Hands-On With the Bravur Grand Tour Chronographs

La Corsa Rosa (nickname for Giro d’Italia), La Grande Boucle (referring to the Tour de France), and La Vuelta (or Vuelta a España) are three of the biggest, most prestigious bicycle races in the world. Spanning thousands of miles, weeks of cycling with very few days off, and crossing multiple terrains, riding in a Grand Tour is no joke. While you’re more likely to find an ultra-light (and ultra-expensive) Richard Mille or a more modest $3k Breitling Endurance Pro on the wrist of a cyclist at the head of the pack, there’s something much more appealing (to me at least) about the vintage-inspired chronographs that we’re looking at today. Swedish watch brand Bravur pays tribute to the three big races and the founders’ passion for cycling with this collection of charming automatic chronographs, each assembled by hand at the brand’s HQ in Sweden. 

Crafted from 316L stainless steel and measuring in at a compact 38.2mm in width, the Bravur Grand Tour Chronographs are sized exceptionally well for an everyday watch, regardless of whether you’re spending some time circling the velodrome or just out for a stroll to the coffee shop. Like the three Grand Tours, the three watches each feature their own signature look and feel, with design cues taken from jersey colors, race flags, and subtle nods to cycling throughout. Let’s take a closer look at these three interesting chronographs from the Swedish brand.

Case

Each watch in the collection features the same 38.2mm 316L stainless steel case. Measuring in at 46.3mm lug to lug, the watch remains compact in both length and width. It fits my 6.75” wrist really well. The only measurement that might bring some to take a second look is the thickness. With an automatic chronograph movement inside, there’s no getting around the fact that there has to be enough room to accommodate both the chronograph portion of the movement and the automatic winding components. While the 14.4mm thickness may sound like a lot for a 38mm watch, the case is broken up in a balanced way that results in a very comfortable watch. 

From the top down, you’ll see the domed sapphire crystal, a polished slanted bezel that transitions into the brushed mid-case, and a rather thick case back that does a great job of mitigating its height with a slanted edge that terminates in a sapphire case back. The angled case back props the watch up on your wrist, so the only portion of the watch that’s in contact is the sapphire case back. This helps keep the Grand Tour feeling light during wear. 

A mix of brushed and polished surfaces breaks up the case and adds some visual appeal. One part that really stood out to me is the shape of the chronograph pushers. They’re rectangular with a taper towards the lugs and a fine brushed finish that matches the mid-case. They have a polished beveled edge that gives them a little pop of shine, outlining the pusher with a glowing edge when in the right lighting conditions.

Across the board, the finishing is nice and crisp. The case has a polished bevel between the top of the case and the side. Vertical brushing on the lugs and horizontal brushing on the mid-case is light but nicely applied. Between the lugs, there’s an interesting inwards polished cut that adds some visual appeal to the area surrounding the strap while making the lugs appear thinner.

On both the La Corsa Rosa and La Grande Boucle models, the case features a smooth polished bezel around the dial. On La Vuelta, you’ll find an orangey-red aluminum bezel insert with minute markings every quarter hour with hash marks in between. The aluminum insert gives the watch a totally different vibe, which is cool considering that the change in design is relatively small but definitely meaningful.

Dial + Hands

Each of the three models has a distinctly different dial that gives off a completely different look. There are some common threads — you’ll find three chronograph registers, a central seconds hand, polished pencil-shaped hour and minute hands, and similar application of text. The colors are all unique, following the cycling theme with color and design elements that represent the races they’re inspired by. Let’s take a quick look at each of the three models since they’re all so different.

La Corsa Rosa

Featuring pink accents, La Corsa Rosa is inspired by the leader’s jersey of the Giro d’Italia. Each of the sub-dials is rendered in different shades of pink with a few matching accents around the dial. The text above the brand name, central seconds hand, and unlucky 13 on the rehaut are all pink, making them pop out from the black dial. There are two textures on the dial, a smooth inner circle and a textured outer circle that brings tarmac to mind — a nod to road racing. Stick-shaped indices mark each hour, with smaller hash marks between for minutes. This is the only watch out of the three that sports a rehaut, which has 5-minute increments printed in white on the black surface.

La Grande Boucle

This model is inspired by the most well-known cycling race of all time — the Tour de France. La Grande Boucle translates to “the big loop”, a nickname for the race. The dial pulls inspiration from the jerseys worn while competing — the yellow of the leader’s jersey, polka dots from the mountain jersey, and the green of the sprinter’s jersey. Combined, all three elements are seen on the dial in a pleasing green/gold/yellow color combination. Gloss polka dots make a subtle appearance on the matte green dial and are only really seen when the light hits it just right. A neat feature on the dial is the upside-down 13 — a number that is typically associated with bad luck. In the race, the wearer of number 13 flips it upside down to counteract any of that potential bad luck. It’s a cool little detail that shows the crew at Bravur’s deep passion for the sport of cycling.

La Vuelta

The final Grand Tour of the cycling season takes place in Spain. With red being the primary color of the race, there’s plenty of it to go around on this dial configuration. A white base dial with black chronograph registers is accented by pops of red throughout. The biggest departure from the other two models is the aluminum bezel insert present on La Vuelta. It makes the watch look quite different from the pack. I enjoy the pop of red on the outside of the dial, which draws your eye towards the smaller accents like some dial text and the tips of the chronograph hands.    

If the watches weren’t housed in the same case, each could easily stand on its own. The variations on the theme are distinct and interesting with heavy ties back to the world of cycling. However, there are a few things about the dials that I’m not totally sold on. The first is the crystal choice. With an angled bevel around the edge, the distortion renders the outer scales of numbers illegible on the Corsa Rosa and Grande Boucle models. The chronograph register spacing is also pretty far apart, which is particularly distracting on the Vuelta model that features Arabic numerals for each hour. We completely lose the 3 and 9, along with parts of the 2,4,8, and 10. I understand that housing a movement of this size in such a compact case has some trade-offs, but the spacing of the sub-dials does not totally vibe with the smaller size of the watch.

Movement

Flip the watch over and take a peek through the sapphire case back and you’ll notice an automatic Sellita SW511b chronograph movement doing its thing. Based on the iconic Valjoux 7750 movement, the SW511b features a central timing seconds hand and three sub-dials. On the right you’ll find a 15 minute counter, on the bottom there’s a 12 hour counter, and on the left a running seconds indicator. The movement is self-winding, thanks to the custom engraved rotor. Inside, 27 jewels keep things running smoothly and accurately at 28,800 vibrations per hour. When fully wound (either by hand or through wear) the watch will run for a solid 48 hours. Selitta movements are practically a household name at this point (assuming your housemates are into watches) and are known to be reliable and easily serviceable. It makes sense in the Grand Tour Chronographs given their price and size — bravo, Bravur.

Strap + Wearability

Keeping things in the spirit of racing is the 18mm black, padded rally-style perforated leather strap included with each watch. The top surface is a rich black, while the underside is a dark shade of green. You’ll find a signed buckle sporting the Bravur text logo engraved into the shiny polished steel that keeps the watch securely fastened to your wrist. The strap both looks and feels nice, with high-quality stitching used throughout. On the underside, you’ll also find quick-release spring bars built into the strap that makes for easy and tool-free strap changes. Bravur also offers a rubber strap that sort of looks like the classic tropic strap, which is much better suited to cycling since it’s made of rubber. You can put all the speed holes in the world into your rally strap, but sweat and leather still don’t get along so well. 

Switching over the rubber strap is a pretty different experience from the padded leather strap. The strap is a $59 add-on, but if you plan on wearing the watch while you’re riding your bike (or doing anything active for that matter), the lightweight and stretchy rubber strap feels great on the wrist. It’s lighter, more comfortable, and the perforated tropic design will allow sweat and the occasional splash to drain away from your skin during wear. 

By the numbers, 38.2mm wide, 46.3mm lug to lug, and 14.4mm thick measurements result in a watch that’s comfortable and easy to wear on my 6.75” wrist. I mentioned earlier that when you have an automatic chronograph movement powering a watch, it can only be so thin. The case width and length combined with the case geometry do a great job of mitigating the thickness. While the majority of my cycling happens on a Peloton (that constantly sends me those “Hey…where have you been?!” emails), I could see this being worn out and about on the road by a more avid cyclist than myself. Wearing the watch a bit further up your wrist does help it away from the bend and the rectangular pushers never dig into my hand. It’s a solid design that is comfortable for daily wear with a convenient 10ATM water resistance rating that’ll stand up to a little bit of sweat and the occasional splash of tires through a deep puddle.

Conclusion

While I don’t find myself regularly competing in ultra-high-level cycling competitions, I can still appreciate a watch (or three) that follows the theme. Each of the watches in the Grand Tour collection from Bravur does a great job of representing their inspiration. From the green and gold Grande Boucle to the black and pink Corsa Rosa to the bezel insert clad Vuelta, each watch has its own unique personality. I appreciated the great ~38mm size, reliable automatic movement, and clean-looking rectangular pushers. The only thing that sparked any sort of mental pushback is the price. $2450 can get you a heck of a lot of watch. Picking up a Bravur Grand Tour is most likely outside the realm of impulse purchase for most of us. However, if you love cycling and you’re in the market for an automatic chronograph, then the Grand Tour series from Bravur is definitely worth a closer look. Bravur.