Land, Sea, and Sky: Our Favorite Bell & Ross Pieces For Any Occasion

Clearly, they have been successful — maybe too successful! As Bell & Ross’ brash, utilitarian designs have been much copied or outright knocked off. To beat the cheats, the brand opted to break new ground in 2018 by elevating the technical and visual aspects of their instruments.

Since Bell & Ross has previously designed racecars and motorcycles, the Racing Bird collection was announced alongside a new conceptual racing plane design from the studio. The strong suit of this timepiece, available as both a three-hander and a chronograph makes for a simple but fun design that you can practically wear anywhere.

With a 38.5mm wide stainless-steel case (tiny by previous B&R standards and nicely proportioned here) crisp display, the BR V1-92 and BR V1-94 Racing Birds are a refreshing alternative to all of the retro-looking pilot watches currently on the market. There are fun details too! Like the micro plane on the counterbalance of the second hand. They are also robust (after all, they are meant to be professional tools), set on either calfskin or stainless-steel straps and powered with an automatic Sellita SW300-1 movement.

Visually, the collection is linked by the Renault red and yellow colors, matte grey cases are fitted with a distinctive black rubber strap. But technologically they are separated by complications. The Bell & Ross BR 03-94 R.S. 18 has a straight up chronograph face, is limited to 999 pieces and priced at $6,500. The BR-X1 R.S. 18 has a skeletonized dial, is limited to 25 pieces and costs $21,500. And the skeletonized BR-X1 R.S. 18 Tourbillon is limited to 20 pieces and will set you back $189,000.

For Bell & Ross' watchmakers, creating a case from a block of sapphire was a real technical challenge, requiring difficult machining, grinding and polishing processes. On top of that, adding a tourbillon was just the icing on this complex see through cake. 

Of course, such examples of haute horology come with a price: the BR-X1 Skeleton Tourbillon Sapphire is $480,000; the Blue is $480,000; and the Gold is $500,000.

While Bell & Ross has been making professional dive watches since 1997, adding the square-cased, black finished BR03-92 to its Marine line was a big and successful move. For 2018, the watchmakers are adding two new versions to the family: the BR03-92 Diver Blue and the limited to 999 pieces BR03-92 Diver Bronze.

True tool watches, both BR03-92s are water-resistant to 300m (exceeding ISO 6425 criteria of a minimum depth of 100 meters), and have a unidirectional rotating bezel with a graduated 60-minute scale, an operation indicator and Superluminovafilled hands, markers and indices and anti-shock/anti-magnetic protection. For extra legibility, the ultra-curved sapphire crystal also comes with anti-reflective coating. They are also quite reasonably priced with the BR03-92 Diver Blue coming in at $3,700 and the Bronze at $3,990.

The BRV2-93 GMT is also nicely priced at $3,200 on the rubber strap and $3,500 on Steel.