Three Bell & Ross Watches Get the Alain Silberstein Treatment with the Newest Release from Grail Watch

Last year, Wei Koh debuted his Grail Watch project with a limited edition collaboration between Ressence and Alain Silberstein. That particular watch was not only my favorite collaboration of 2022, but one of my favorite releases of the year in general. Now, to kick off 2023, Grail Watch has launched their second release with Silberstein, this time through a set of limited editions by Bell & Ross. While the Ressence collaboration was heavily inspired by Silberstein’s own fascination with the concept of “memento mori” and a very specific painting, the new watches tread more familiar ground, and find Bell & Ross executing their dials with the colorful shapes that have become a favorite Silberstein motif. 

The three watches that make up this release all use the BR 03 case as a starting point. According to Wei Koh, Silberstein identified the original BR 01 as a favorite design over a lunch meeting where this project began to take shape. Bell & Ross’s square case, inspired by instrument clusters you’d find on a plane, has certainly achieved icon status ove the years, and is immediately identifiable to most enthusiasts with even a cursory level of watch knowledge. Love it or hate it, Bell & Ross carved out a niche for themselves with this design language, and we’ve seen it reverberate through the brand’s collections over the years in surprising ways. To say it’s foundational to Bell & Ross would be an understatement. 

The trio consists of the BR 03-92 KLUB 22, a simple time and date variant, the BR 03-92 MARINE 22 diver, and the BR 03-94 KRONO 22 chronograph. All of the watches take full advantage of Silberstein’s whimsical, Bauhaus inspired design language, consisting of brightly colored handsets in playful and unexpected shapes and sizes. The hour “hand” on the KLUB for example is actually a roving red circle, while the minute hand on the MARINE is an oversized red arrow with a counterweight that spans nearly the full diameter of the dial. For the KRONO, the pushers have been accentuated with colored and lacquered inlays to complement the hands. 

What’s really interesting about these watches though isn’t just the addition of Silberstein’s hands, but the way they interact with the traditional and very tool oriented Bell & Ross design elements that have been held over for these limited editions. Namely, the minute tracks on all three watches are exactly what you’d expect out of a pilot’s tool: stark white (and lumed) and easy to read against a matte black dial. The BR 03 case, rendered in ceramic on all three of these LEs, also has a utilitarian appeal to it that makes for an intriguing match with Silberstein’s aesthetic. Reflecting the collaborative nature of the project and the idea of disparate elements of watch design coming together, the dial is largely free of branding, and features a simple Bell & Ross ampersand logo, but no additional wordmark to speak of. 

All three watches measure 42 x 42mm, which might seem large, but is down from the original BR 01 dimensions of 46 x 46mm. The KLUB and KRONO are water resistant to 100 meters, while the MARINE gets a full 300 meters of water resistance, plus some additional lume on the hands, which are oversized compared to the traditional Silberstein style. 

In terms of availability, the KLUB is limited to 200 pieces, with the MARINE and KRONO limited to 100 pieces each. Like the Franck Muller release that Grail Watch dropped at the end of last year, watches numbered 1-50 of all three references will be reserved for a box set, which has a retail price of $16,700. The rest of the watches can be purchased individually, with the KLUB priced at $4,400, the MARINE at $5,600, and the KRONO at $6,700. Bell & Ross