Bell & Ross Caliber BR-CAL 322 Watch Movement

Brand	Bell & Ross
Caliber Number	BR-CAL 322, BR-322
In-House?	No
Base Caliber	Sellita SW300-1
Movement Type	Automatic, self-winding mechanical, skeletonized
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	40 hours (see below)
Rotor Style	Ball Bearing
Rotor Winding Direction	Bi-directional
Hand-Windable?	Yes
Anti-Shock Device	Incabloc
Regulator	ETACHRON with fine tuning device
Hand Count	3
Functions	Central hours; central minutes; central sweeping seconds
Hacking Seconds?	Yes
Country of Manufacture	Switzerland, Swiss made
Known Models	Bell & Ross BR 05 Skeleton Nightlum (Ref: BR05A-BL-SK-ST/SST), BR 05 Skeleton Blue (Ref: BR05A-BLU-SKST/SST) (Please add your watch in the comments below…)

The Bell & Ross caliber BR-CAL 322 is a skeletonized 3-hander automatic watch movement with no date.

This movement is basically a skeletonized Sellita caliber SW300-1. It is Swiss made with 25 jewels and a frequency of 28,800vph.

Some of the topics covered in this caliber listing:

Variations:

Bell & Ross has chosen to use the BR-CAL. 322 moniker in a way that could create caliber confusion. For example, the same caliber number is used for the Nightlum and Skeleton Blue models. The Nightlum is a black movement with a black rotor, whereas the Skeleton Blue is a silver tone movement with a blue rotor (the blue appearance on the dial side is made possible thanks to its blue tinted crystal).

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.

Despite the base movement specs above, the Bell & Ross manual states that: “Bell & Ross watches have a power reserve of approximately 40 hours.”

In order to reach full power reserve in the mainspring, Bell & Ross says: “After approximately 40 rotations [of the crown in clockwise direction], the watch is fully wound.”

However, the next part is concerning:

“… the winding mechanism does not have a stop to prevent overwinding.” -Source: Bell & Ross BR 05 user manual, page 5

Since the BR-CAL. 322 is based on the SW300-1, and it is an automatic/self-winding movement, it is unclear as to why it would be possible to over-wind it. Caliber Corner will reach out to Bell & Ross for further clarification.

True No-Date:

Although Caliber Corner has not had the opportunity to do a hands-on review of any watches containing the BR-CAL. 322, the Bell & Ross user manual indicated that this movement is a true no-date caliber with only two crown positions: neutral (against the case) and time-setting position (pulled out one click).