BALL Watch Company Conductor Chronograph II Review
Wednesday - 15 February 2012
Any publicity is good publicity. Any time on the big screen, well, that’s even better. What’s more, if the movie happens to be a hit, then everybody wins.
“Unstoppable” premiered in August. The film did quite well: operating on a budget of approximately $85 million and pulling in about $135 million in gross revenue. With Denzel Washington as its star, the movie delivered thrill-a-minute stunts involving a freight train to audiences.
But there were some subtleties in this action film that we’d like to appreciate. Actor Kevin Dunn sports a BALL Watch Conductor Chronograph II in “Unstoppable.” Dunn plays the role of a man named Galvin, who’s a member of top management for the Allegheny and West Virginia Railroad Company. Galvin serves to put forth the company’s agenda. His actions tend to undermine the process of bringing the train under control.
Although his watch doesn’t appear in the film for more than a few shots, it’s absolutely fitting that there should be a BALL Watch Company timepiece in a movie about a runaway train. The company got its first real start when a crash occurred in 1891 in the United States between two trains. The cause of the crash? An engineer’s watch stopped working. The men behind BALL Watch saw an opportunity to provide a product that would prevent future tragedies.
Thus, it’s somewhat ironic that Galvin, sporting a BALL Watch timepiece, an emblem of safety if nothing else, proves himself continually intractable in dealing with the train. When the chance arises to derail the train in an area of farmland, Galvin refuses because he wants to save the train: an expensive piece of capital equipment. Never mind that lives may be at stake down the track.
Perhaps that’s the reason that a BALL Watch is included in the madness. It’s the reminder of the enduring commitment to safety that needs to be enforced.
