Bell&Ross: BR 03-92 MA-1

Bell & Ross looks beyond cockpit instrumentation with its latest top-flight timepiece, inspired by the US Air Force’s groundbreaking icon of pilot apparel, the MA-1 flight jacket.

Like Bell & Ross’ professional watches, the MA-1 flight jacket answered a critical brief in a highly functional way. The widespread adoption of jet aircraft in the Fifties meant that altitudes went higher and therefore much colder. Streamlining and an explosion in avionics also meant that cockpits were more compact. Military pilots’ bulky fleece-lined leather jackets of old, liable to freezing uncomfortably in-flight needed to be upgraded fast.

Nylon was the alternative which is appropriate as up until then, nearly all production of the polyamide fiber had been devoted to parachutes and parachute cords during WWII. The MA-1 was reversible too, so its orange lining could serve as a wearable beacon while a downed pilot was waiting for Search and Rescue. The jacket then had a resurgence in the 1970s, becoming a style icon.

The synergies of Bell & Ross’ 999-piece BR 03-92 MA-1 start with its jacket – not nylon, but similarly lightweight and scratch- proof ceramic, continuing across the dial. The khaki coloration serves as a stealthy foil to the stenciled-out orange numerals – luminescent for night flights.

The dial is formed by two superimposing metal plates with a sandwich construction. The upper section is cut away around the numerals and indices, revealing the photoluminescent coating covering the lower plate.

Like the jacket, the khaki calfskin leather strap of the BR 03-92 MA-1 is not only lined in orange but is also instantly reversible. (Price €.3.500)