The archetypal Bell & Ross wristwatch is arguably the military aviation-inspired square BR 03-92, which is the brand’s bestseller. The Bell & Ross Vintage collection, which just got a facelift, deals with the military aviation look in another manner, taking its cues instead from early to mid 20th century pilot’s watches.
Introduced in 2005 – first as the larger BR 01 then the smaller BR 03 – the signature Bell & Ross wristwatch is modelled on analogue clocks installed on the instrument panels of vintage aircraft. Big and square, the original BR 01 and 03s tended to be uncompromisingly military in style.
Bell & Ross has a thing for skulls. Since 2009 they’ve regularly enjoyed the danse macabre (or dance of death if your French is a little dusty). Of course, being Bell & Ross there’s an aviation link – the skull is a symbol commonly used by US Airborne Divisions. But as the years pass, the brand has taken the basic concept of a skull-emblazoned BR 01 in some exciting new directions, like 2015’s Skull Bronze. This year, Bell & Ross continues to explore the themes of adventure, daring and general badassery with the impressive BR 01 Burning Skull.
Bell & Ross had a strong collection of new watches for 2013 at Baselworld this year. My personal favorite model is the BR 126 Blackbird (UPDATE: Bell & Ross has officially changed the name of the watch to the “Bell & Ross BR 126 Flyback“), a limited edition model with a personality that is meant to honor the origin of Bell & Ross as a brand. At first glance, this watch might look like just another color variation in the BR 126 collection, but it is not that at all. Let’s first consider the beginnings of Bell & Ross back in the 1990s…
The humbly, yet implicatively entitled Aviation collection possibly is easily the most broadly recognized selection of watches from Bell & Ross. Using its debut in 2005 it not just assisted to create the company to some much wider audience, but additionally to ultimately make watches inspired by aviation and instruments a far more important trend within the watch world. The BR03 type of watches are members of the Aviation collection now we’re searching in a new and incredibly limited piece known as the BR03-51 GMT-TWG, offered solely through the Watch Gallery United kingdom.
