{"id":26401,"date":"2021-03-24T16:02:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-24T16:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.horbiter.com\/the-bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-welcome-back-bomber\/"},"modified":"2021-11-26T14:57:36","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T14:57:36","slug":"bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-watch-hands-on-baselworld-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horbiter.com\/en\/bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-watch-hands-on-baselworld-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bell & Ross BR 03-92 MA-1 watch. Welcome back bomber!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The secret of a product\u2019s success often lies in its simplicity, and in a clear and unmistakable identity. At Bell & Ross<\/strong>, they applied this rule strictly. The case design of a BR<\/strong> and its direct link to aeronautics is the core of the brand, although the French brand has expanded its collections year after year, by adding a long list of timepieces with a round case to its iconic squared case watch offering. The Bell & Ross BR<\/strong> 03<\/strong>\u201392<\/strong> MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong>, launched a few days ago at Baselworld 2019<\/strong><\/span>, celebrates the bomber jacket, so popular in Italy<\/strong> and across Europe<\/strong> in the 80s and 90s, with us not knowing that what we used to wear as a fashion garment, had marked the transition from single-engine planes to jet planes instead.<\/p>\n

\"bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-quattro\"<\/p>\n

The source of inspiration to this new edition of the BR<\/strong> 03<\/strong>\u201392<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is the legendary green-colored jacket with an orange interior lining that inspires a modern, yet the umpteenth as somebody might argue, limited edition watch. The Bell & Ross BR 03<\/strong>\u201392<\/strong> MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong> is notably a two-tone watch, crafted in khaki<\/strong> and orange<\/strong>, that celebrates the MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong> jacket launched by Dobbs Industries<\/strong> (Alpha Industries<\/strong>, nowadays) in 1958<\/strong>. Primarily designed to meet the requirements of the US Air Force<\/strong>, this garment became trendy among pop and hip-hop music bands then, as well as on the screen thanks to Steve McQueen<\/strong> first and Kiefer Sutherland<\/strong>, who used to wear an MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong> jacket in the American cult series \u201c24 Hours<\/em>\u201c, then. A ceramic case is no breaking news in watchmaking as it is not new to Bell & Ross<\/strong>, that boasts an extensive offering of limited edition watches out of the BR 03-92<\/strong><\/span><\/a> case design already.<\/p>\n

\"bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-due\"<\/p>\n

The brand\u2019s watchmakers achieved this khaki tone by adding a pigment during the case making process to end up with a hue that mimics an MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong> jacket but is darker and closer to a camo military suit\u2019s. The outcome of the manufacturing process is a fine-grained, low-roughness flat surface. Conversely, the orange adopted both on the sandwich dial, and the reversible strap is brilliant, chosen to glow in the dark and provide a sharp contrast to the matt surface.<\/p>\n

\"bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-uno\"<\/p>\n

In the macro photo above, you may clearly see that the lower orange disk has a coarser grain due to the adoption of lots of luminescent material. We often talk the SuperLuminova<\/strong>\u00ae just as a stand-alone piece of info, yet this company has developed an incredible list of different solutions over the course of the years. Orange SuperLuminova<\/strong>\u00ae has also been applied to the hour and minute hands.<\/p>\n

\"bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-sei\"<\/p>\n

This two-tone style is in my opinion a winner; I believe that Bell & Ross<\/strong> has crafted an appealing limited edition series (999<\/strong> specimens<\/strong> will be ever produced) and added yet another cool piece to the brand\u2019s core collection. The BR 03<\/strong>\u201392<\/strong>\u2018s 42mm<\/strong> case size is a \u201cone<\/em>\u2013fits<\/em>\u2013all<\/em>\u201d solution to most men\u2019s wrists other than being a perfect copy of a dashboard instrument, although I wonder whether any dashboard instrument has ever had a date window. Regarding mechanics, the Bell & Ross BR 03<\/strong>\u201392<\/strong> MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong> comes with the industrially sourced BR 302 caliber<\/strong> that guarantees 40 hours of power reserve<\/strong> when fully wound.<\/p>\n

\"bell-ross-br-03-92-ma-1-cinque\"<\/p>\n

The Bell & Ross BR 03<\/strong>\u201392<\/strong> MA<\/strong>\u20131<\/strong> retails for \u20ac3<\/strong>,500<\/strong>, with a replacement strap made of ultra-resistant nylon included. It\u2019s a fair price given its ceramic case has a style that is unique in the benchmark. Years ago, when the brand was founded, I tended to associate a BR<\/strong>\u2018s style to a Panerai<\/strong>\u2018s and so did my peers; these two brands have different missions instead, and I can only affirm that is Panerai<\/strong> to have recently joined the (modern) military world with the Submersible<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and not the other way round. The build quality is excellent, the let down being it\u2019s a sports military-inspired watch and an (excellent) addition to a collection, but not an all-rounder.<\/p>\n