A cheap 904L steel watch - self-produced movement powerful luminous

Posted by lifata on February 23rd, 2023

904L steel is favored for its corrosion resistance. Compared with the common 316L steel material, it has a higher content of chromium, which can form a protective film on the surface of the material, so that the case has excellent corrosion resistance. The history of using 904L steel for watches can be traced back to the 1970s. At that time, the Seamaster Ploprof 600-meter diving watch launched by Omega used a material called "Uranus Steel", which was 904L. Nowadays, when mentioning 904L steel, many people will first think of Rolex. As the most widely used watch brand at present, 904L steel (called "Oyster steel" by the brand) has become one of the iconic elements of Rolex. In fact, apart from Rolex, there are still many products with 904L steel cases on the market, just like our protagonist today: Ball Icebreaker.

The Ball brand has always been known for its sturdy and durable "tool watches", which have historically been popular with users in professional fields such as railways and coal mines. Icebreaker is a limited model launched in 2020, belonging to the Speed Warrior series. In addition to the corrosion-resistant properties of 904L steel, its sporty case, miniature gas lamp luminous, and self-produced long-power anti-magnetic movement are all its highlights. Although the waterproof depth of 200 meters cannot compete with professional diving perfect replica watches, it is still able to handle most outdoor scenes with ease.

The brand has always had a tradition of engraving patterns with specific meanings on the solid bottom cover, and this product is no exception. As the name suggests, “Icebreaker” is a sports watch aimed at rock climbing. For this reason, I chose to portray the image of a glacier rock climber wielding an ice ax to deepen the theme of the watch.

The watch has a diameter of 40 mm, and the case is brushed and polished. The square and sharp lugs reveal a tough atmosphere, which fits the popular style of sports steel watches. A thoughtful detail is that the top of the calendar window at 3 o'clock is covered with a convex lens for clearer observation of the date. This design, originally derived from the Rolex Datejust, has inspired many products in later generations.

Leaving aside the price factor, Ball Icebreaker also has an advantage that many competing products cannot match, and that is the powerful luminous effect. Whenever BALL fake watches cheap are mentioned, many players will think of its name as the “light factory” in the watch industry. The unique miniature gas lamp night light has become the biggest feature that distinguishes BALL watches from competing products. Icebreaker also uses the brand's exclusive "3H self-luminous miniature gas lamp". The miniature gas lamp about 1 mm wide is embedded on the scale and minute hands, which can achieve self-illumination without the use of batteries or absorption of external light sources.

In fact, the "3H self-luminous miniature gas lamp" is based on the principle of tritium gas tube night light. It stores tritium gas in a stable state and seals it in a hollow mineralized glass tube, and coats the inner wall of the tube with special materials to form when it meets tritium gas. After the reaction, it can emit light, and its brightness is far better than that of light-storing fluorescent paint. However, due to the characteristics of the elements, the brightness will gradually decay over time, which also limits the service life.

Nowadays, many luxury brands have launched self-produced movements, such as Tudor's MT series movement, Baume & Mercier's BM13 movement, Oris' 400 movement, etc., all of which feature long-term dynamic storage and anti-magnetic performance. Not to be outdone, Ball fake launched the first self-produced movement Cal. 7309 in 2018. The movement is certified by the COSC Observatory, with an 80-hour power reserve and 4800A/M Gaussian antimagnetic capability. The swing frequency of 28800vhp (that is, swinging 8 times per second, 4HZ) is not "castrated" by the long power, and it is better than the frequency reduction scheme of 21600vhp (swinging 6 times per second, 3HZ) of the ETA C07 series movement from this point of view. .

Unlike the main promotion of silicon hairspring or composite material escapement structure to improve the anti-magnetic performance of the movement, Ball did not use non-metallic parts in this movement, but equipped it with a special protective ring to achieve anti-magnetic effect. It is similar to some brands of antimagnetic soft iron. But the role of this protection ring is not limited to anti-magnetic, it can also absorb the energy generated by the side impact, the brand named it Amortiser anti-shock system.