HANDS-ON: The Bell & Ross BR03-94 Rafale
Felix ScholzThe story in a second:
There’s rarely been a better marriage of aviation and horology than the latest Bell & Ross limited edition – the BR03-94 Rafale.
The ability to design and produce your own multi-role fighter jet puts you in a pretty exclusive club. With the Dassault Rafale, France joins USA, Russia, China, the UK and the other top dogs of the UN in this elite set.
The Rafale is France’s next generation fighter, capable of anything from photography to nuclear strikes. And when we say the plane is French we mean it – it is almost entirely built and developed by Dassault in France. The fiercely independent French are pretty proud of the Rafale, so it makes sense that Parisian based Bell & Ross, who are partial to a timepiece inspired by the world of military aviation, would pay homage to this home-made machine with its own watch. The BR03-94 Rafale is a unique version of their square chronograph and is limited to 500 pieces.
This isn’t the first partnership between Dassault and Bell & Ross. In 2013 B&R celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Dassault Falcon, which is one of the world leaders in the rarefied realm of private jets, and its success is partially due to the fact that the civilian design draws strongly from the technologies and design considerations of speed and manoeuvrability that dominate in the world of military aviation. To celebrate the Falcon Bell & Ross released special editions of their vintage feeling BR 123 and BR 126 watches.
But while the civilian Falcon model was nice, the Rafale is so much more ‘on-brand’ for Bell & Ross. The big ceramic case of the BR03 just looks right with the distinctive delta wing silhouette of the Rafale emblazoned on it.
Be assured though, the partnership involves more than just slapping a picture of the plane and a Rafale logo on the dial. (It’s a very cool logo by the way). Dassault were involved in the design of the watch, and when they saw Bell & Ross’ initial proposal they wanted to see more of the plane represented. So the dial colour is a perfect match for the paint used on the plane, as are the Arabic numerals. According to Bell & Ross after these changes were implemented the President of Dassault managed to find some time while he was negotiating the sale of jets to India to sign off the design. As you do.
And it’s a strong design. The matte black ceramic case pairs well with the grey dial, but this watch would be a very muted affair (or should we say stealth), if it wasn’t for the twin pops of colour that are the chronograph hands.
The only other break from the monochromatic goodness that is the Rafale is the tachymeter text, which breaks the symmetry of the dial for me, but I understand that visually the watch is highlighting the functionality – as befits the utilitarian spirit of the piece. A chronograph is the obvious choice for this sort of pilot’s piece, for a WWI or WWII warbird you might be able to get away with a time-only watch, but a supersonic jet-fighter? That deserves a little bit of complication.
The partnership between Dassault and Bell & Ross is a particularly strong one – the two companies share a lot of common ground, and not just their French-ness. Both have been successful at blurring the lines between military design and civilian application. With its unusual colour scheme and more technical than usual dial design the Rafale stands out. I just hope we’ll be seeing more collaborations between the two brands.
Bell & Ross BR03-94 Rafale Australian pricing
The Rafale has a retail of $8400.
Images by Kristian Dowling/Time+Tide Images.