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leopadron
761
Collaborations
Jun 16, 2020
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Friends:
Today I’m happy to announce our Drop Studio collaboration with Ball Watch Co: The Drop + Ball Night Train DLC.
You may already know Ball as a maker of superb Swiss timepieces with tritium indices and clean, classic styles. Or perhaps if you’re a history buff, as the American pocket watch company that created the Official Railroad Standard, the first industrial standard for chronometer design that made trains all over the world safely run on time (and is the direct ancestor of the COSC standard used today for Swiss Made timepieces).
But what’s especially worth knowing about Ball is their stalwart commitment to excellence in all of what they do. A Ball watch means an exceptionally made, carefully regulated Swiss mechanical movement, rugged case construction (shock resistant to 5,000 g) skillfully finished handsets and dials (always adorned with tritium indices), and all of it assembled with control and precision. No less should be expected from the watch company that prides itself on “accuracy under adverse conditions”.
We here at Drop Studio have long been fans of the original Night Train DLC, a jet black adaptation of the Ball Fireman with a striking constellation of tritium tubes, one for every minute and hour track.
We wanted to not just revive the Night Train, but to make it better than before. For this, Drop Studio did a complete redesign of the cosmetics with an entirely new dial and handset, then color matched the date wheel and crown. We kept the same excellent Ball Caliber RR1103 (Swiss made ETA 2824-2 in élaboré grade) movement as the original, then took the luminous even further, by upping the tritium rating from T-25 to T-100. We also added a padded perforated leather band as a stylish dress option (The DLC coated bracelet is also available).
We also revamped another feature: The price. Our Drop + Ball Night Train DLC is available for pre-order starting at $849 (with the stainless steel bracelet version premiering at $999)
Here for questions!
Leo
(Edited)
BarryS
28
Jun 16, 2020
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leopadron“...upping the tritium concentration from T-25 to T-100 (for all 63 tubes!)”
This is a misleading description. The T-25/T-100 designations indicate the maximum amount of radiation for the entire watch — no matter how many tubes it has. A T-25 watch contains no more than 25 millicuries (mCi) of tritium gas while a T-100 watch can contain any amount greater than 25 mCi up to a maximum of 100.
leopadron
761
Collaborations
Jun 16, 2020
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BarrySYou're correct. This was inartfully worded, and I'll correct it. To be clear, I have full faith and confidence in Ball to deliver the goods when it comes to tritium output.
MaxT7
6
Jun 16, 2020
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leopadronBall watches are really nice and I have been looking into their diver model the Skin Diver II. Perhaps Drop could consider another brand focus with Ball as done recently with Victorinox and Bulova. With all the different and interesting offerings that Ball watch has I am sure that it would gather a lot of interest.
flyin2flyout
91
Jun 16, 2020
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MaxT7Although I haven't worn a watch since March 11, I would come out of watch collecting retirement for the Skin Diver II.
BigTipper
46
Jun 16, 2020
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flyin2flyoutI looked it up.. it literally looks like any other dive watch lol dafuk
flyin2flyout
91
Jun 16, 2020
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BigTipperThat's like saying any watch looks like all other watch - in that they have a face and one or more hands; and dive watches have a movable bezel. This one has a MKII look, but with tritium tubes - but I agree that there is nothing exceptionally interesting about the Skin Diver II other than I currently don't have a Ball diver.
BigTipper
46
Jun 16, 2020
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flyin2flyoutNot true, buy yourself a Marathon Diver and then you can officially say no other dive watch looks quite like this
BigTipper
46
Jun 16, 2020
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BobrazLooks nice, wouldnt buy a skin diver though, nothing stands out or is unique in that model
Bobraz
2631
Jun 17, 2020
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BigTipperIt shares its design language with a lot of divers, true. To be honest, modern divers are, for the most part, very similar, besides a few exceptions. A lot of dive watches seem to be the clones of each others.
Ball uses the tritium tubes and high visibility as their differentiator.
Tell me, just curious, which modern divers do you like?
BigTipper
46
Jun 17, 2020
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BobrazI have a watch collection of 17 watches currently lol. Most of them higher end and a few really old russian watches like the 2 raketa kopernic that i own. Ive had plenty seiko dive watches but one day i purchased a marathon 38mm diver for a measly 700 bucks and wow. Never looked back at another watch again. I threw it on a marathon ballistic Nato and fell in love. Also the Marathon GPM field watch is second on my list of all time best watches. But its not a diver. I wouldnt ever recommend buying any watch unless it was a Marathon xP
Bobraz
2631
Jun 17, 2020
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BigTipperI had a Marathon diver once, and had to send it back. It was awesome and I wanted to keep it, but the bezel's triangle was not aligned with the 12 o'clock marker, and it drove me crazy (I'm super meticulous in my life and work, so I become OCD about details like proper lining up of bezels and indicia).
Seems that is a common problem with Marathon watches, as many owners pictures, blog pictures, and even their advertising shots (e.g. on their website and Instagram account) show watches with misaligned bezels. Common, common, common problem, sadly.
Google Image it, it's hilarious; once you see it you can't unsee it, and that pretty much ruins the watches for you as you only see and focus on that defect.
At that price point, it's unacceptable in my opinion. Cheap brands can perfectly line up bezels on $50 watches, but not Swiss made Marathon? Crazy.
Few random examples below :
(Edited)
GLG20
Jun 17, 2020
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BobrazDamn you. I've been scouring eBay for one and now........ Damn it.
Bobraz
2631
Jun 17, 2020
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GLG20If you found one, ask about the alignment before buying... It's sadly very disappointing, I know.
flyin2flyout
91
Jun 17, 2020
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BigTipperHmmm, maybe I should look at the Marathons again. The last time I considered those was when ETA stopped supplying their movements, and the unmarked ones were only available in quartz (self-winds were still available with those government markings, which I did not want). I had bought an Oris Master Diver (or Der Meistertaucher) from Massdrop a few years back, and that is about as thick a watch as I would have liked at the time. But working from home indefinitely is creating a lot of opportunity to shop for things like watches, audio gear, and even fancy home office stuff.
BigTipper
46
Jun 17, 2020
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BobrazYes even the marathon diver i have now the bezel is not perfectly aligned with the 12 marker. Im the same way and everything on my watches need to be absolutely perfect but my bezel was so minisculely off that its almost un-noticable. The watch is so damn gorgeous i dont even care. Im mainly worried about seconds hands being misaligned. If u really want s cool and unique version of the 38mm look for the new arctic automatic version.. way cool
Bobraz
2631
Jun 17, 2020
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BigTipperUgh. Cheap brands can perfectly line up bezels on their watches, but not Swiss made Marathon?
AND they have misaligned seconds' hands? Wow talk about disappointment... They should up their game in QC...
leopadron
761
Collaborations
Jun 28, 2020
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dsds110Thank you! :-) And indeed it is. This is a screw-down crown.
jeffintheusa
17
Jun 30, 2020
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leopadronWhy do the syringe hands not point to the minute markers, and in fact *block* the minute markers?
leopadron
761
Collaborations
Jul 17, 2020
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jeffintheusaBeen meaning to answer this sooner but wanted to absolute ensure everything was lined up before I did.
The short answer is, the handset sizes are long and will be corrected for in production. The minute hand will no longer block the minute indices, and the hour and seconds hand will be scaled appropriately.
The long answer is, we had shorter hand lengths in our original concept. In preparation of the sample, the older handset measurements from the original Ball Night Train were somehow carried over, which is no longer appropriate as the dial concept changed. This has been resolved now though.
Adventure
4
Jul 17, 2020
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leopadronYou give me a hard time for not buying this beautiful watch...
Adventure
4
Jul 18, 2020
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leopadronHi Leo,
This watch is everything I want, but still, I've been thinking why I did not push the Pre-Order button.
The real answer is,.. it is a bit to big for wrist, a 40mm option should do it.. hands down!
maybe this could be an option, don't know, but I should step in immediately!
leopadron
761
Collaborations
Jul 20, 2020
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autobauI'm going to see about providing an illustration or mock-up shortly. It might be some time before I have the new physical hands to update the samples.
Kimbonater
16
Jul 31, 2020
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leopadronWill you have revised photos showing the updated changes such as better proportioned hands before the pre-order window is over? Is this a Drop exclusive? Is this a limited production run of a specific number of pieces? Thanks!
llarraga
4
Aug 28, 2020
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DoctorCory@leopadron Checking in on this request as well as production schedule; despite the watch’s drop extension are we still anticipating a September shipment?
Kimbonater
16
Aug 31, 2020
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leopadronI sent an email inquiry since I could get no engagement to my concerns or questions when this was still available to pre-order. 5-7 business days for a response by e-mail is pretty bad. Didn't see a customer service number I could call. I've not experienced such a difficult method for customer service in recent memory!
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