Ball Watch Company has launched a new, highly anti-magnetic watch made of materials never before seen - or pronounced accurately - in the world of watchmaking.

Have you ever heard of “mumetal”? When it comes to anti-magnetic protection, you can count on Ball watches and their use of the patented material to keep your watch ticking.

Magnetic fields interfere with the operation of many devices, and even our bodies. Watches, of course, are especially susceptible to these invisible waves; even the slightest contact with an artificial magnet may be enough to magnetize an automatic movement and completely stop the movement.

Ball Watch has worked hard in recent times to improving the reliability of its watch movements, and one way is by lowering their susceptibility to these magnetic waves. For a watch to be classified as “anti-magnetic” it must be able to resist a magnetic field of at least 4,800 A/m without its accuracy being affected by more than 30 seconds per day.

As it turns out, volcanoes are a perfect place for exploring the limits of watchmaking – and the bravery of explorers – because of their magnetic properties.

The brand has already perfected a retractable anti-magnetic “diaphragm” made of mumetal to help with that. Mumetal, by the way, is the brand’s patented composite material used for the first time ever in watchmaking. It’s an alloy of nickel, iron, copper and molybdenum with very high magnetic permeability. That means it can attract and deflect static or low-frequency magnetic fields, ensuring the reliability of your watch despite magnetic interference.

The special material can now be found in the new Engineer II Volcano, which boasts a case made of superimposed layers of carbon and mumetal. As a result, the watch has anti-magnetic properties far superior to those of the soft iron usually employed in watchmaking.

But it wouldn’t make sense to have a solid protective system without a solid movement to protect. Inside we find a Swiss made Ball RR1102-C automatic movement, certified by the Official Swiss Chronometer Testing Institute (COSC). In part, that means the watch can withstand impacts of up to 5,000 Gs and is water-resistant to 100 meters.

The sporty watch is perfectly outfitted with a complementary NATO strap in gray and black stripes or an even sportier rubberized variant. Its 45mm black carbon case has a textured carbon display reminiscent of lava from a volcano that has cooled to form rock. The dial is mostly slate-gray, with subtle touches of red like the lava of a volcano.

The indexes and the hour and minute hands are furnished with 15 tubes of luminous H₃ gas, which can be found on all their watch models. This technology is a hundred times more powerful than the commonly used lume techniques in watchmaking today.

Combining terrific readability, excellent resistance to magnetic interference, and a sporty carbon-based package overall, the new Engineer II Volcano definitely has what it takes to take the heat.