Introducing the BALL Roadmaster Marine GMT, Now Available for Pre-Order

Ball is set to launch a new day/date GMT watch with their signature tritium tubes and a novel movement that they are calling the world’s first day-date GMT automatic timepiece. The Roadmaster Marine GMT is chronometer-certified, built to professional specifications, and uses multiple push buttons on the left-hand side of the case to independently set the GMT hand. It’s an interesting take on the ETA-based GMT watches we’ve seen numerous examples of in the last few years as this complication’s popularity has skyrocketed.

BALL Roadmaster Marine GMT

• Case Material: Titanium
• Dial: Blue, black
• Dimensions: 40mm
• Crystal: Sapphire
• Water Resistance: 200 meters
• Crown: Screw down
• Movement: Automatic caliber BALL RR1203-C (ETA base with in-house GMT module)
• Strap/bracelet: Steel bracelet/mil-straps
• Price: $2,495
• Expected Release: Currently on pre-order; shipping expected November 2019

The Roadmaster Marine uses a modified Sellita caliber to create a unique take on a “caller GMT” with an independently-set GMT hand (as opposed to a “traveler GMT” that utilizes an independently set hour hand for adjusting local time while on the go). Rather than using the crown, however, to set the GMT hand Ball has created a module that uses push buttons to move the hand in one hour increments, forwards and backwards. The movement allows the user to keep not only the date, but the day, aligned with the GMT hand.

Like other Ball watches, the Roadmaster Marine GMT uses tritium tubes (27 in this watch) rather than luminova or some other compound to provide luminescence to the dial. Unlike more modern and non-radioactive materials used by virtually every other watch brand to brighten up their watch dials, tritium tubes achieve their glow through a constantly occurring chemical reaction, and don’t need to be “charged” by light to glow. Ball watches have a tendency to throw light like a torch in total darkness, and in all other conditions give off a kind of low level radiant effect that is unlike anything else currently on the market.

The design of the watch is fairly classic sports watch territory, but the numerals at twelve, six, and nine have a unique oversized look because they are built from the aforementioned tritium tubes. Legibility, as you would expect, is excellent, and the blue and red bezel is certainly set to capitalize on the trend of colorways that pay homage to a certain popular soft drink.

The whole package is wrapped up in a 40mm titanium case, with dials in black or blue. Ball is offering the Roadmaster GMT in an edition of 1,000, and they give you the option to select your own case number, add rubber or mil-straps to complement the standard bracelet, and have an engraving added at the factory.

The Roadmaster Marine is available for pre-order right now from Ball through July 17, with shipments set to begin in November. Ball