Bell & Ross expands its bronze-cased offerings with the new BR 03-92 Diver Black & Green Bronze, the latest model in the watchmaker’s dive collection.
The new Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver Black & Green Bronze.
Boasting a color that might recall recent green-dial additions to the above-ground BR 05 collection, the new watch’s dial appears as a subdued matte green rather than the glossy green of those earlier land-based examples.
Bell & Ross teams the green dial with a bronze case that fits perfectly withinexisting bronze-cased offerings in this collection. Last year the watchmakerlaunched one new model in bronze, and a year earlier we saw the debut of two bronze-cased BR 03 Dive models.
Bronze cases are valued by many collectors for their ability to display the results of oxidation, a process that creates an individualized brownish, reddish or green patina pattern on each watch. Bronze is also an alloy of choice on sailing boat fittings. As Bell & Ross notes, “bronze gives watches extra soul and puts the wearer in touch with nature.”
As with all Bell & Ross dive watches, the new BR 03-92 Diver Black & Green Bronze is built to meet international standard ISO-6425, which states that a “diving watch” is a watch that must withstand immersion in water to a depth of at least 100 meters and have a highly visible time control system, among many other dive-ready specs.
Bell & Ross employs its automatic BR-CAL.302 movement (based on Sellita SW300-1) that beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations/hour and guarantees a 54-hour power reserve.
Protecting the movement, the solid steel caseback has been engraved with an image of a vintage bronze diver’s helmet. Bell & Ross attached the case to a black rubber strap with ‘ultra-resilient’ black synthetic fabric.
Alpina adds a California dial to its rugged Alpiner Extreme to create the Alpiner Extreme Automatic California Dial, a fitting high-visibility historic design within the outdoor-adventure collection.
The new Alpina Alpiner Extreme Automatic California Dial.
The Geneva-based watchmaker created its Alpiner collection with mountain trekkers in mind, and launching a California dial model enhances options within the series.
Alpina notes that the dial cleverly blends Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, dashes and triangles designed to make it simple to see the time from any angle and avoid the confusion of mistaking a 6 for a 9 and adding clarity to the 8 and 4. Often used on dive watches, such dials are equally appropriate to those scaling the Alps, or just hiking the woods.
Also aligned with Alpina’s ethos, the historic dial design (which apparently earned its name due to its popularity in its namesake state) includes a triangle at 12 o’clock, which perfectly echoes the Alpina logo. Alpina has long used a red triangle to symbolizes Alpine summits, and on each dial you see one just above the Alpine logo. A second red triangle can be seen as the counterweight on the seconds hand.
The steel-cased 41mm by 42.5mm Alpiner Extreme Automatic California Dial arrives on a rubber strap and is powered by the Sellita-based automatic AL-525 caliber. The watch is water resistant to 200 meters. (See additional specifications below).
Price: $1,795.
Specifications: Alpina Alpiner Extreme Automatic California Dial
Case: 41mm by 42.5mm brushed and polished stainless steel 3-part case with
anti-reflective sapphire crystal. Water-resistant to 200 meters. Engraved and see-through screwed case-back, screw-in crown.
Dial: Black with triangle pattern, black outer ring with white markers,
applied beige color indexes filled with white luminous treatment,
date window, hand-polished silver color hour and minute hands filled with beige luminous treatment, polished silver color second hand with red triangle.
Bell & Ross mixes nature and architecture with the new BR 05 Chrono Green Steel, the latest model in its BR 05 series of ‘rounded square’ designs.
The new Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Green Steel.
While we saw a similar sun-ray green dial from Bell & Ross earlier this year when the watchmaker introduced a gold-cased, three-hand model (BR 05 Green Gold), this newer model appears even more contemporary, especially as a steel chronograph.
Steel, after all, shines in any urban area, and with the geometric, multi-level BR 05 case and fully integrated bracelet, the watch’s so-called ‘urban spirit’ is evident.
“The case and strap are one,” notes Bell & Ross Creative DirectorBruno Belamich. “This design is a nod to a type of watch that first appeared in the 1970s. Transposed into the Bell & Ross identity, we were able to achieve a result that is at once clear, modern and graphic.”
The new BR 05 Chrono Green Steel joins a wide range of Bell & Ross chronographs, many of which are also powered by the Sellita-based self-winding BR-CAL.326 movement.
Bell & Ross fits an eye-catching automotive-inspired 360-degree rotor to the movement, which is visible through a sapphire caseback.
Price: $6,200 (rubber strap) and $6,700 (steel bracelet).
Specifications: Bell & Ross BR 05 Chrono Green Steel
Movement: Automatic Caliber BR-CAL.326 (Sellita base) poweringhours, minutes, small seconds at 9 o’clock and date. Chronograph: 30-minute counter at 3 o’clock, central chronograph seconds.
Case: 42mm by 14.25mm satin-polished steel. Screw-down crown. Crown guard. Sapphire crystal and sapphire case-back with 360° oscillating weight. Water-resistance to 100 meters.
Dial: Green sunray with applique indices filled with SuperLuminova. Satin-finished applique numerals. Metal skeletonized SuperLuminova-filled hour and minute hands.
Strap: Green rubber or satin-polished steel with satin-polished steel folding buckle.
Price: $6,200 (rubber strap) and $6,700 (steel bracelet).
Swiss watchmaker Nivada Grenchen has teamed with Analog Shift (the vintage watch division of the Watches of Switzerland Group) to launch the Chronomaster ‘Big Eye’ Yachting, a 38mm steel-cased yacht timer and chronograph.
The new Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster ‘Big Eye’ Yachting.
The 1970s-style Chronomaster ‘Big Eye’ Yachting offers a sharp-looking clean white dial with easy-to-see broad arrow hands and a minute counter (at three o’clock) modified with blue and orange sections made specifically for counting down the first ten minutes of a yacht race.
The watch’s chronograph display can track up to thirty minutes with a bright orange central seconds hand, the minute counter and a small seconds counter at the nine o’clock position.
In addition, the watch’s unidirectional aluminum bezel offers a third function: tachymeter. The engraved tachymeter scale includes markers for fifths of a second to track average speed.
Inside the case Nivada Grenchen fits a manually wound Sellita SW510 BH B movement with a 63-hour power reserve. The movement is set under a sapphire crystal that the watchmaker has domed to mimic the same shape of the original Chronomaster’s acrylic crystal.
As vintage experts, Analog Shift asked Nivada Grenchen to pair the limited edition watch with a genuine vintage ‘beads of rice’ steel bracelet.
The Chronomaster ‘Big Eye’ Yachting, a limited edition of 100, is available from all Watches of Switzerland Group platforms, includingWatchesofSwitzerland.com, Mayors.com, Betteridge.com, and AnalogShift.com.
Two recently debuted blue-dialed watches, the Bell & Ross BR 05 GMT Sky Blue and the Oris Aquis Small Second Date 45.5mm, demonstrate how versatile —and attractive — the azure tint can be when perched on a wrist. And both debuts sport serious specs and can be worn anytime and in any workday or playtime environment.
Oris
If your typical day takes you in or near the water, the Oris Aquis Small Second Date 45.5mm ($2,900) is your best bet here given its much-greater-than-average 500-meter water resistance rating.
The new Oris Aquis Small Second Date 45.5 mm.
Oris notes that the watch’s water resistance rating is actually greater than the standard model within its Aquis dive series, which typically includes watches rated to 300 meters of water resistance.
The watch, with its ocean-inspired deep-blue dial, represents a new size the Oris Aquis time-and-date-only series. It retains all the dive-ready specifications you’d expect from Oris, including a small seconds indicator (at the 9 o’clock position) with a luminous hand, a screw-down crown with protection, a uni-directional rotating bezel with a ceramic insert, and either a metal bracelet or rubber strap equipped with the Oris-patented extendable security folding clasp.
Oris has launched an impressive selection of colorful watches in recent years, especially within its Big Crown series. Even the watchmaker’s ProPilot collection now includes hues unexpected within such a technical series.
The new Oris Aquis Small Second Date 45.5mm revels in its ocean-colored dial, bezel insert and rubber strap. (See below for detailed specifications).
Bell & Ross
Inspired by summer skies, Bell & Ross finishes its latest BR 05 GMT with a sky blue sun-ray pattern dial. Earlier BR 05 GMT models have only been available with a black dial or a white dial.
The new Bell & Ross BR 05 GMT Sky Blue.
Framed by the Bell & Ross’s own circled-in-a-square case shape, the dial allows the wearer to determine time in a second time zone thanks to the blue-tinted GMT hand. With its easy-to-read large white arrow-shaped tip, the hand allows means wearer can quickly determine the hour in any of 24 timezones emblazoned along the graduated inner bezel.
Bell & Ross enhances this flange with a sky blue and silver color treatment. The colors allow the wearer to further differentiate whether the second time zone hour is in the daytime (silver) or nighttime (blue). Bell & Ross coats the hands and the rhodium-plated baton-shaped indexes with a healthy amount of SuperLuminova.
Inside Bell & Ross fits its bedrock BR-CAL.325 movement, a Sellita-based automatic caliber. And, for all-weather wear, Bell & Ross supplies a screw-in crown to guarantee water resistance to 100 meters. (See below for detailed specifications.)
Bell & Ross offers two types of attachment for the BR 05 GMT Sky Blue. The first is a stainless-steel bracelet and second is a blue rubber strap tinted to match the dial color.
Price: $5,000 (rubber strap) and $5,500 (steel bracelet).
Specifications: Oris Aquis Small Second Date 45.5 mm
(Ref. 0174377334155–0742469EB)
Case: 45.5 multi-piece stainless steel with ceramic bezel insert, sapphire domed crystal, anti- reflective coating inside, screwed steel back with special engravings, stainless steel screw-in security crown, water resistance to 500 meters. Movement: Oris 743, Sellita-based automatic with center hands for hours, minutes and seconds, date, Oris fine timing device and stop-second. Power reserve is41 hours.
Dial: Ocean Blue with SuperLumiNova applied indices.
Bracelet/strap: Multi-piece stainless steel metal bracelet with folding clasp with extension. Also available on a blue rubber strap with stainless steel security folding clasp with extension.
Functions: hours, minutes, central seconds, date and second 24-hour time zone. Quick setting of the GMT hand, independently of the hour hand.
Case: 41 mm wide. Satin-polished steel. Satin-finished rhodium-plated and blue two-color flange, with 24-hour scale. Screw-down crown. Crown guard. Sapphire case-back with 360° oscillating weight. Crystal is sapphire with anti-reflective coating. Water-resistance to 100 meters.
Dial: Blue sun-ray finish with numerals and indices coated in white SuperLumiNova,, metal skeletonized SuperLumiNova-filled hour and minute hands.
Strap: Blue rubber or satin-polished steel with satin-polished steel folding buckle.
Price: $5,000 (rubber strap) and $5,500 (steel bracelet).
Bell & Ross fits an eye-catching automotive-inspired 360-degree rotor to the movement, which is visible through a sapphire caseback.
