Bell & Ross

Bell & Ross watches are, for a good reason, often associated with pilots and military forces. This has been the brand’s raison d’être since its inception. Serious, stealth, instrumental, the emblematic BR 01 and BR 03 collection, with its “circle within a square”, sums up the brand’s design language perfectly. Yet, from time to time, Bell & Ross gets a little “wild” and strays off the beaten track with watches that are more audacious. These watches are known since 2009 as the Skull collection. Today, the brand introduces the latest model in the family and breaks the traditional codes of this collection with a modern, architectural take on the concept. Meet the new Bell & Ross BR 01 Cyber Skull and its whole new case. 

Bell & Ross BR 01 Cyber Skull

CONTEXT

Since 2009, the skull has proved a great source of inspiration for Bell & Ross. We’ve seen almost a dozen watches depicting a skull-and-crossbones symbol on their dial. You might wonder about its relevance in a military/pilot watch context… But actually, the skull is one of the most military-oriented symbols you can imagine. From the Vikings to WWII paratroopers, and of course pirates, the skull has been widely used in warfare symbolism – mostly to impress opponents. Think about the “Jolly Rogers” pirate flags. In June 1944, on D-Day, American paratroopers landed on French coasts, a skull symbol attached to their uniforms with the words “Death From Above”. The Bell & Ross Skull series is an ode to this specific military symbolism, as well as depicting values of Memento Mori and Vanitas.

The first model in the line-up was launched in 2009, with the BR 01 Skull, followed by multiple iterations with different colours or materials, like this bronze edition. In 2016, the brand again used the symbol of the skull-and-crossbones, but this time combining tattoo elements to produce one of the boldest models ever created by the brand. Finally, in 2018, the brand `pushed the concept even further with an openworked movement equipped with an automaton (an animation of the jaws when winding the movement), the BR 01 Laughing Skull.