In this paper the normal collision of spherical particles is investigated. The particle interaction is modelled in a macroscopic way using the Hertzian contact force with additional linear damping. The goal of the work is to develop an efficient approximate solution of sufficient accuracy for this problem which can be used in soft-sphere collision models for Discrete Element Methods and for particle transport in viscous fluids. First, by the choice of appropriate units, the number of governing parameters of the collision process is reduced to one, which is a simple combination of known material parameters as well as initial conditions. It provides a dimensionless parameter that characterizes all such collisions up to dynamic similitude. Next, a rigorous calculation of the collision time and restitution coefficient from the governing equations, in the form of a series expansion in this parameter is provided. Such a calculation based on first principles is particularly interesting from a theoretical perspective. Since the governing equations present some technical difficulties, the methods employed are also of interest from the point of view of the analytical technique. Using further approximations, compact expressions for the restitution coefficient and the collision time are then provided. These are used to implement an approximate algebraic rule for computing the desired stiffness and damping in the framework of the adaptive collision model (Kempe and Frohlich, J. Fluid Mech. 709: 445-489,2012). Numerical tests with binary as well as multiple particle collisions are reported to illustrate the accuracy of the proposed method and its superiority in terms of numerical efficiency. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.