Bravur Completes their Grand Tour Trilogy with La Vuelta

Sweden based Bravur has unveiled the third and final installment in their series of watches inspired by Europe’s great cycling races. La Vuelta follows La Corsa Rosa and La Grande Boucle to complete the Grand Tour triptych. This colorful series of chronographs spawns from the brand owners’ genuine love for cycling, and each watch has some insider details that will be appreciated by connoisseurs and fans of the sport, but not alienate folks who aren’t deeply invested. In other words, these are, quite simply, attractive watches that extend Bravur’s unique design language into sporty new territory.

Like other watches in the Grand Tour series, La Vuelta takes its color cues from the jersey worn by the lead cyclist in the race. For the Vuelta a España, which began its annual tour through Spain on Saturday, that means a dial that’s characterized by red accents against a silvery white dial. Similar to the other Grand Tour watches, the dial’s interior features a grain texture meant to evoke tarmac, and for the La Vuelta you’ll find a red triangle at 12:00, which is a nod to the triangular flag that signals riders to the final kilometer of the race, known as the “la flamme rouge.” This is a great example of a detail that’s meaningful to cycling enthusiasts, but works well as a simple accent for everyone else – a triangle doesn’t feel out of place at the top of a dial. 

Specs for La Vuelta line up with previous watches in the series. This is a compact but sporty chronograph that the Bravur team designed with the thought that it might actually be used by cyclers. To that end, it has a case that’s meant to be unobtrusive, measuring just 38mm in diameter and 46.3mm from lug to lug. It’s 14.4mm thick, and runs on a Sellita SW511b automatic chronograph movement with 62 hours of power reserve. The finishing appears to be well executed (we’re hopeful that we’ll have some samples to try out soon) with brushing on the case flanks and a crisp polished bevel separating the mid-case from the tops of the lugs. There’s a lot of solid, classic chronograph design here, but with plenty of Bravur’s unique vision thrown in as well. Looking at the three watches in the Grand Tour series together now that they’ve all been unveiled, they make for an attractive trio and seem to grab all the right details out of the races that lead to their look. 

It should come as no surprise that La Vuelta is a limited edition, as are the other Grand Tour chronos. Only 50 will be made, and each watch is individually numbered on the caseback. They’re available now, with a retail price set at $2,450. Bravur