Bravur Continues their Grand Tour Series with the New La Grand Boucle Limited Edition

Last year, Bravur took us on a tour of the three biggest European cycling races with their Grand Tour series of chronographs. These were some of our favorite quirky chronos of the year for the creative ways they incorporated small details from the races they were inspired by while still being functional tools designed to be worn while cycling. Bravur has always had a great sense for design and color, and each of the watches in the Grand Tour series was approached with restraint that made them appealing to anyone, regardless of how deeply invested in the sport they are, while holding plenty of arcane details for true cycling enthusiasts. This year, they’re back with new racing inspired watches (we discussed this year’s first release here) including this one which pays homage to the Tour de France. While they covered this race as part of their triptych last year, this watch takes a slightly different approach. Bravur seems to have found a niche with these cycling inspired watches, and this feels like the brand is leaning into it with a lot of confidence. 

The La Grande Boucle (“the great loop”) 2022 Edition has a gray dial that Bravur tells us is inspired by wet asphalt, and features a prominent polka dot pattern modeled after the jersey awarded to the race’s strongest climber. The polka dots are glossy and the area surrounding them appears to have a matte finish, with the intention being for the entire dial to take on different looks depending on the light. In some conditions the polka dots will appear to be very high contrast, while in others they’ll bleed into the rest of the dial and hardly be visible at all. In a change from last year’s chronographs, the hour markers on the new watch are circular plots filled with lume, similar to what is traditionally found on dive watches. This gives the watch a funky contemporary character and sets it apart nicely from prior efforts. 

Even those who do not count themselves as enthusiastic cycling fans (I’m raising my own hand here) know that the Tour de France is closely associated with the color yellow. A yellow jersey is worn day to day by the race’s overall leader, and is essentially the de facto symbol of the Tour. As you can see quite plainly, the strap is a bright shade of yellow that is nicely matched to the jersey, but there is also a more subtle use of the color in the outer chronograph seconds ring, as well as the chrono seconds hand itself. 

The case is stainless steel and measures 38.2mm across, and features contrasting brushed and polished surfaces throughout. The movement (a Sellita SW511) is visible through the sapphire case back, and is equipped with a custom rotor and as well as rhodium plating. The La Grande Boucle 2022 Edition is a limited edition of 50, and at press time is still available directly from Bravur. The retail price is $2,550. Bravur