We reviewed the new Bell & Ross entry into the luxury steel sports watches. As mentioned in the article, we have had a few days prior to the release date, and had the watches for photography and here is our hands-on review. This includes the BR 05 Skeleton we feature in today’s story.
As a starting point, we encourage you to read the full details in our hands on, analytical review for all the specifications and wear experience notes. This is found here:
For this article, we will focus on the main differences between the regular version to the Skeleton.
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Bell & Ross BR 05 Skeleton
The case shape and detailing remains the same as in the standard BR 05 edition. The Skeleton is a limited edition of only 500 pieces and executed in a stainless steel case, and available with either a stainless steel bracelet or a rubber strap.
The dial is skeletonized to reveal the movement. The dial is vestigial, with only an trunkated, inverted cone stretching from the bezel, acting like a sloped rehaut.
We think it plays well with the design concept overall, and the indices which remain as bars are attached to the slopes, stretching into the center of the dial. The aesthetic feel is like these indices are floating over the movement which is fully visible from the dial side.
Legibility of the dial still remains excellent despite the absence of a proper dial, with the bar indices and bar like hands infilled with SuperLuminova.
The same movement is retained, and expected to perform similarly to its usage in other Bell & Ross movements. In our experience with the BR 05 and BR 05 Skeleton, as well as other Bell & Ross watches using the Caliber BR-CAL.322, the performance is good and robust, fully capable of withstanding the sporty nature of the watch.
On the wrist, it wears the same as the regular BR 05, but with skeletonized aesthetics of the vestigial dial, the watch looks almost like another. The BR 05 Skeleton grows on us as we wore it during the loan period, and when it was time for us to return it, we were almost sorry we had to, and it was close to the Navy Blue dialed version for our choice as a nice daily beater.
For more details on the specifications, head over to the Bell & Ross site.
Bell & Ross BR 05 Skeleton Specifications
REF. BR05A-GR-SK-ST
Movement: calibre BR-CAL.322. Automatic mechanical. Crystal: sapphire with anti-reflective coating.
Functions: hours, minutes and seconds. Water-resistance: 100 metres.
Case: 40 mm in diameter. Satin-polished steel. Sapphire case back.
Strap: satin-polished steel or black rubber.
Dial: skeleton. Applique indices coated in Super-LumiNova®. Buckle: folding. Satin-polished steel.
1 Comment
I prefer this to the standard release as the transition from round to square isn’t so jarring.