Being Square: Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver - Men's Folio
Time

Being Square: Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver

  • By Yong Wei Jian

No other brand has a predilection for squares like Bell & Ross. Using the instruments on flight dashboards as their signature silhouette, the BR aviation timepieces stormed the luxury sports watch market to reshape impressions, before expanding to encompass every conceivable style: camouflage, assorted skulls, futuristic concept vehicles, and myriad more. Even as the regular quadrilateral established itself as the definitive Bell & Ross aesthetic, it has never once framed the brand’s professional divers due to the functional limitations of its form – that is, until the BR 03-92 Diver.

Previous underwater endeavours by Bell & Ross include the record-holding Hydromax capable of diving in the absolute deep end of 11,100m and the BR 02 dive model characterised by its novel tonneau case. Both possess a rotating bezel – fitted externally on the former and placed under the glass on the latter – a fundamental safety feature that is seemingly incongruous with square cases (a square rotating bezel is ostensibly oxymoronic). The BR 03-92 Diver circumvents this by leveraging on Bell & Ross’s hallmark “circle-in-square” aesthetic, affixing a round rotating bezel atop the four-sided case. In addition to being relatively hefty, the bezel’s circumference extends just beyond the case for ergonomic tactility.

H53-186841-Diver-Blue

Square divers are also harder to make water-resistant whereas their round counterparts are naturally suited to screw-down case backs for superior sealing. The BR 03-92 Diver relies on a thicker case back and sapphire crystal for waterproofing to 300m, as well as a screwed down crown complete with crown guards (which further protects against impacts). Within the 42mm satin-polished steel casing, a soft iron cage provides magnetic resistance to the Swiss self-winding movement.

A square diver makes complete sense for Bell & Ross, and it is frankly remarkable that it took more than a decade after the iconic BR 01 to show up. Nothing about the BR 03-92 Diver looks out of place, from the imposing unidirectional bezel to the strongly legible time indications; rather, these dive essentials fit squarely into the brand’s most famous look. The first square diver collection from Bell & Ross is presented in a trio of models: classic black and steel, aquatic blue (symbolising the sea), and limited edition bronze (alluding to diving helmets from the past).

H53-08-DIVER-BRONZE-PERS-goutte-tout