Ball Watch Official Railroad Watch

Ball Watch built its name on American railroad timekeeping, and its Official Railroad Watch models play on that history; the watches here come from Ball's Engineer Master II and Trainmaster lines. The story starts in Kipton, Ohio, on 19 April 1891, when two trains collided head-on after a conductor's watch stopped for four minutes. Webb C. Ball was then made Chief Time Inspector and drew up standards for railroad watches, including a minimum of 17 jewels and a limit of 30 seconds' gain or loss a week. The company he founded that year is now based in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

The Engineer Master II GCT (GM2086C-L2-BK) marked the centenary of New York's Grand Central Terminal. It is a 44 mm steel watch, 13.3 mm thick, on the automatic Ball 651, and its second time zone is labelled Grand Central Terminal time instead of GMT, with the GCT logo beside Ball's on a black dial. Fifteen self-powered micro gas tubes on the dial and hands light it at night, the terminal's Tiffany clock is shown on the caseback, and it is water resistant to 100 m. It is limited to 999 pieces.

The Engineer Master II Union Pacific Big Boy (NM1080C-L2-BK) honours the Union Pacific Big Boy steam locomotives of the early 1940s, of which 25 were built. It uses a 46 mm steel Engineer Master II case, with an ETA 2836-2 automatic showing day and date, wide flat gas tubes at the hour markers, the Union Pacific logo on a black dial and a relief of the locomotive on the back. It is also limited to 999 pieces.

The Trainmaster Standard Time (NM3888D-PG-LCJ-WH) is the dressier end: a 39.7 mm rose gold case, 10.5 mm thick, with a white enamel dial. Ball presents the Trainmaster line as a tribute to the golden age of American railroads that echoes its first watches stamped "BALL's Standard".