Bell & Ross Caliber BR-CAL 302 Watch Movement

Brand	Bell & Ross
Caliber Number	BR-CAL 302, BR-302
In-House?	No
Base Caliber	Sellita SW300-1
Movement Type	Automatic, self-winding mechanical
Lignes	11.5”’
Diameter	25.6mm
Height	3.6mm thick
Jewels	25
Vibrations Per Hour	28,800 bph, 4Hz
Lift Angle	51 degrees
Power Reserve	54 hours
Rotor Style	Ball Bearing
Rotor Winding Direction	Bi-directional
Hand-Windable?	Yes
Anti-Shock Device	Incabloc
Mainspring	Nivaflex NM (presumed)
Hand Count	3
Functions	Central hours; central minutes; central sweeping seconds; date at 4:30
Hacking Seconds?	Yes
Quickset Date?	Yes
Country of Manufacture	Switzerland, Swiss made
Known Models	Bell & Ross BR 03 Black Steel, BR 03-92 Diver, BR 03-92 Military Type, BR 03-92 Nightlum (Please add your watch in the comments below…)

The Bell & Ross caliber BR-CAL 302 is a slim automatic watch movement, Swiss made with 25 jewels.

In the brand’s own words:

“… Faithful to the codes that underpin its identity, the new BR 03 features a slightly smaller format and the 54-hour power reserve provided by the latest-generation BR CAL.302 calibre.” -BR 03 Black Steel product description

Is the BR-CAL. 302 an In-House Movement?

While the name certainly makes it sound like an in-movement, the BR-CAL 302 is not an original design manufactured in-house by Bell&Ross at B&R facilities. It is essentially a Sellita SW300-1 (technically an SW300-1 a) with a Bell & Ross engraved logo on the rotor. The Sellita logo and calibre number can be spotted under the balance wheel.

For the placement of the date at 4:30, it would have likely required a custom datewheel.

The engraved rotor and custom datewheel were possibly ordered directly from Sellita, although this is unconfirmed.

Power Reserve:

The Sellita SW300-1 was originally equipped with a mainspring/barrel configuration that offered up to 42 hours of power reserve on a full wind (the same as the ETA 2892-A2 that the SW300-1 is based on). As of December 2020, Sellita began offering what they call an Optimization Barrel upgrade which jumps the power reserve up to a minimum of 50 hours, with a typical runtime of 56 hours. Bell & Ross seem to have chosen a safer estimate by stating “Power reserve approximately 54 hours” in their official user manual (perhaps this is an effort to under promise and over deliver).

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