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Bell & Ross Adds to Patrouille De France Collection

Bell & Ross launches the BR 03-92 Patrouille De France 70th Anniversary watch to celebrate the seventh decade of the namesake French aerobatics team.

The new Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Patrouille De France 70th Anniversary watch.

Built using a high-tech, blackened ceramic 42mm by 42mm case, the new limited edition watch (999 pieces) features a sharp-looking dial matching the blue hue used by the Alpha Jet of the Patrouille de France.

To underscore the team’s blue identity, Bell & Ross opts to connect the case to the wrist with a matching blue calfskin and black synthetic canvas fabric strap. 

Bell & Ross has teamed with the Patrouille de France since 2021, creating several limited edition models for the elite aerobatic team.

To further enhance the partnership of the two French organizations, Bell & Ross also places the insignia of the team and the specific logo of its 70th anniversary directly on the Bell & Ross circle-in-a square dial. The logo is encircled with the colors of the French flag.

On the back of the watch, Bell & Ross engraves the silhouettes of the five aircraft that have flown since the creation of the Patrouille de France in 1953. The design reflects the wishes of the team’s pilots, according to Bruno Belamich, Creative Director and co-founder of Bell & Ross.

“Pilots are always consulted for the creation of watches: the primary goal of the (Bell & Ross) house is to meet the needs of these men and provide them with a tool to serve their mission,” he adds.

Inside you’ll find the Bell & Ross Sellita-based automatic movement BR-CAL 302, which powers the dial’s hours, minutes, seconds and date displays. 

Price: $4,100. 

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American Brands

A Watch Pro Launches ProTek

By Gary Girdvainis 

While Barry Cohen may not be a household name for most watch consumers, I can almost guarantee you know his work.

As the founder of Luminox back in 1989,  Cohen established a brand that deftly integrated the ethos of the brand directly into the name:  “Lumi” stood for illumination and “Nox” for night so the brand name meant it had superior night lume thanks to its self-illuminating tritium gas tubes.

Cohen sold the brand he founded for a variety of reasons. He returned with a new brand that would take the next logical steps in the design of a rugged sports watch that would not only look great – but would also make a strong value argument.

A model in the ProTek Dive Series. All sport a 42mm carbon composite case.

Enter ProTek

Priced aggressively from $450 to $525, ProTek watches are available in stainless steel, carbon composite, and surgical grade titanium cases, and all of them feature self-illuminating tritium tubes.

A new ProTek Official USMC Series model, with a 42mm carbon composite case.

ProTek offers several dive watch variations that sport carbon composite or steel cases.  

The Field Watch 

Featured here, the 3000 Series Field watch is crafted in a slim (11mm), lightweight titanium case weighing only 48 grams in either a natural or black IP version.

One model in the ProTek 3000 Series of field watches. Each features a 40mm titanium case.

All are capped with a flat sapphire crystal over a dial and hands enhanced with 3 colors of T-100 self-illuminating tubes.

These are the brightest self-illuminating tubes available and will emit their own radiance for up to twenty-five years without the need for exposure to external light to perform.

Rated and tested to a legitimate 100 meters of water resistance, the ProTek Series 3000 field watch can also be a casual-use water watch and is delivered with a waterproof Italian leather strap.

Clean dials in black, admiral blue, olive green and a silvery off-white are all easy to read. With a light weight of just over 48 grams (head-only), the watches are very comfortable on the wrist for extended use.

The threaded (screw-down) back is also crafted in titanium with a stylized “P” presented in deep relief, as it is on the double-gasket crown.

Inside the case is a Citizen/Miyota quartz movement with a four-year battery accurate to +/- 20 seconds per month. Retail price is $475 at www.watchgauge.com. 

 

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The Watches

Nomos Honors Glashütte Watchmaking History with Orion Trio

Nomos celebrates 175 Years of watchmaking in Glashütte with three classic watches in the Nomos Orion neomatik collection.

The larger (41mm) of the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches trio.

Student watchmakers historically create so-called practice watches, generally time-only or time and date models, and Nomos honors this tradition with the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte trio. 

The new three-hand Orion neomatik watches measure 36mm, 39mm and 41mm in diameter with the larger of the three sporting a date display. Each watch is signed, numbered and limited to 175 pieces.

All three debuts offer a three-part stainless steel case with a domed sapphire crystal and caseback. All also present the time with thin tempered blue hands above the domed, polished, galvanized and white silver-plated dial with gold embossed indexes.

Nomos does not recess the small seconds dial into the dials of these Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte watches – a first for Nomos and a nod to the elegant nature of the trio.

Inside the time-only models Nomos fits its DUW 3001 automatic caliber (pictured above on the 39mm model). The larger date model features DUW 6101. All calibers are built with traditional Glashütte three-quarter plate, Glashütte ribbing and tempered blue screws, and each is adjusted to chronometer standards.

As noted, Nomos has signed and number each watch in the Orion neomatik – 175 Years Watchmaking Glashütte series, which is limited to 175 watches of each model.

Watches this elegant, with superb in-house calibers and the fine detailing typical at Nomos are rare at these prices, so expect these to sell quickly. 

Prices: $3,580 (36mm), $3,920 (39mm) and $4,200 (41mm with date).

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The Watches

Citizen Launches New Automatic Collection 

Citizen brings its colorful, automatic NJ015 ‘Tsuyosa’ collection to the United States this month, broadening the watchmaker’s domestic mechanical offerings beyond its pricier automatic Series 8  and automatic dive models.

And with each watch priced at $450, the collection (which Citizen introduced in Europe and elsewhere last year) creates Citizen’s first entry level range of steel-cased automatic watches for the U.S. market. 

Citizen brings its much-touted NJ015 Automatic ‘Tsuyosa’ collection to the United States.

The new NJ015 collection, called Tsuyosa, (Japanese for ‘strength’) is powered by Citizen’s Caliber 8210, an automatic movement with a 21,600 vph frequency and a forty-hour power reserve.

Citizen also opens up a view into the movement on each watch through a clear sapphire caseback.

Citizen is offering Tsuyosa in five sun-ray pattern dial options, including blue, yellow, green, turquoise and black, each displaying time with baton-
style indexes.

The watches even offer a magnifying date lens, which is a feature rarely seen on watches in this price range.

These are everyday-wear models. Each arrives with a moderately slim 40mm by 11.7mm brush-finished steel cases and integrated steel bracelet.

Citizen polishes the bracelet’s center links to add a bit of luxury to the contemporary styled Tsuyosa.

Price: $450.

 

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The Watches

Ulysse Nardin Launches Ocean Race Diver Chronograph 

This weekend, Ulysse Nardin unveiled its latest dive watch, the Ocean Race Diver Chronograph, as the watchmaker joined the six-month-long Ocean Race during a stopover in Newport, Rhode Island.

The new Ulysse Nardin Ocean Race Diver Chronograph.

Ulysse Nardin launched the limited-edition watch in collaboration with The Ocean Race in part to celebrate the historic race’s fiftieth anniversary. In addition, the watch pays tribute to both partners’ commitment to protecting the oceans.

The Ocean Race, which was first launched in 1973 from Portsmouth, England, was originally known as the Whitbread Round the World Race, then The Volvo Ocean Race. The global competition is now known as The Ocean Race.

Water-resistant to 300 meters, the Ocean Race Diver Chronograph’s 44mm sandblasted black DLC titanium case houses the superb in-house chronograph caliber UN-150, which is visible through the sapphire crystal case back and bears the number ‘50’ in tribute to this race’s anniversary.

Ulysse Nardin has also placed the Ocean Race logo to the ceramic component on the rubber strap’s pin buckle. (See additional technical specifications below).

Recycled finish 

Referencing Ulysse Nardin’s eco-friendly aims, the watchmaker created the watch’s unidirectional bezel with a Carbonium finish, which contains fibers recycled from airplane fuselage offcuts.

As the Official Timekeeper of the race, Ulysse Nardin is responsible for the official timings of the various legs and the start countdowns, but it is also a partner of the 24-Hour Speed Challenge, in which the crew that covers the greatest distance in 24 hours wins. 

In addition to this role as Official Timer, Ulysse Nardin is also a partner of Time to Act, a program that aims to reduce the devastating impact of pollution, climate change, and industrial overfishing on our oceans.

As part of this program, and alongside the Racing with Purpose and 11th Hour Racing organizations, The Ocean Race is undertaking a sustainability program. During the race, the teams will gather data on the impact of climate change and plastic pollution. Ulysse Nardin notes that the initiative will result in “the most data ever collected as part of a sporting event.”  

The Ocean Race crews sail from Newport on May 21, continuing to Aarhus (Denmark), the Kiel Fly-By (Germany) and The Hague (Netherlands) before the grand finale, which is set to take place in Genoa (Italy) at the end of June. 

Ulysse Nardin will offer the Ocean Race Diver Chronograph as a limited edition of 100 timepieces. Price: $15,700. 

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Specifications: Ulysse Nardin Ocean Race Diver Chronograph  

(Ref. 1503-170LE-2A-TOR/3A)

Movement: Calibre UN-150 self-winding Manufacture Chronograph, silicon escape wheel, anchor and balance-spring. Frequency: 4 Hz / oscillating at 28,800 vph.

Dial: Sandblasted black, 30-minutes counter at 3 o’clock, 12-hours counter and date at 6 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock. Rhodium-plated indexes and hands with Super-LumiNova. 

Case: 44mm sandblasted and satin-finished black DLC titanium, Carbonium concave unidirectional rotating bezel with domed sapphire crystal, black DLC titanium open sapphire case back, ‘50’ logo in tribute to the 50th anniversary of The Ocean Race, 300 meters of water resistance. 

Strap: Black rubber strap with black ceramic element at 6 o’clock, engraved with The Ocean Race logo, black ceramic pin buckle. 

Price: $15,700. 

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