BALL Watch Co. Hydrocarbon DeepQUEST CERAMIC

It’s a DeepQUEST II but not as you know it! 

For 2021 Ball’s all singing, all dancing, overdesigned, over engineered diver’s watch has had a big bucket of ice cold water thrown over it and you know what – it’s as sober as a judge – well almost. 

Introducing the new (soon to be released) DeepQUEST Hydrocarbon Ceramic, a watch that will give your Breitling Superocean and Tudor Pelagos et al a good run for their money.

Based on Ball’s Hydrocarbon DeepQUEST II which was released in 2020, the new DeepQUEST Ceramic is its sensible younger brother. 

Sure it came from the same gene pool so boasts the same exceptional DNA only it was delivered in far quieter manner and comes with a much prettier face. 

Starting with its 42mm in diameter by 15.5mm thick Monobloc case; this has been produced much the same way as the OG DeepQUEST 3’000M so has been milled from a single block of Titanium.

It is also shock resistant to 7,500Gs, is resistant to magnetic fluxes up to 4,800A/m and houses an automatic mechanical movement which has the coveted COSC certification. 

In this instance the case is water-resistant to 1’000m. The case is now equipped with diver’s bezel with a colored ceramic inlay which can be paired with either the same color or black dial. 

While its bezel design differs from the DeepQUEST II’s, Ball have sill engineered tons of ergonomics into it. 

In addition to this the watch also boasts a pretty cool party piece that it inherited from the DeepQUEST II – 

its beautifully fluted, bulbous-style, winding crown comes with an ingenious patented automatic Helium Release Valve integrated into it because … I mean where else could you put it?

So that’s the engineering side of the DeepQUEST Ceramic, but where the real difference comes is in the completely new dial layout which has dispensed with the oversized Arabic numerals of the DQ II (shown belwo) and instead gone for simple baton style indexes. 

This is still a Ball so naturally it is fully illuminated by way of Tritium Micro Gas Tubes.

The Ball Engineer Hydrocarbon DeepQUEST Ceramic will have an MSRP in the US of approx. 4’430USD on its Ti bracelet or 4’300USD on rubber. 

Thoughts? While the black execution is an obvious staple that most will opt for – it’s the all green variant that is the real show stopper for me. What do you think, pretty nice eh!