft enamel dial (so it would look similar to the old pocket watches), it had to have a very large, robust, pocket watch style winding crown, and it had to have the pattern made on the rotor made famous by Webb C. Ball. If you look at all the old pocket watches Ball made circular patterns rather than the Geneva stripes. It had to keep excellent time, so each one has a COSC certificate. The designers at Ball were able to put all of these touches into the watch. When you put all this together and throw in the Gas tubes at each number and on the hands, it makes for one extremely, spectacular, and collectable watch.
