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- The BR-03 GMT Green Lum uses Super-LumiNova C3 across its hands, markers and 24-hour bezel, with Bell & Ross claiming up to 10 hours of green luminescence.
- Its BR-CAL.303 automatic movement tracks a second time zone and delivers a 54-hour power reserve.
- Limited to 500 pieces, the 42mm steel GMT is priced at AUD$7,700.
In an alternate reality where James Bond wears Bell & Ross instead of Omega, the new BR-03 GMT Green Lum is probably the watch Q Branch hands him before a covert night operation through the snow outside La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, where it was made.
The BR-03 GMT Green Lum takes the familiar Bell & Ross circle-within-a-square cockpit design and darkens everything around a black-to-green dial, a polished black ceramic bezel and a generous coating of green-emitting lume. With Super-LumiNova C3 across the numerals, indices, hands and the complete 24-hour bezel scale, it keeps the GMT display readable as soon as the lights go down.
Just know it won’t come cheap. At AUD$7,700, it’s not quite Swiss-bank-account territory, but with only 500 pieces available, there won’t be many going around. If Q won’t hand one over, you’ll have to buy it yourself before your next mission.
Why Does The BR-03 GMT Green Lum Look So Good In The Dark?
The dial starts green at the top before falling into black towards six o’clock, giving it the appearance of night slowly swallowing the display. Bell & Ross says the treatment draws on the glow of the Northern Lights, although the blackened hour and minute hands give the finished watch a far more tactical character than the usual aurora-inspired colourway.
Super-LumiNova C3 sits across every useful reading point: the Arabic numerals, indices, hour hand, minute hand, openworked triangular GMT hand and the aeroplane-shaped tip of the seconds hand. The 24-hour markings on the rotating ceramic bezel receive the same treatment, with Bell & Ross claiming the green glow can remain visible for up to 10 hours.
Even after the lights go down, the entire second-time-zone display remains clear, with the GMT complication and heavy lume treatment working together rather than fighting for attention.
My first impression had me wondering why Bell & Ross decided not to push the night-operations look with a murdered-out black case. But the satin-finished and polished steel gives all that green and black something to work against during the day, while retaining the industrial outline that makes a Bell & Ross immediately recognisable.
The case measures 42mm wide and 11.3mm thick, with four exposed corner screws, an anti-reflective sapphire crystal and 100 metres of water resistance. It arrives on a black rubber strap, with a black synthetic fabric strap also included.
1/7Bell & Ross BR-03 GMT Green Lum Key Specs
- Reference: BR0393-GN-ST/SRB
- Case: 42mm satin-finished and polished stainless steel
- Thickness: 11.3mm
- Dial: Green with a vertical black gradient
- Bezel: Bidirectional polished black ceramic bezel with 24-hour scale
- Movement: Automatic BR-CAL.303
- Power reserve: 54 hours
- Functions: Hours, minutes, central seconds, date and second time zone
- GMT adjustment: Independent quick-set 24-hour hand
- Lume: Super-LumiNova C3 across the hands, indices, numerals and bezel markings
- Claimed lume duration: Up to 10 hours
- Crystal: Sapphire with anti-reflective coating
- Water resistance: 100 metres
- Straps: Black rubber and additional black synthetic fabric strap
- Edition: 500 pieces
- Price: AUD$7,700, USD$5,000
What Does the GMT Function Actually Do?
For anyone unfamiliar with a GMT, the local time is read from the conventional 12-hour dial, while the openworked GMT hand points to a second time zone against the rotating 24-hour bezel. That arrangement lets the wearer track another city while keeping the primary display clear and familiar.
Inside is the automatic BR-CAL.303, providing a 54-hour power reserve. The GMT hand can be adjusted independently of the main hour hand, making this what watch people call a caller-style GMT. That’s shorthand for following another time zone from home. However, frequent travellers may prefer a movement that lets them jump the local hour forward or backward after landing.
Once the lights go out, though, I don’t think any of that will matter. The whole display glows like an instrument panel from a spy film, and that’s enough for me to throw it on the wishlist.
The Bell & Ross BR-03 GMT Green Lum is limited to 500 pieces and priced at AUD$7,700 in Australia. It might not be murdered out as I had initially hoped it would be, but once the darkness arrives, the exposed steel becomes the least conspicuous thing about it.
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