Not surprinsingly for a brand that likes to break the mould and has been launching concept watches since its inception, the BR 01 “Skull”, unveiled in 2009, was one of the first to ride the wave of the trend for Skull watches.
On the back of this success, the "skull" series continued in 2011 with the launch of two limited editions, including the BR 01 Tourbillon Skull. A third revisited series, featuring a bronze case, was released in 2015 and in 2016, Bell & Ross showed innovation with its BR 01 Burning Skull concept whose engraved case was decorated with black lacquer.
Today, Bell & Ross is going one step further with a new Skull watch, this time equipped with an automaton movement: the mandible moves and the skull grins back at you!
Learn more about the Bell & Ross BR 01 Laughing Skull
The skull symbol has been used for centuries, particularly by pirates. They consider it a talisman that brings them courage and frightens off their enemies. It is also used by the military, as a constant reminder of their own vulnerability. These professionals often face death in the line of duty and this image appears on their uniforms and aircrafts. The BR 01 Laughing Skull pays tribute to them all.
The historic watchmaking automaton figure
With its BR 01 Laughing Skull watch, Bell & Ross is venturing into the field of automata for the first time. These autonomous mechanisms, which feature an animated display, appeared in Europe in the 14th century at the same time as mechanical clocks. They often take the form of a Jaquemart, an animated mechanized figure of a person, fitted to a church clock tower to strike the hours on a bell. The original Laughing Skull concept is therefore a kind of direct descendant of these elegant animation systems.
Manufacture movement
The skull’s mandible of the BR 01 Laughing Skull is animated during winding. To create it, the brand developed the BR-CAL.206: a hand-wound caliber entirely produced by the manufacture that is also skull-shaped, so that the mechanism fits the case perfectly. In the extension of the 4 bones, the 4 bridges secure the main plate to the case and come together to form a single assembly floating in the center of the watch.
The 46- mm case is made from microblasted steel and decorated with a “Clous de Paris” guilloché. The marriage of the Skull dial and its guilloché case adds to the character of the whole piece.
The skull has been made from metal appliqué, which has been embossed to create a relief pattern. This process is usually used to mint coins or make medals. As an added bonus, the skeleton work gives the impression that the skull is floating weightless in the center of the case. The sword-shaped hands are similar to those on the earlier Skull collections, but on this model they are skeletonized and coated in SuperLuminova.
3 models
The BR 01 Laughing Skull comes in 3 models. Limited to 500 pieces the BR01-SKULL-SK-ST is accompanied by two diamond-set versions, each limited to 99 pieces: the BR01 Laughing Skull Light Diam, whose bezel is set with 104 diamonds (1.032 ct), and the BR01 Laughing Skull Full Diam, with case and bezel set with 394 diamonds (2,891 ct). The three versions are worn on a brown alligator strap secured with a microblasted steel pin buckle.
