Bell & Ross BR‑X3 Patrouille de France Review

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Bell & Ross was kind to lend me the BR‑X3 Patrouille de France, for an extended time, to do a review. I could not refuse the offer for two reasons: I like Bell & Ross and I like Patrouille de France. It is not their first collaboration, but oh boy, I like this one a lot… The flight instrument inspiration with blue accents, the personalised dial, the feel on the wrist. And the funniest part was having this watch in embargo and going to France where both Bell & Ross and Patrouille de France are really loved – for all the good reasons.

The short version

Bell & Ross has spent years mining the visual and emotional territory of aviation. You can read more about it in this article: The Boldness of Bell & Ross: From Military Function to Modern Icon. The BR‑X3 Patrouille de France feels not like a different chapter but an evolution – it takes the familiar square silhouette and rebuilds it as a layered, technical object that carries the colours and codes of France’s aero-acrobatic team in a very deliberate way. On the wrist, the 41mm steel case stands out with anodised blue aluminium ring and matching side pillars. It looks instantly like an instrument that escaped from a cockpit panel. The alternating brushed and polished surfaces, the modest 13.3mm thickness and the short, integrated lugs soften the initial impact and make it surprisingly wearable as a daily piece.

Bell & Ross BR‑X3 Patrouille de France — Printed images courtesy of Patrouille de France and Bell & Ross

The dial continues this sense of engineered depth: a three‑plate construction with a black base, blue and white skeletonised appliques and a black insert supports applied luminous indices, a tricolour power‑reserve sector and the Patrouille de France insignia. Behind that dial sits the BR‑CAL.323 – a Kenissi manufacture calibre with COSC chronometer certification, 70 hours of power reserve and a five‑year warranty. This choice signals how seriously the brand treats this partnership. For collectors who care about aviation, military heritage and modern independent movement suppliers, the BR‑X3 Patrouille de France lands in a very interesting place: it mixes that emotional story with a set of specifications you can live with every day and not only on the air show weekends.

Patrouille de France and the partnership

Patrouille de France was founded in 1953 and it represents the aerobatic spearhead of the French Air and Space Force. Their flying expertise resumes, in short words, as flying in tight formations and executing precise manoeuvres in Alpha Jets. Their signature features the tricolour lines drawn across the European skies. They act as ambassadors for French aeronautical skill. Bell & Ross started supplying watches to French military and police units long before this specific partnership.

So it came as no surprise when 2021 marked the formal moment for Bell & Ross to become official watchmaker to Patrouille de France. Inaugurating the relationship was the the BR 03‑94 Patrouille de France chronograph. Later, the collaboration expanded into BR 03-92 and BR 05 Chrono editions that featured the squadron’s blue tones and crest. The BR‑X3 project pushes that story forward into the brand’s experimental round in square platform for 2026, linking the aerobatic team with Bell & Ross’s most technically ambitious case architecture and a more contemporary, layered aesthetic.

Here some articles about the collaboration:
Bell & Ross to partner with the Patrouille de France
Bell & Ross BR 03-94 PATROUILLE DE FRANCE
Bell & Ross BR 03 Type A Patrouille de France
Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Patrouille de France 70th Anniversary
Bell & Ross BR-05 Chrono Patrouille de France

Dial and visual language

Bell & Ross builds the BR‑X3 Patrouille de France dial as a multi-level,visual striking construction: a matte black base, an open blue and white decoration, and a stepped black and blue inner bezel. All stacked together create depth and shadows and add a lot of character. The brand used applied polished, rhodium‑plated “baignoire” style indexes that bite into the inner black bezel. These are filled with white Superluminova BGW9 Grade X1. I like the strong black & white contrast softened by the pale blue.

Skeletonised rhodium‑plated hour and minute hands also decorated with the BGW9 – that glows blue in low light. The legibility stays strong when you move from daylight to twilight or into a dim cockpit. The central seconds hand uses an Alpha Jet‑shaped tip and a long counterweight for obvious reasons: to visual and mechanically balance the tip.

The power‑reserve indicator at nine o’clock carries the French flag colours – a smart and intuitive understanding of the complication. The date window at three o’clock brings everyday practicality mirroring the power reserve aperture design for visual balance.At six o’clock, the Patrouille de France insignia sits in with its Diamond formation.

Taken together, these elements give a very specific narrative that Patrouille de France fans will recognise. The dial is busy. One cannot deny it. But it is logical, it’s fun and everything that contribute to this busyness makes sense. It is well legible, day and night. A limitation of the luminescent material is: it is nice and bright, but it fades relatively fast – I could not pass the 6 hours mark for good enough legibility. The specs say that BGW9 could remain faintly visible past 10 hours in pitch black conditions. So in summer might be ok, but on the winter time it will struggle. This is, by all means, not an issue, but a limitation of all luminescents.

Calibre BR CAL.323

Inside the BR‑X3 Patrouille de France, Bell & Ross uses the BR‑CAL.323, an automatic movement developed by Kenissi (you know, the ones who make the Tudor Calibre MT5612 / MT5602 but also Chanel Calibre 12.1) and certified as a chronometer by COSC. The calibre operates at 28,800 vibrations per hour – 4 Hz, offers approximately 70 hours of power reserve. The movement drives hours, minutes, central seconds, a date display at 3 o’clock and the power‑reserve indication at 9.

You get a combination of autonomy and functionality that feels well calibrated for someone who rotates between several watches but still wants this one to be ready after a long weekend in the drawer. Bell & Ross presents the movement behind a sapphire caseback bearing a metallised Patrouille de France logo. But you can see well the bridges and rotor working. The finishing stays in line with Kenissi’s usual industrial aesthetic: brushing, frosted matt finish (probably blasting since you can clean it and skip some decorating steps so…), but also some form of skeletonisation to reveal the gear train.

One must make some concessions, rather than drifting into haute horlogerie decoration and hugely increase of the price. That slightly pragmatic approach will appeal to owners who care more about accuracy, robustness and a five‑year warranty than about hand‑polished bevels. But it looks OK. I find the decorative metalization on the back crystal a nice touch.

Case, construction and straps

The BR‑X3 Patrouille de France come with a 41mm square case and 13.3mm thickness. It is manufactured from satin‑brushed and polished stainless steel. But, the multi‑layer construction case incorporates blue anodised aluminium for the bezel ring and the side pillars – on ode to up the squadron’s signature blues. Used to the massive steel or bronze case of the B&R tool watches, this break up the mass of steel visually. Plus, it makes the watch slightly lighter. A screw‑down crown with crown guards helps secure the movement and deliver 100m of water resistance.

The front sapphire crystal fitted in the steel/anodised aluminium bezel sandwich combo features an anti‑reflective coating, and the sapphire caseback carries the Patrouille de France logo. The whole piece feels ready for travel, daily wear and the some swim. On the wrist, the short integrated lugs and the two supplied straps make a noticeable difference: you can choose an openworked black rubber strap for more rugged, sport‑driven use, or a light, ultra‑resistant synthetic fabric strap in sky blue that mirrors the flight suits and dial tones.

Both straps are secured by a satin‑finished and polished steel pin buckle featuring the BR engraved logo. The strap set allows you to tune the watch from “mission‑ready instrument” to “airshow companion”, but you need the tools for it since there is no fast changing system. One can also separately buy a blue strap, but at 170€. I would pass…

Final thoughts and pricing

Taken as a whole, I consider the Bell & Ross BR‑X3 Patrouille de France as a very coherent exercise. From the case construction, dial architecture and to the movement choice all fall into a modern, technical reading of the brand’s square instrument idea while honouring the aerobatic team that inspired it. I do not have any reservations around the busy dial. Maybe even if the missing large date window cutting could have ensured an even lighter background. But the balanced look, marking and colours make sense. Feels not mirrored or forced but organic, natural.

The watch reads easily, quickly at a glance while it carries a strong colour identity and offers a movement that you can trust in daily use. This matters more than theoretical purity when you actually live with a piece. Bell & Ross limits the BR‑X3 Patrouille de France to 250 pieces and sets the price at 7,900 € including tax on the European market, with official figures around 7,300 CHF and approximately 11,000 Singapore dollars. So if you already feel a pull toward Patrouille de France’s sky‑traced formations and you appreciate the idea of a square, layered, Kenissi‑powered aviation watch, this reference will sit very high on your shortlist. And if you don’t have a chance to find this one, maybe you can try with the older BR-05 Chrono Patrouille de France (my second favourite from this collaboration line) that was limited to a larger number – 500 pieces.

Bell & Ross BR‑X3 Patrouille de France Technical Specifications

Ref. BRX3R-PAF-ST/SRB – 7 900€

Functions

Hours, minutes and seconds.
Date window at 3 o’clock and power reserve indicator at 9 o’clock.

Movement

Calibre BR-CAL.323.
Automatic Mechanical Movement.
Frequency: 4Hz
Power reserve: approximately 70 hours.

Case

Satin-finished and polished steel.
41 mm wide. 13.30 mm thick.
Screw-down crown.
Crown guard.
Decorative side pillar and bezel in blue anodised aluminium with micro-blasted finish.
Crystal: Sapphire with anti-reflective coating.
Sapphire case-back featuring a custom metallised Patrouille de France logo.
Water-resistance: 100 metres.

Dial

Three-plate construction matt black base, blue and white skeletonised applique, matt black insert with polished and rhodium-plated “Baignoire-style” applique indices, filled with white Super-LumiNova® BGW9 Grade X1 (blue glow).
Patrouille de France logo at 6 o’clock.
Power reserve window featuring the colours of the French flag (blue, white and red).
Skeletonised rhodium-plated hour and minutes hands filled with Super-LumiNova® BGW9 Grade X1 (blue glow).

Strap