Bell & Ross Introduces the BR 03-94 Multimeter
What do you get if you travel through the Omega Chronoscope with the Mido Ocean Star decompression timer? Answer: Bell & Ross BR 03-94 Multimeter.
Needless to say, the dial of this watch is the focal point, with six separate chronograph scales in vibrant and attractive colors. In Bell & Ross’s own words, it’s full of information, but luckily for us, there’s a handy key on the dial that breaks everything.
Specifically, the orange scale is the pulsometer, the green is the asthma meter, and the white, yellow, and brown are all tachymeters calibrated to different speeds. The sixth scale is the black standard minute track that wraps around the circular dial and is used for traditional timekeeping and regular chronograph timekeeping.
The point of having all these scales is to allow the wearer to calculate everything you might want to know about sports and sports. Pulse rate and respiratory rate are important vital signs indicating overall health, so it makes perfect sense to include related scales. The benefit of the triple speedometer is that you can calculate your speed while jogging, cycling or driving with the relative speed calibrations of 100m, 250m and 1km on the three scales.
It’s both functional (as long as you’re only trying to use one scale at a time) and aesthetically pleasing with the bright colors set against the simple black background of the dial base and the matching black ceramic case. However, there is no escaping the fact that “overflow” is a very apt description, and legibility is not as primitive as it should be.
The biggest issue with readability comes from the dual composite chronograph sub-dial consisting of a small seconds hand and a 30-minute counter. They are intersected by various ticks, which means that only half of each counter exists, making them almost unreadable. cheap Bell & Ross‘ solution is to use hands with long counterweights, so you can calculate where the tip pointer points (if it’s not on the current part of the dial) by taking the inverse of where the back of the pointer points. Not an elegant solution, but a workable one, and unlikely to detract from the cool factor of this piece.
Inside, the BR 03-94 multimeter houses the Bell & Ross chronograph movement BR-CAL.301 we’ve seen before. It is based on ETA 2894-2 and has a 42-hour self-winding power reserve. It gets the job done, but reinforces the idea that you’re buying this watch for its dial.
Not as readily available as many would like. Not least because its cool, colorful appeal isn’t dissimilar to the recently launched Omega x Swatch MoonSwatch, which is super easy to get. However, it’s important not to forget that this is a ceramic watch with a mechanical chronograph movement and a unique dial, and it’s not that unreasonable.
Price and Specifications:
Model: Bell & Ross BR 03-94 Multimeter
Reference: BR0394-SW-CE/SRB
Case/Dial: 42mm diameter x 12.80mm thickness, matte black ceramic case, 3 tachymeter, 1 pulsometer and 1 asthma meter area indicator, white painted minute track on flange, Super LumiNova® coated hour and minute hands
Waterproof: 100m
Movement: Caliber BR-CAL.301, automatic winding, 37 jewels
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Power reserve: 42 hours
Functions: hours, minutes, small seconds at 3 o’clock, date, chronograph (30-minute counter at 9 o’clock, central chronograph seconds, tachymeter, pulsometer and asthma meter)
Strap: Black perforated rubber and super-elastic black synthetic fabric, black PVD steel buckle