Latest Review
I really don’t know anything about cycling. Beyond a childhood penchant for Livestrong bracelets and about 20 minutes a year spent watching either the Tour de France or the Olympics, the world of competitive cycling is a mystery to me. I don’t even own a bicycle right now. So on some level, the watches produced by Bravur, the Swedish watch brand whose watches often celebrate the fastest sport on two wheels without an engine, shouldn’t really be my thing. And yet, each and every time I encounter the brand, I come away impressed and intrigued.
That was definitely my response when I first saw the brand’s Team Heritage watch last year, and it remains my response in seeing their latest addition to that collection: The Team Heritage STR, inspired by the livery of the St. Raphaël team. I’ll have to take Bravur’s word for the long-dormant St. Raphaël team’s “legendary” status, one thing is absolutely for sure, their colors make for a hell of an addition to the Bravur lineup.
The Team Heritage model was first released last year and stood out to me not only for its unique colorways inspired by the liveries of some of cycling’s most significant and historic teams but also for the model’s unique architecture, interesting dial executions, and downright fantastic feel on the wrist. Each of the model’s distinct looks stood out to such an extent that it’d have been hard for me to pick a favorite. Not so much anymore.
This red, white, and blue bullseye pattern of the new colorway immediately stands out to me. The watch has a distinctly retro flair and the convex execution of the red ring adds a really fun three-dimensional element to the dial, something emphasized by the applied numerals at the cardinal positions. Broadly speaking, this is the same watch we saw last year — the same 37mm stainless steel case (available in either natural or black PVD finish), the same Sellita SW200 movement, the same strap options (just get the FKM rubber, I can’t stress how comfortable it is in this case) — but it doesn’t feel like the same watch.
Each new colorway for this model seems to completely reinvent what the Team Heritage watch is, in a very good way. Where I might typically expect a hypothetical customer to cross-shop colorways of the same watch, I don’t know that you’d see that here. Despite their highly niche origins, the Team Heritage manages to be a watch with broad appeal, to the point that I, an (as previously detailed) cycling neophyte, find myself sitting here debating whether I’d want to order the Team Heritage STR in plain steel, or finished in the optional black PVD.
The Team Heritage STR is available now directly from Bravur. The watch is available in either natural steel or black PVD, and is configurable on a black or grey FKM rubber strap, a black perforated leather strap, or (in natural steel) on a Milanese steel bracelet. Each configuration sells for $1,195. Bravur
