Jewellery & Watch News
Bell & Ross are certainly no foreigner to the world of aviation, so when they announced they were the latest official watchmaking partner of the Patrouille de France a few months ago, it was to no one’s surprise. Following on from the news, the luxury French-based manufacturer has now unveiled their first timepiece as part of the collaboration. Meet the new Bell & Ross 03 94 Patrouille de France Limited Edition…
Active since 1931, the Patrouille de France is one of the world’s oldest precision aerobatics demonstration units in the world belonging to the French Air and Space Force, otherwise known as the Armée de l’Air et de l’Espace. Their objective is to perform breathtaking aerial displays all around the world, traditionally opening events like Bastille Day in Paris. The squadron is composed of 9 pilots and 35 mechanics, each highly trained in speed and precision and relying heavily on accurate timekeeping to ensure their manoeuvres are perfectly synchronised. With this in mind, Bell & Ross, who are synonymous for their high precision pilots’ watches, has been chosen to be the official watchmaking partner of the Patrouille de France. As part of the partnership, the pilots of the Patrouille de France have also been involved in designing the pairs’ very first limited edition: the Bell & Ross 03 94 Patrouille de France.
We won’t name names, but we’ve seen far too many luxury watch brands in the past create collaborative limited edition where a pre-existing model is reused and lazily stamped with the partner’s logo. That’s certainly not the case with the new Bell & Ross 03 94 Patrouille de France watch. Not only has Bell & Ross’ iconic BR 03 94 model had a complete rehaul for the design, but every choice made was run past the pilots of the Patrouille de France to ensure that their levels of accuracy and legibility were met. One of the biggest changes to the limited edition BR 03 94 is its bi-directional bezel. As far as we know, this is the first BR 03 94 watch with a bezel design like this adorned with a 60 second scale for easily measuring elapsed time. The scale is also adorned in white Superluminova and a luminous triangle marker at 12 o’clock for unmissable legibility.
Like the bezel, the case of the Bell & Ross 03 94 Patrouille de France Limited Edition is engineered from matte black ceramic, a material personally selected by the aerial unit. Their choice makes perfect sense. Not only is ceramic incredibly lightweight on the wrist and highly resistant to scratches but unlike metals like stainless steel and titanium, it has no reflective properties so there’s no chance of light reflecting off it’s angles and distracting you in the cockpit. The case measures to 42mm by 42mm, retaining the iconic circle-within-a-square design and adorned with black screws at each corner, a screw in crown, sapphire crystal glass with anti-reflective treatment and a solid case back water resistant to 100 metres.
Demanding the most attention is the dial. We love a dark blue dial and that’s exactly what the Bell & Ross BR 03 94 Patrouille de France Limited Edition watch offers, taking inspiration from the aerobatics demonstration unit’s colours and their emblem. The date window between 4 and 5 o’clock, the small seconds dial at 3 o’clock and the 30 minutes chronograph counter are also adorned in matte blue. In contrast, the two hands for the central chronograph seconds and 30 minutes counter are dressed in red, another request from the pilots who required easy readability of the chronograph complications. Around the circumference of the dial, a single Arabic numeral for the twelfth hour and sleek indexes mark the hours adorned in white Superluminova following suit to the white luminous hour and minute hands.
The dial of the Bell & Ross BR 03 94 Patrouille de France watch continues to provide operational excellence for pilots with a tachymeter scale around its edge, a tool that can be used to calculate average speeds. Despite so much functionality on the dial, the Patrouille de France logo at 6 o’clock calls for the most interest wonderfully adorned with the nine jet silhouettes and the tricolour banner to mark their home country of France. Beneath the dial lies the BR-CAL.301 automatic winding movement which effortlessly provides a power reserve of 42 hours. To complete the Bell & Ross BR 03 94 Patrouille de France watch, a black rubber strap is secured by a black PVD coated stainless steel pin buckle which can be easily swapped out for the additional ultra-resilient black fabric band delivered in the box.
If you’d like to learn more about the Bell & Ross BR 03 94 Patrouille de France watch and get your hands on one of the 500 limited edition pieces, head over to the C W Sellors website here. You can also get in touch with our team of luxury watch specialists by calling 01335 453453 or send us a message at sales@cwsellors.com.
Specifications: Bell & Ross BR 03 94 Patrouille de France Limited Edition (BR0394-PAF1-CE/SRB)
- Case Size: 42mm
- Case Material: Matte black ceramic
- Bezel: Bi-directional rotating with 60 minute scale
- Glass: Sapphire crystal glass with anti-reflective coating
- Crown: Non-screw locked
- Case Back: Closed
- Water Resistance: 100 metres
- Movement: BR-CAL.301 automatic winding
- Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds, chronograph seconds, 30 minutes counter, date
- Power Reserve: 42 hours
- Jewels: 37
- Frequency: 28,800vph
- Dial: Matte navy blue with white Superluminova markings and Patrouille de France logo
- Strap: Black rubber and black textile
- Buckle: Pin, black PVD steel
- RRP: £5,400
- Limited Edition: 500 pieces
