The new BR-03 GMT Compass transitions from dashboard to wrist, combining a GMT complication and a solar compass within a 42mm square case
Unlike most GMT watches with basic orientation features, the BR-03 GMT Compass offers a full 360-degree compass graduation and multi-timezone tracking, making it a reliable navigation tool, especially useful if digital devices fail during travel. The dial’s compass motif is both evocative and functional, featuring a degree scale for accurate navigation.
On sunny days, you can determine your direction by aligning the red sun hand with the compass rose graduation, using the 24-hour GMT hand (shaped like a traditional compass needle) to indicate the second time zone. The four cardinal points (North, South, East, West) are marked on the flange at 6h, 12h, 18h, and 24h.
To find your direction using the sun, lay the watch flat and parallel to the ground. Set the GMT hand to solar time, for example, in summer in Geneva, solar time is two hours behind official time. Point the red sun hand toward the sun, then read your bearing from the graduated scale. This method allows precise navigation, just how of explorers of the past used to do.
Additional features include a bi-directional “Batman” bezel, split into blue (day) and black (night), for easy second time zone tracking. The bezel’s colour scheme echoes Batman’s costume, a popular collector’s nickname for GMT bezels using these colours to differentiate day and night.
The diamond-shaped GMT hand is double-ended and styled like a classic compass needle, ensuring quick, legible readings of both time zones and directional bearings. Functions include hours, minutes, central seconds, an independent GMT hand (for tracking a second or third time zone with the bezel), a date window, and the compass scale for orientation.
Launched in 2006, the BR-03 line embodies Bell & Ross’s mission to translate cockpit instruments into precise, efficient, and highly legible timepieces. Inspired by essential pilot instruments for air, land, and sea, this collection continues to explore navigation themes.
The BR-03 GMT Compass, housed in a stainless-steel case and protected by an anti-reflective sapphire crystal, is produced in a limited edition of 500 pieces and can be worn with either a rubber strap or Velcro fastening.
