Bell & Ross BR03 Skeleton Lum Ceramic
Batman, Iron Man and Captain America all went over to the “Dark Side”. So has Bell & Ross, many times before. They have done it again, with the BR03 Skeleton Lum Ceramic.
With the launch of the BR01 range in 2005, with aviation inspired cockpit style dials. Bell & Ross have continued to push the boundaries of design and convention. The BR03 Skeleton Lum Ceramic continues this thread. offering a watch that epitomises Bell & Ross for 2025.
This watch is one-third of the BR 03 Skeleton Trilogy, sitting alongside its siblings in Grey Steel and Black Ceramic. While they share a skeletal foundation, each model takes the concept in a distinctly different direction — almost like architectural variations built on the same blueprint.
The Black Ceramic (£5,500) leans into transparency, offering an almost industrial elegance with its open, airy design. The Grey Steel (£4,990) is the high-tech futurist of the trio, a stealthy, minimalistic statement piece. But it’s the Luminescent model (£5,900) that steals the spotlight — especially when the lights go down. It’s not just about what you see, but how it glows — a dramatic, luminous transformation that turns a technical timepiece into a glowing piece of wrist theatre.
Each version has its own personality, but together, the trilogy feels like a design experiment done right — unified in purpose, but strikingly individual in execution.
Bell & Ross BR 03 Skeleton – Daylight Elegance, Nighttime Spectacle
The BR 03 Skeleton strikes a bold silhouette with its 41mm matte black ceramic case, micro-blasted for a stealthy, modern finish. But it’s what’s inside that really captures attention — a skeletonized movement set against an open-worked black plate, its components outlined in Super-LumiNova X1 C3. By day, it's an exercise in precision and sophistication; by night, it glows with an otherworldly green luminescence that transforms it into a futuristic marvel.
The dial features Baignoire-style applique indices, also filled with Super-LumiNova X1 C3, offering legibility with style. Skeletonized hour and minute hands continue the theme, delivering clarity with a sharp, sci-fi edge.
At its heart is the BR-CAL.328 automatic mechanical movement, offering a solid 54-hour power reserve — more than enough for a weekend away or an extended mission into the unknown.
The watch is paired with a black rubber strap and an ultra-resilient synthetic fabric option, both secured by a matte black PVD-coated pin buckle. It’s tough, technical, and tailored for those who want their wristwear to stand out in any light.
On the wrist, the case design — while not exactly tailored for smaller wrists — wears surprisingly well. At 11.5mm thick, it slides under a cuff without protest, which is a nice touch for something so bold. That said, and maybe it’s just me, but legibility has always been the Achilles' heel of skeletonised dials, and this one isn’t exempt. Reading the time can be more of a vibe than a precision task.
But then again, maybe that’s not really the point with a watch like this. It's more about the drama, the mechanics, the glow — and on those fronts, it delivers in spades. I used to own a BR 03 years ago, and I thought that chapter was closed… but this one’s definitely reignited that spark of intrigue. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to bring one back into the fold.
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