INTRODUCING: The Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT Chocolate will add a few Twix up your sleeve
Fergus NashSome say that it’s a fashion faux-pas to mix black with brown, but rules are meant to be broken. Just as steel and gold can work together if you’ve got the attitude, a two-tone colour scheme of black and brown can bring some gloriously retro vibes to your wrist, sharing in the indulgent and decadent nature of chocolate. The Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT is now available in three brand new configurations, all featuring the love-it-or-hate-it colour.
Ball is a company with a history that’s hugely significant, changing the landscape of watch reliability to an American-dominated industry and keeping railroad workers safe. This legacy has stuck with them throughout the decades, but this hasn’t held them back from development either. The Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT is a modern watch through and through, featuring plenty of convenient functions alongside the classic Ball logo. The dial has bold, futuristic Arabic numerals at 12, 6, and 9 o’clock, which like the other hour markers are made up of tritium tubes. These tubes glow passively over the course of many years and retain their brightness far better than traditional luminous paints, which also need to be charged with UV light. That said, the bezel does have luminous markings using Super-LumiNova paint for extra legibility when needed.
The chocolate-brown details vary in intensity depending on the reference you choose, with the Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT available in three different versions. The first and most classic sports a plain black dial with brown on the GMT hand’s tip and the seconds hand, as well as the lower half of the GMT bezel insert. The next model has the same brown details, although the dial is a crisp, clean white that accentuates the warmth of the brown even more. Thirdly, an entirely brown dial keeps its hands contrasting with silver finishes, as well as giving off an almost tropical-dial look with the deep, saturated tones.
Ball are masters of modern ergonomics, knowing exactly how to make a watch look imposing while retaining wearability. The Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT has a 40mm diameter and a 14mm thickness, which is more than wearable for the average wrist when considering the 47.8mm lug-to-lug distance. The way that the bracelet is constructed does extend this by a small amount, but the curvature by that point helps conform to wrists and makes the watch look more substantial. The titanium case and bracelet helps to keep the chunky watch feeling light too.
If you’re wondering what the two pushers on the left side of the case are for, they’re linked to the GMT hand and they let you advance or retract it in one-hour increments, also affecting the date display for ultimate travelling convenience. This is thanks to the calibre RR1204-C, which is COSC-certified to an accuracy within +6/-4 seconds per day, and has a 4Hz beat rate and 42-hour power reserve.
The Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT pricing and availability:
The Ball Roadmaster Pilot GMT with its chocolate touches is now available for pre-order from Ball’s website at a discounted price. Price: $3,209 USD (Pre-order) / $3,704 USD (RRP)
| Brand | Ball |
| Model | Roadmaster Pilot GMT |
| Case Dimensions | 40mm x 14mm x 47.8mm |
| Case Material | Titanium |
| Water Resistance | 300 Metres |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire |
| Dial | Black, brown, white |
| Lug Width | 20mm |
| Strap | Titanium bracelet |
| Movement | Ball RR1204-C |
| Power Reserve | 42 hours |
| Availability | Available for pre-order |
| Price | $3,209 USD (Pre-order) / $3,704 USD (RRP) |