WATCH TO WATCH

Bell & Ross BR V2-93 GMT 24H: Triple Time Zone Tracker


Few watch manufacturers can claim as much direct aviation-instrument influence across their entire portfolio as Bell & Ross, and few horological complications are more useful to a pilot than an indication of multiple time zones — so what better brand to produce a timepiece capable of displaying not just two but three time zones simultaneously than the one with the big ampersand logo and dashboard DNA? Here is the lowdown on the new BR v2-93 GMT 24H.

Bell & Ross BRV2-93 GMT - front
Bell & Ross BRV2-93 GMT 24H has a bicolor 24-hour bezel that can be rotated to indicate a third time zone.

At 41 mm in diameter in a 100-meter-water-resistant steel case, the watch fits seamlessly into Bell & Ross’s Vintage collection, with rounded lugs that curve to hug the wrist and a screw-down crown. The sapphire crystal over the dial is domed and treated with nonreflective coating — advantageous in any low-light situation, including a dark airplane cockpit. The satin-polished steel case body is fronted by a bidirectional, bicolor 24-hour GMT bezel, whose inset disk is made of aluminum. The black sectors of the disk represent nighttime hours, the gray area daytime hours.

The stark black dial, with large white numerals and indices coated in Super-LumiNova, takes its design cues from the colors used for an aircraft’s onboard flight instruments, which are predominantly black to avoid reflections. The central GMT hand stands out with its orange arrow tip, orange being the third color, along with black and white, most associated with Bell & Ross dials.

Bell & Ross BRV2-93 GMT 24H - dial CU
The central GMT hand stands out with its orange triangle tip.

As stated above, the BR V2-93 GMT 24H goes the extra mile beyond most GMT watches, which are designed to reveal “only” two time zones (though a few exceptions are out there; Carl F. Bucherer’s Patravi TravelTec II comes to mind). Here’s how Bell & Ross’s system works: The central hour and minute hands display the time in the wearer’s current time zone. The orange-tipped GMT hand, which rotates around the dial along with the central hour hand, can be set to indicate a second time zone on the bezel’s 24-hour scale. And for the time in a third zone, the wearer can simply rotate the bidirectional bezel and line the numerals up with the tip of the hour hand — clockwise subtracts hours while counterclockwise adds them. Incidentally, the bicolor design used on this 24-hour bezel is the first ever used by Bell & Ross.

Bell & Ross BRV2-93 GMT 24H - back
Bell & Ross caliber BR-CAL.303 is on display through an exhibition caseback.

Inside the watch, behind a sapphire caseback inscribed with a global aviation motif, beats the automatic BR-CAL.303, a modified ETA 2983-2, which features a quick correction for the date (in a small round window at 4:30 on the dial), a 42-hour power reserve and a frequency of 28,800 vph.The watch is available on either a steel link bracelet with a folding clasp or a black rubber strap with a satin-polished steel pin buckle. Prices range from $3,200 to $3,500.

Bell & Ross BRV2-93 GMT 24H - flat
The stainless steel case is water-resistant to 100 meters.
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  1. Randy Rogers

    Actually a very viable and Functional Timepiece, despite the convenience of Cell Phones today, all is still currently on one’s wrist, with the opportunity in travel to show withboth the Hour and GMT Hand, “the time where one is and the time where one’s heart is”, or home. The Bezel, being arbitrarily set against the Home Hour Hand would only require one know the current time difference between Headquarters and where-ever one calls Home or their current travel destination allowing to have currently HQ Time for business use. Though B&R is a product basically Flight directed, as is Bremont, Breitling and to some extent TAG-Heuer, I’ve always felt, Chronographs, would be better served if they included the GMT in some reference, either in Hand or Bezel Application, as travelling also has the convenience of wanting one Timepiece to handle all functions, whether initially Business and currently pleasure, it provides added Value and Function, as did the Bremont ALT-1Z (since discontinued), utilizing a 24 Hour Track below the interior Bezel-ring, obviously if a Quick-Set using the Calendar Wheel, one Clockwise, the other Counter would be the simplest source w/o the need for a 4th Exterior Crown.

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  2. Dufresne

    Thanks for the review. B&R’s technical specs on their website are written poorly. For example, this description says the “push buttons” are screw down. There are no push buttons on this model, and thus I question the veracity of the specs provided directly from B&R. The reason I mention this is because the description also indicates there is an “independent hour hand”. I would love it if that were true. Can you tell us if the movement has been modified to make the hour hand, in fact, independently adjustable or is this like a standard 2893-2 where only the GMT hand is independently adjustable with a quick set date instead of a quick set hour hand? I am sure there is no independent hour hand, but thought I would ask. Also, I don’t understand the third time zone. Since I assume the orange hand moves in 24 (and not 12), 1-hour increments, doesn’t moving the bezel effectively change the “GMT time”? Isnt’ it still just a two time zone watch? Thanks.

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    • Kirby Benedict

      3d time zone is kept by twisting the bezel to the relative hour of the 3d zone to the hour or GMT hand, depending on how you want to remember it. For instance, if the watch says 10 am, the GMT says 0800, the bezel can be set against the GMT hand for whatever the third hour would be. You’ll just have to remember what’s what.

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