Since its inception in 1992, Bell & Ross has been striving to be different. This bold brand arrived on the scene and shook up the watch industry, which at the time, was highly saturated by long-lived watch Maisons. Founded by college friends Bruno Belamich (Bell) and Carlos A. Rosillo (Ross) the company began producing square watches that became their signature style, inspired by the instruments found in aircraft cockpits. Bell & Ross has found its firm place in the market over the past years and while it is still a relatively new brand its strong identity and instantly recognisable design have made it increasingly popular around the world, including in the Middle East.
Carlos-Antonio Rosillo
This year the brand took part in the Watches & Wonders fair in Geneva for the first time. Bell & Ross presented three new novelties enriching its current collections. The BR 03-93 GMT BLUE is an instrument watch with duel time reading continuing the brand’s voyager approach, the BR 03-92 DIVER WHITE BRONZE evokes the glorious hours of the first underwater explorations with a modern flair. And the BR 05 Green Gold with a green dial represents victory. Here we find out more about the new timepieces as well as what’s in the pipeline for the brand.
Tell us about the recent Watches & Wonders presentation and what were the key takeaways for the brand this year.
Last year was an opportunity for us to see how the salon works and to understand if it was interesting for our company to participate. For this edition, we were happy and honoured to be part of Watches and Wonders Geneva. It was a unique opportunity to present our 2023 novelty to journalists as well as our loyal and new dealers from around the world. For our first time participating in Watches & Wonders, we wanted to mainly focus on the new core range which launched at the end of last year: the BR-X5. It is a great honour for us to enter the very closed “club” of Manufacture movements. Kenissi has created a movement specifically for us, with a power reserve of 72 hours, a large date window and a power reserve indicator on the dial. With this new range, we are moving significantly upmarket. In addition, it was essential for Bell & Ross to enrich its core range with new versions such as the novelties unveiled in Geneva: the BR 05 Green Gold, the BR 03-92 Diver White Bronze and the BR 03-03 GMT Blue.
Carlos-Antonio Rosillo
Tell us about the Diving line at Bell & Ross and how it is positioned.
The BR 03-92 Diver is the first square diving watch created by Bell & Ross. It was designed especially for professionals and meets the international standards governing diving watches. Bell & Ross has had in-depth expertise in underwater matters since 1997 when it released the Hydromax, its first diver’s watch. With this model the brand achieved a world record for perfect watertightness to a depth of 11,100 metres, made possible by perfectly filling the case with a patented transparent fluorinated oil: a major innovation. Ten years later, a second diver’s watch emerges, with the BR 02 collection dedicated specifically to the underwater world. With its barrel-shaped case, this family of watches is immediately recognizable. Technically speaking, the BR 02 is equipped with a helium decompression valve and an ultra-resistant domed sapphire crystal: essential elements for saturation diving. But not all Bell & Ross Diver’s watches are round. As of 2017, Bell & Ross took on a new aesthetic with the arrival of the BR 03-92 Diver model. Part of the BR 03 family of instrument watches for professionals and civilians alike, in true watchmaking fashion, it perfectly reinterprets the functionality of fighter plane dashboards, featuring the signature ‘round within a square’ case. Above all, like all the instrument watches in the BR 03 family, the BR 03-92 Diver are conceived and designed as professional quality tools for divers. In order to meet their expectations, it complies with international standard ISO-6425, which states that a “diver’s watch” is a “watch designed to withstand diving in water at depths of at least 100 metres and equipped with a secured measuring system”. Underwater, the indices must still be visible at a distance of 25cm in the dark. A diver’s watch must also be magnetic-resistant, shock-resistant and, of course, resistant to salt water. Complying perfectly with all these demanding specifications, the BR 03-92 Diver is an underwater instrument worthy of its name according to Swiss standards. In 2018, Bell & Ross added a remarkable new variation by cutting the 42 x 42mm square case in bronze: a material historically linked to the maritime world. This is a family that would go on to see great success, welcoming several new releases each year. It included models in steel and bronze, with red, green, blue and even black dials… Some collectors sought to own every version. This year, the BR 03-92 Diver White Bronze joins the elegant and athletic line. Paired with a pearl white dial, the bronze case of the new BR 03-92 Diver White Bronze, evokes the glorious hours of the first underwater explorations with a modern flair. It’s a new chapter in the Bell & Ross nautical odyssey.
The BR 05 Gold Green is a stunning watch, what can you tell us about the choice of green on this dial, as well as the brand’s gold watch offering?
The new BR 05 Green Gold is the third link in the gold family, its case is made entirely in gold. The different models in this collection are characterised by a distinctive colour on the dial. The green on the BR 05 Green Gold evokes victory. It’s the colour of trees – more precisely, that of the fir or spruce tree. On the new BR 05 Green Gold dial, the green shade takes on a luminous, sparkling tone. The painted metal plate that serves as the base of the dial has a sunburst effect, changing colour when tilted. Depending on the reflections hitting its surface, it varies between an almost fluorescent shade all the way to dark bottle green. The depth of this unique colour is obtained thanks to the numerous coats of tinted green varnish.
Bell & Ross is a brand that creates experiences around its products – what can you tell us about this and how do you connect with clients and create a community feel around the brand?
Since the beginning, Bell & Ross aims to create useful timepieces that become tools in the hands of professionals working under extreme conditions. On-board instrumentation has always been the key to entering the Bell & Ross universe. The universe in which we immerse our customers is essential. Through our story and our universe, we create a strong link and an emotional connection with them. We are attentive to the request and desires of our customers, for example, the launch of the BR-X5 range allows us to respond to a request from customers looking for a Manufacture movement. We also differentiate ourselves thanks to our original and identifiable design. We have a great community at Bell & Ross, a community of enthusiasts who have a great interest in each of the company’s models and we are delighted to maintain this strong link with them. We have also managed to build a large community thanks to our various partnerships with the Patrouille de France for aviation, Alpine for the F1 and Tara Foundation around the oceans. We find the three pillars: Air, Land and Sea that speak to a large community.
Tell us about the new BR 03 GMT – what is different from the previous GMT watches?
With the new BR 03-93 GMT BLUE, an instrument watch with dual time zone reading, Bell & Ross continues its voyager approach with a colourway that’s rare, elegant, and subtle. The previous BR 03_93 GMT had a black dial with a black and red two-tone bezel. This year Bell & Ross opted for the blue colour of the sky. A new version to meet a wider audience!
How would you assess the watchmaking industry today?
The Manufacture is a must-have, the creativity makes the difference and the brands who have an icon have a powerful strength.
What else can we expect to see coming for the rest of the year, particularly in the Middle East – can you give us a sneak peek?
As we do every year, we will introduce watches in our key categories: aviation, city, and instrument watches. Through the shapes, sizes, colours, materials, and functions, we will evolve our collection. Without forgetting, of course, the introduction of novelties within the framework of our partnerships such as the Patrouille de France for aviation, Alpine for car racing and maybe we will introduce something with our new partnership; Tara. We are also developing our new high-end collection of the BR-X5.
What is something you would still like to achieve with the brand?
Our plan for the coming years is to consolidate our BR-X5 range and strengthen our partnership with Kenissi. We would like to continue to develop our international presence and maintain our icons (BR 03) and our best sellers (BR 05) to meet our customers’ expectations.
Tell us about your passion for watchmaking – what do you look for from a timepiece?
Form and substance with the design, the engineering, and the watchmaking manufacture.
What is the professional motto that you live by?
Our tagline is: “From the cockpit to the wrist”. In the quest to create the ideal utilitarian watch, we broke traditional watchmaking codes in 2005 with the simple idea of turning a plane’s cockpit into a wristwatch. I think the strength of our company is our very strong DNA, a Bell & Ross watch is immediately recognisable, and we have from the beginning marked a very strong identity. More than a concept, this motto always reminds us of our origin: to create timepieces perfectly suited for professional use.
