Bell & Ross BR-03 Green Radar Ceramic: Air Traffic on the Wrist
Some watches borrow the look of an aircraft instrument. The Bell & Ross BR-03 Green Radar Ceramic borrows its way of seeing. Against a green field, three miniature aircraft circle a target-like display. Each travels at its own speed. Together, they turn the passing of hours, minutes and seconds into a small piece of air traffic on the wrist.
It is a compelling idea for Transmission: take the visual language of a machine, preserve what makes it recognisable, and use it to change our relationship with an everyday object. Here, the object is time.
A cockpit idea with a history
Bell & Ross introduced the BR-01 Radar in 2010, replacing the familiar hand-and-dial arrangement with concentric discs inspired by aviation displays. Red Radar models followed, and the 2021 BR-03-92 Red Radar Ceramic combined a ceramic case with aircraft silhouettes moving across the dial.
The 2026 Green Radar Ceramic brings that concept into the 41 mm BR-03 format. Its distinctive move is to combine aircraft silhouettes and luminous trails in a green display. The effect is immediately recognisable: a watch face becomes an imagined surveillance screen.
The square case and circular display reinforce the instrument-panel reference. Four exposed screws frame the dial; the black ceramic keeps the architecture restrained enough for the green graphics to carry the story.
Three aircraft replace the hands
The display is more than an aviation illustration. Each aircraft has a specific timekeeping role, moving on its own independent rotating disc:
- Falcon: the business jet indicates the hours, completing one revolution every twelve hours.
- Rafale: the fighter indicates the minutes, completing one revolution every sixty minutes.
- Neuron: the stealth combat drone indicates the seconds, completing one revolution every sixty seconds.
The silhouettes refer to Dassault Aviation designs, bringing business aviation, a combat aircraft and an unmanned platform into the same miniature airspace. Their different speeds make the dial a constantly changing composition.
Fixed graduations sit beneath the green-tinted sapphire crystal, above the moving discs. The separation gives the display depth: the aircraft move below a stationary reference grid. Green gradients and Super-LumiNova markings extend the radar imagery. This is a mechanical interpretation of a radar screen; the watch measures time rather than tracking aircraft.
The engineering behind the picture
Rotating discs introduce their own demands. Bell & Ross explains that they must be light enough to avoid compromising the movement’s power reserve, while remaining rigid enough to prevent deformation or friction between the layers. Behind the graphic theatre, the display depends on careful assembly and alignment.
The watch uses the automatic BR-CAL.327 calibre, with a stated 54-hour power reserve. Its microblasted black ceramic case measures 41 mm across and 10.60 mm thick, with water resistance rated to 100 metres. The green sapphire crystal has an anti-reflective treatment.
A black rubber strap continues the case’s understated appearance, while an additional black synthetic-fabric strap is supplied. The pin buckle is steel with a black PVD finish. On the case back, engravings of the three aircraft repeat the idea in a quieter register.
Why it belongs in Transmission
The strongest part of the Green Radar is the coherence of its idea. The display, colour, case geometry and aircraft references all point in the same direction. Aviation provides the structure of the watch’s identity, down to the way its indications move.
There is a trade-off in that choice. An aircraft silhouette on a rotating disc asks the wearer to learn a visual vocabulary different from conventional hands. The attraction is precisely that change of perspective: reading time becomes an encounter with a designed system.
For anyone drawn to the intersection of machines and design, that is what makes this watch interesting. A familiar cockpit image is transformed into something personal, tactile and mechanical. The BR-03 Green Radar Ceramic makes aviation’s graphic culture visible at the scale of the wrist.
The essential details
- Reference: BR03A-GRDR-CE/SRB
- Edition: 999 pieces
- Case: microblasted black ceramic, 41 mm wide, 10.60 mm thick
- Movement: automatic BR-CAL.327; 54-hour power reserve
- Display: hours, minutes and seconds on three independent aircraft-bearing discs
- Crystal: green-tinted sapphire with anti-reflective treatment
- Water resistance: 100 metres
- Straps: black rubber and additional black synthetic fabric
- Price: €4,900 on Bell & Ross’s European website at the time of writing
Technical information is drawn from the Bell & Ross BR-03 Green Radar Ceramic press kit supplied to Transmission and the official product page. Images courtesy of Bell & Ross.
