A WATCH FOR THE CYBER AGE
Having ventured into every territory of watchmaking over its thirty years, alongside the Maison's involvement in aeronautics, Bell & Ross has developed a unique technical and stylistic expression that looks to the future. Tending towards the essential, the BR 03 CYBER line is the testament to a modernist vision of elegance; a way of pushing the envelope a little further. From this moment, the new BR 03 Cyber Ceramic embodies the uninhibited Bell & Ross ‘vision of futuristic watchmaking.
AVANT-GARDE INSPIRATION
Design is a concrete form of the future. Through the physical transformation of the object and dedicated work of designers, new perspectives are born. It was from this starting point that the watchmaker set itself a challenge: to transform the design of the iconic BR 03 line without distorting everything behind the strength and identity of one of the Maison's cornerstone collections. To solve the conundrum without resorting to traditional watchmaking forms, Bell & Ross decided to combine the BR 03 design with the Cyber collection's graphic and futuristic codes. For this, Bell & Ross’ co-founder and Creative Director, Bruno Belamich, worked on redefining reality with faceted 3D designs. “Their workings question our relationship to speed, sound and light”, emphasises Belamich.
SEEING THE INVISIBLE
The personality of a watch is expressed through the lines making up its case. The new BR 03 Cyber Ceramic’s unique quality lies in its faceting, which immediately evokes the powerful design of stealth aircraft, with their sharpedged fuselages boasting the distinctive technical feature of reflecting waves. This is how spy planes, drones and strategic bombers become undetectable to radars. In creating a watch inspired by stealth design, Bell & Ross transposes the readability of flight instruments to the wrist with a graphic edge. Pushing the concept of stealth invisibility further, Bell & Ross has chosen to openwork the dial and main components on the mechanical selfwinding movement, the BR-CAL.383 calibre, with particularly spectacular 3D skeletonizing. “The faceting on the lines is, of course, a nod to the digital arts. When a digital image freezes, it reveals the pixels of which it is made”, explains Bruno Belamich, Creative Director and co-founder of Bell & Ross.
MATT BLACK: THE COLOUR OF HIGH-TECH, THE COLOUR OF POWER
With its definitive bold shade, it's impossible not to notice the new BR 03 Cyber Ceramic immediately. The paradoxical matt black chosen for the watch it’s as discreet as it is spectacular. An unconventional choice for a watch, moving away from the usual precious materials used in traditional watchmaking. To make the design a success, Bell & Ross deliberately turned to more technical and contemporary components. The 42 x 43.7 mm case is made of ceramic, a cutting-edge material requiring complex production methods performed at very high temperatures, which offers increased resistance. “Grinding with diamond powder made it possible to resurface the facets, like jewellers cutting a precious stone. To preserve the purity of the design, the lugs have disappeared, and the housing for the rubber strap has been cut into the case”, explains Belamich. Bell & Ross again chose ceramic, a high-tech material that's both strong and lightweight, to decorate the twelve metallic indices and logo, treated in glossy black under the surface of the anti-reflective sapphire crystal.
With faceted angles and clean lines, at the heart of its avant-garde design, a manufacture movement with a 5-year warranty is housed in this exceptional timepiece.
