Review – Bell & Ross BR-X2 Tourbillon Micro-Rotor, Unusual & Technical
At Baselworld 2017, Bell & Ross unveiled several very cool watches, including the BR03-92 Diver or the new Vintage Collection, all pieces that were completely in the vein of the brand’s DNA. Another watch was (discreetly) showed though, a watch that was quite unexpected and unusual. Fitted with a slim tourbillon movement, wound by a micro-rotor, built around a concept of transparency, mixing a certain elegance with bold elements, with a quite unique construction for the case… This watch is the Bell & Ross BR-X2 Tourbillon Micro-Rotor, and today we take a closer look at it.
In Australian rules football (AFL) there is a particular type of defensive move called the ‘don’t argue’. It involves fending off an opponent with an outstretched arm, usually at full pace. This image pretty much sums up the move, but if you need a 9-second tutorial, check this out. It’s brutal if you’re on the receiving end of one, and it’s exhilarating when you’re the instigator. The undisputed king of the ‘don’t argue’ is Dustin ‘Dusty’ Martin, pictured. What he lacks as a wordsmith, he makes up for in neck tattoos. A good percentage of Australian readers will know that Dusty is this year’s Brownlow Medal winner, which basically means he’s the best AFL player in the world right now. Arguments have everything to do with being a watch lover. What does this have to do with watches? Not all that much, but it has everything to do with life for us. If you didn’t already know, we are based in Richmond, Melbourne. Richmond are in the AFL Grand Final tomorrow, and will play the Adelaide Crows in front of over 100,000 people in the biggest sports stadium in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, we have been under siege in our…
It’s fair to say that, for most people, Jaeger-LeCoultre in 2017 has been synonymous with the Master Control series we’ve spoken about at length. On the one hand, these watches deserve their time in the sun; on the other hand, you might have missed the truly stylish Reversos JLC released this year. For me, the star of the swivelling show is this two-faced beauty, the Reverso Tribute Moon in steel. Last year JLC launched a Reverso subcollection – the Tribute Line – that honours the spirit of historic Reverso models, a mission the Tribute Moon well and truly delivers on, with equally beautiful night and day dials. I’m always struck by just how much watch you get with a Reverso. Of course you get one elegant watch with two distinct personalities, but on top of that you get the practically of two time zones and, in this case, the romance of a moonphase (matched with the less-romantic but eminently practical date), all in one of the most distinguished-shaped watches in the business. These pictures speak clearly to the beauty of the watch: the subtlety of the silver dial’s eggshell finish, and the richness of its twin’s clous de Paris texture, the lustre…
There are some sweeping generalisations in the watch world when it comes to the watches preferred by professionals in different fields – Breitling for airline pilots, Hublot for NBA players, Nomos for architects… but reality doesn’t quite conform to prevailing watch-lover logic. The fact is those that leap from high altitudes don’t choose a Zenith as their wrist machine of choice, like Felix Baumgartner. Formula 1 drivers no longer don chronographs, they’re more likely to be painted on their gloves. We put our usual watch-only criteria aside to learn what these watch-looking machines actually do and why they are necessary. Luke Rogers – Australia’s leading wingsuit skydiver Brisbane-based Luke Rogers, one of the country’s top professional wingsuit skydivers or pilots, thinks nothing of flying through a 1,000-foot zone at 250 km/h. Sure, it might be one of the most dangerous sports on earth, but the exhilarating hit of the supreme glide ratio of 2.5:1 or more (or, in civilian terms, for every metre dropped, two and a half meters are gained moving forward) hooks anyone who has ever dreamt of flying. “That large watch looking thing on my wrist is my altimeter which tells me what height I am for safety,”…