The Bell & Ross x Alain Silberstein Black Ceramic Trilogy

For its fourth creation, Grail Watch has teamed Parisian designer Alain Silberstein with Parisian watch brand Bell & Ross for a colourful take on the classic BR 03 collection. Renowned for using bold primary colours and geometric shapes, Silberstein applies his design magic to the square cockpit instrument-inspired BR 03. Presented in 42mm matte black ceramic cases with the signature “circle within a square” design, the three variations of the BR 03 combine Silberstein’s playful spirit with Bruno Belamich’s (creative director and co-founder of Bell & Ross) graphic watch design.

Colourful times

Parisian designer and “watch architect” Alain Silberstein (1950) trained as an interior architect but felt an inexorable pull towards watchmaking. His first watch, the Krono Bauhaus, was presented at the 1987 Basel Fair and was a bold design statement with three different shapes and colours for the crown and pushers (a red triangle, a blue square and a yellow circle). By 1990 Silberstein had created his eponymous watch brand in Besançon, producing distinctive watches that embraced bold primary colours and geometric shapes. His style feeds on everything from Gropius and Bauhaus to artists like Kandinsky, Klee and Moholy-Nagy. Since the closure of his watch company in 2012, Silberstein has collaborated with MB&F (HM2.2 ‘Black Box’ in 2009 and LM1 in 2011), Louis Erard and Ressence.

BR 03-92 Klub 22

The black dial of the time-only BR 03-92 Klub 22 comes alive with a large red circle with a lumed tip marking the hours, an oversized blue arrow for the minutes and a squiggly yellow S-shaped seconds hand. In addition to the discreet date window at 4:30, there are four bold yellow indices at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock and the Bell & Ross ampersand logo at noon. Equipped with automatic calibre BR. CAL 302 based on the Sellita SW300-1, the power reserve is 38 hours.

Quick facts: 42mm x 42mm – matte black ceramic – 100m water-resistance – BR-CAL 302 (Sellita SW 300-1) – 28,800vph – 38 h power reserve – black rubber strap – limited to 200 pieces – USD 4,400

BR 03-92 Marine 22

Silberstein’s concept for Bell & Ross’s 300m water-resistant dive watch revolves around legibility. The two-tone ceramic bezel features a red area for the first 20 minutes with round luminous plots and indices. Hours are indicated by a round blue “maxi” hand and minutes by an oversized red arrow hand, both filled with luminous material. The luminous white minute track is raised and features a yellow marker at noon to match the yellow dot on the bezel. Like the time-only model, the central seconds hand is yellow and squiggly.

Quick facts: 42mm x 42mm – matte black ceramic – 300m water-resistance – screw-down crown – two-tone ceramic bezel with red 20-minute countdown timer – BR-CAL 302 (Sellita SW 300-1) – 28,800vph – 38 h power reserve – black rubber strap with ribbing – limited and numbered edition of 100 pieces – USD 5,600

BR 03-94 Krono 22

The Krono 22 is the busiest watch of the trilogy and features five of Silberstein’s iconic Bauhaus-inspired hands: a red circle marks the hours, a blue arrow is used for the minutes, the S-shaped yellow hand is used to indicate the chronograph seconds, the 30-minute chronograph counter relies on a blue triangle, while a yellow arrow marks the running seconds. The chronograph pushers are inlaid with a yellow lacquered rectangle for start/stop function and a blue rectangle for the reset; the crown is topped with a red triangle. Like the other two models, there is a date window at 4:30.

Quick facts: 42mm x 42mm – matte black ceramic – 100m water-resistance – BR. CAL-301 (ETA 2894) – 28,800vph – 42h power reserve – black rubber strap – limited and numbered edition of 100 pieces – USD 6,700

All the watches are individually numbered. Watches 1 to 50 will be sold exclusively in a special Silberstein-designed box containing all three models for USD 16,700. The watches are available on this page here.