Horological Meandering

Bell&Ross cocktail at the Invalides last Tuesday

 

Last Tuesday took place at the Invalides in Paris a cocktail organised by Bell&Ross. You may think: again, like the previous year, at the same place? Yes but this time, there was a very special context. At the beginning of the event, Carlos Rosillo, co-founder of Bell&Ross with Bruno Belamich, was awarded the French Legion of Honor by the General Baptiste.

This ceremony gave the opportunity to Carlos Rosillo to browse the 20 years history of the brand, from the very beginning to the last days. A lot of people who contributed to the success of Bell&Ross were invited like Helmut Sinn, 96 years old, who honoured the guests by his presence. A very moved Carlos Rosillo made a speech which reminded us the main steps of Bell&Ross and the teamwork which was required to achieve such success. Actually, the history of Bell&Ross was not an old and unhurried river and some years were very difficult. Obviously, the launch of the BR collection gave a new dynamic and accelerated the connection with the old Military watches.

The 2012 novelties were displayed in showcases but the guests could also try the watches of the 3 pillars of the catalogue: Vintage, Aviation and Marine. The Vintage collection is by far the most represented one amongst the novelties. It is not a new trend because it was also the case in 2011. This fact explains why the Invalides are a very appropriate place to host such event.

I would like to put the spotlight on two watches which describe very well the new ambition of the brand. There are two main objectives which are currently followed. The first one is of course to reduce the influence of Swatch Group due to the future evolution of the contractual relationships between the main provider of the Industry and its clients. The second one is to improve, step by step, the horological contents of the watches. Two watches symbolize these objectives. The WWII Bomber Regulator features a very specific case inspired by a bomber navigator and a Dubois-Depraz automatic movement.



The WWI Chronograph Monopusher is a very balanced watch which is powerd by a Lajoux-Perret movement:




Of course, some watches of this 2012 collection house movements which have been used for many years but I feel that two types of watch in the collection are emerging now.

The "classic" offer based on ETA movements is offering  the usual contents: military style design, well known movements
The "upper segment" one based on more specific movements with more daring and ambitious designs. The movements, thanks to their sizes, to the hands positions give more freedom in the creation process because they are mainly dedicated to the watches they will power.

It is the reason why I can't wait to discover what will be the future of Bell&Ross in this segment.

Let's browse the pictures of the event now.


I'm approaching the Invalides:

The courtyard:

The cocktail took place in the Grand Salon:

The view from the balcony:

Carlos Rosillo did two speeches: one during the Legion of Honor ceremony and one during the cocktail. Of course, the words were not the same. First one was more moving, more personal.

A singer created a nice musical background... but clearly speaking, due to the number of guests, I could hardly hear her... The Grand Salon was very crowded, more than last year.

For me, the most interesting novelties are displayed in this showcase:

The pocket watch is a 5 minutes repeater using the Dubois-Depraz module:

A reminder:



The Heritage watches can be recognized thanks to their straps, the beige colours of the figures and indexes and the matt black colour of the cases:

The impressive Grand Salon:

The "Roi Soleil" has always an eye on the visitors of the Grand Salon:

As I said in TO forum, this is pretty complex to assemble... like a watch!

3 Tourbillons in BR cases. The thrust and power reserve displays give clues about their origins... BNB obviously.

Carlos Rosillo was proudly wearing his Legion of Honor. He knows better than anyone else that this medal is a teamwork achievement and he warmly thanked a lot Bruno Belamich, the colleagues, the friends, the family members, the investors who believed in the project and who have supported the brand for many years.

The Instrument watches, these ones are not my cup of tea:

... except the BR01 Altimeter which is my fav of the three new Instrument watches:



2012 has seen the come-back of the jumping-hours watches which were first introduced several years ago in partnership with Vincent Calabrese. They were redesigned but the movement (ETA 2892 + module) remains the same. My heart goes to the PG one, the Platinum version being a bit too cold for my taste:



I had to leave the cocktail quite early sadly but I could appreciate the close relationships between the brand staff and the clients. Moreover, I'm always pleased to see that years after years, the line-up of the Bell&Ross team is very stable. For me, it is a reliable indicator of an efficient management style and of the growing success of the company.

The last pic I took was totally missed... but I like it! And you will notice Napoleon on the background!  

I would like to thank a lot the Bell&Ross team for the invitation and for the organisation of the cocktail.

Fx
This message has been edited by foversta on 2012-09-21 15:24:41

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