Ball Watch Fireman watches

The Ball Watch Fireman is one of the brand's collections, which Ball says draws inspiration from its railroad heritage; today it includes the Fireman Victory and Fireman Enterprise. The railroad link goes back to the founder: Webb C. Ball started the company in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1891, and after a fatal train collision at Kipton, Ohio, that year he became chief time inspector and drew up accuracy standards for railroad watches. Ball is now based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

The Fireman Storm Chaser is a different kind of Fireman: a steel watch with a telemeter scale on the bezel. With the Storm Chaser Pro chronograph, Ball combined the idea of a fireman's watch with one for chasing tornadoes, and suggests using the telemeter to judge how far away lightning has struck. On the Pro, the skeletonised hour and minute hands hold tritium gas tubes while the subdial hands carry painted lume; orange runs across the dial, the chronograph pusher and the strap stitching, and the case is shock resistant and water resistant to 100 m.

It comes in two sizes. The Storm Chaser has a 43 mm case, 15.8 mm thick, either in plain steel with a black or grey dial on a bracelet or calf strap, or DLC-coated on a rubber strap; the DLC versions without the Glow name are limited to 1,000 pieces. The Storm Chaser Pro is a little smaller at 42 mm and 15.65 mm thick, with a black, white or grey dial on a calf strap or bracelet. Both have sapphire crystals.