Over the years, we’ve seen Bell & Ross dress up the BR-X1 into entirely new aesthetics and functions, even putting out one designed for wearing in outer space. As you can imagine, it’s getting hard to find new ways to reinvent the design. The Bell & Ross BR-X1 Tourbillion Sapphire does it successfully by pulling out an entirely new trick – building the entire case out of sapphire to give it an entirely unique flair.
That’s right, the 45mm case on this timepiece is cut in the exact same material many watches use to cover the dial. And if you’re familiar with sapphire, you’ll know it’s the second hardest mineral on earth (next only to diamonds), giving the timepiece a case that is downright impossible to even scratch.
The Bell & Ross BR-X1 Tourbillion Sapphire Watch has a case cut out of nine blocks of sapphire that are individually machined and polished, then fastened and assembled using screws. Of course, it retains the skeleton dial similar to the rest of the BR-01 collection, leaving many parts of the all-new BR CAL 285 chronograph movement visible from the front. The new movement, by the way, is still built around their flying tourbillion complication, with a new mono-pusher chronograph, a design that’s built on a main plate, and the same 100 hour power reserve.
Features include faceted hands with Superluminova, skeleton metal indices, a titanium crown, a rear window that enables a wider view of the movement, and 3ATM of water resistance. It comes with a strap cut in translucent rubber and metallic Kevlar webbing.
No pricing yet, but the Bell & Ross BR-X1 Tourbillion Sapphire Watch will be available soon.