These New Technical Chronograph Watches Are for Serious Motorsports Fans

Bell & Ross is best known for its aviation-themed watches, but that hasn’t stopped the French brand from dipping into genres like diving and motor racing, as well. The DNA that makes those cockpit instrument-inspired watches successful translates well into a range of watches highlighting the brand’s partnership with Formula 1’s Renault racing team. For 2020, that DNA is expressed in several new, appropriately tech-y and serious-looking watches enlivened with sporty splashes of yellow.

The new watches span several collections, all denoted with the name “R.S.20” and all of which are chronographs — the complication historically most associated with motorsport. Another racing-inspired common trait: the checkered track at the dials’ edges, meant for measuring minutes or chronograph seconds.

These elements, as well as several others, help tie the watches together — but differences as significant as case shapes distinguish them from one another. The BR V3-94 R.S.20 uses a traditional, rounded case, and is priced at $4,400 on calfskin strap or $4,700 on steel bracelet; the other watches, however, use the brand’s most recognizable square case. But there are still similarities beneath the skin; the square, matte black ceramic-cased BR 03-94 R.S.20, for example, is powered by the ETA 2894-2 automatic chronograph movement, just like its round sibling, and it’s priced at $6,500.

If you’re looking for something even more serious, technical and expensive — well, options exist there, too. There’s a skeletonized version of the BR 03-94 that costs $21,500, as well as one with a tourbillon to top off the collection…at a knuckle-whitening price of $194,000.