Mechanical watches can be beguiling and bewildering all at once, as the Bell & Ross BR 03-Cyber-CE demonstrates. While you might identify the design-forward watchmaker with the circles-within-squares aesthetic, it is really so much more ambitious. Even in this Cyber-CE Limited Edition (a celebration of angularity, if ever we saw one), you can see circles interfacing with squares as well as curves and straightlines. Cyber-CE looks like a simple, automatic watch without seconds. Yet, this is no humble dress watch and its complexity is evident in its shape – that goes for both the matt ceramic case and the manufacture movement.
BR 03-Cyber-CE will be instantly recognizable to the enthusiast as an evolution of the Special Piece that was proposed by the brand last year for the failed OnlyWatch auction. The case and movement calibre BR Cal.383 appear to be descendants from the colourful B03 cyber rainbow. For the Cyber-CE though, Bell & Ross has made a 180-degree turn and gone for a stealthy appeal. Perhaps surprisingly, the approach has yielded a watch that draws the eye in with its faceted case in a way that the brightly hued piece unique ever quite manages to (we have seen the Cyber Rainbow in person but not the Cyber-CE – Ed).
In its press information for the Cyber-CE, Bell & Ross never mentions the word ‘skull’ anywhere yet the impression is clearly present. Just look at the watch and consider Bruno Belamich’s description of it as “a nod to the digital arts. When a digital image freezes, it reveals the pixels of which it is made;” Belamich is co-founder and lead designer of Bell & Ross. Thus, we suggest that the digital image here conveys the sense of the Jolly Roger or memento mori, itself an important motif for Bell & Ross (the brand was amongst the first to popularise skull-motif watches in fine watchmaking).
The movement is skeletonized to the smallest detail, but it has been done with the modern industrial production wizardry. This is acceptable in the case of BR-Cal.383, a relatively new watch (considering the appeal it has to digital sensibilities). Bell & Ross has not released many details on the movement since it debuted in the Cyber Rainbow; the brand did not even note that the Cyber-CE and the Cyber-Rainbow share the same engine. The movement is high-rated enough to be eligible for a warranty of five years, but the power reserve (48 hours) is slightly below that offered by most manufacture movements.
Cyber-CE’s dimensions are the same as those of the classic BR 03, 42 x 44.75 mm. However, the lugs have been adapted. Belamich claims that the rubber band is connected directly to case without any traditional lugs. This is exactly the same as the Cyber-Rainbow. This watch is limited to 500 pieces.
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