The symbolism of the skull is not one lost on watchmaking, and it has appeared here and there for centuries on and in timepieces. Recent years have shown an increase in the use of this symbol, though, and I would even hypothesize that the trend in the world of haute horlogerie arrived around 2009 along with the same trend in high fashion.

The skull was most likely first used on textile when French pirate Emanuel Wynn put skull and crossbones on his ship’s flag in the eighteenth century; his design even incorporated an hourglass. After that, skulls became symbols of fighters, military, and bravado and were used on uniforms ranging from U.S. special operations to the Nazi SS as a mortality reminder.

Jewelry designers and watchmakers have always used the skull symbol as memento mori – a Latin term meaning “remember that you have to die” – and fashion continued to use it as well, exemplified by Vivienne Westwood in 1970s London and later tattoo artist Ed Hardy, who became famous for clothing bearing his artistic motifs and name.

It was right around 2009 when the skull became ubiquitous in the world of fashion for a time, likely urged on by a growing interest in Mexican art surrounding Día de los Muertos, the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (which had produced three movies to that point), and high-fashion brand Alexander McQueen, from where it most likely trickled down.

Bell & Ross’s unique BR 01 Instrument stole the spotlight at its launch in 2005 thanks to its unusual circle-in-a-square case, becoming an instant hit.

Pilots immediately understood that the design was inspired by cockpit instruments in small aircraft. Nonetheless, it took a lot of guts and skill to transfer the look to the wrist and do it right. The 46 mm case wears much smaller thanks to its thinness and clever design.

Bell & Ross justifiably utilized this model as a jumping-off point for a variety of designs, beginning in 2009 with the then-trendy skull motif – which in my eyes was a perfect addition.

2009: Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Airborne

Designed specifically to pay tribute to soldiers of the U.S. Airborne divisions of World War II as a reinvented talisman, this timepiece kicked off the “skullified” subset of Bell & Ross’s BR 01 line.

Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Airborne

Its design was interesting for much more than just the skull symbolism: the skull turned the circular dial within the square case into an oblong shape, which against all odds still worked wonderfully.

It was also one of the very first skull-themed watches to hit the market as part of the trend wave, and I am confident that the BR 01 Skull Airborne was a big success for the company.

Quick Facts Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Airborne
Case: 46 mm, bead-blasted steel with black carbon powder coating
Dial: black with photoluminescent skull
Movement: automatic Caliber ETA 2892
Functions: hours, minutes
Limitation: 500 pieces
Price in 2009: $5,000

2011: Bell & Ross BR 01 Tourbillon Skull Airborne

In 2011, when tourbillons were still the complicated element du jour, Bell & Ross added one to its popular BR 01 Skull line.

I’m not entirely sure why the brand decided to make this into a regulator display, but I think it might have been better to leave the indication of hours and minutes in their conventional configuration as the black-and-gray styling of this watch already makes it hard to see the time. And, historically, the regulator was used in watches to express extreme precision – an element that is lost on an all-black dial lacking numerals.

Bell & Ross BR 01 Tourbillon Skull Airborne

The hours are shown by a small hand in a skull-shaped subdial at 12 o’clock, while a large sweep hand displays the minutes. The large tourbillon is visible at 6 o’clock at the bottom of the large skull-shaped dial sandwiched by small, barely visible hands for the power reserve indication and trust indicator.

The BR 01 Tourbillon Skull Airborne originally came on a black shagreen strap with rubber lining, an elegant style that was all the rage in that year. A time-only BR 01 Airborne II watch in a distressed steel case with a luminescent skull dial was also introduced in 2011 in a limited edition of 999 pieces.

For more information, please visit www.bellross.com/our-collections/Instruments/br-01-46-mm/br-01-tourbillon/br-01-tourbillon-skull.

Quick Facts Bell & Ross BR 01 Tourbillon Skull Airborne
Case: 46 mm, titanium with black DLC coating
Dial: black with photo luminescent skull
Movement: manually wound BNB Concept caliber with one-minute tourbillon and regulator dial train; five-day power reserve
Functions: regulator-style hours, minutes; power reserve indicator, trust (torque) index
Limitation: 20 pieces
Price: $150,000/€113,000 (sold out)

2015: Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Bronze

The bronze-encased version of Bell & Ross’s BR 01 Skull docks right into the bronze craze that started right around 2015, which I documented in Give Me Five! Bronze Watches At Baselworld 2016. It was also designed to specifically pay tribute to the parachutists of World War II, symbolized by the dagger and sabre posing as hour and minute hands that have characterized this subset of BR 01 watches since 2009.

Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Bronze

The distressed bronze case (which the brand calls its “retrofuturistic” style) really added to this watch’s attractiveness, and making the skull dial ultra-luminous was nothing short of a stroke of genius. We also documented its extreme luminosity in Lighting Up With Lume At Baselworld 2015. Warning: Sunglasses Advised!

Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Bronze

For more information, please visit www.bellross.com/BR-01-Skull-Bronze.

Quick Facts Bell & Ross BR 01 Skull Bronze
Case: 46 mm, bronze
Dial: black with photoluminescent skull
Movement: automatic Caliber BR-CAL.302 (Sellita SW300-1 base)
Functions: hours, minutes
Limitation: 500 pieces (sold out)
Price: $6,900/€6,000

2016: Bell & Ross BR 01 Burning Skull

This ultra-attractive edition features tattoo-like engraving on the stainless steel case and retains the danger-infused dagger and sabre posing as hour and minute hands, a very interesting detail “right between the eyes.”

Bell & Ross BR 01 Burning Skull

I definitely felt that this tattoo-like engraving was also part of a small trend of watches docking into the popularity of tattoo artists at the time. Hublot introduced its Big Bang Sang Bleu in 2016 (as shown in Can We Still Take Limited Editions Seriously, Or Is That Already A Rhetorical Question?) and Romain Jerome brought out its Tattoo-DNA by Xoil in the same year.

For more information, please visit www.bellross.com/our-collections/Instruments/br-01-46-mm/br-01-concept-skull/br-01-burning-skull.

Quick Facts Bell & Ross BR 01 Burning Skull
Case: 46 mm, engraved and microblasted steel
Dial: stamped metal skull with black Super-LumiNova
Movement: automatic Caliber BR-CAL.302 (Sellita SW300-1 base)
Functions: hours, minutes
Limitation: 500 pieces (sold out)
Price: $6,900/€6,000

2018: Bell & Ross BR 01 Laughing Skull

The Laughing Skull is my clear favorite piece of the BR 01 skull series. When I was handed it at Baselworld 2018, I could not stop playing with the winding function, which makes the jaw of the applied-metal skull on the front move.

It enchanted me the same way that Fiona Krüger’s clever Vanitas clock did in 2017: that skull’s jaw opens as the clock “tires,” acting as a power reserve mechanism.

Bell & Ross BR 01 Laughing Skull

This Bell & Ross skull is highlighted by the fact that it floats within a cutaway on this watch. The cutaway also reveals some wheels from the skull-shaped movement poking out from behind the skeleton as well as the balance wheel, which makes its revolutions within the grinning bone’s forehead.

This clever, animated feature is what I would call a “light” automaton, but no less an enchanting one.

The dagger-and-sabre minute and hour hands have also returned, but are now skeletonized and inlaid with Super-LumiNova as the only point to include the luminous substance. On this incarnation, they are placed where the nose would usually be instead of between the eyes as on the other versions.

There are also two diamond-set versions available in limited editions of 99 pieces each as well. The “Light Diamond” model features 104 diamonds (1.032 ct) on the bezel, while the “Full Diamond” version boasts a full-set case with 394 diamonds (2.891 ct). The retail prices of these are €15,000 and €25,000 respectively.

For more information, please visit www.bellross.com/our-collections/Instruments/br-01-46-mm/br-01-concept-skull/br01-laughing-skull.

Quick Facts Bell & Ross BR 01 Laughing Skull
Case: 46 mm, microblasted steel with machined clous de Paris finish
Dial: applied, embossed metal skull
Movement: manually wound Caliber BR-CAL.206, 60-hour power reserve
Functions: hours, minutes; skull’s jaw moves when movement is wound
Limitation: 500 pieces
Price: €8,900/$9,900

You may also enjoy:

Give Me Five! Skulls Grinning From Behind The Crystal At Baselworld 2016
Fiona Krüger’s Vanitas Is A Skull Clock That Yawns To Indicate Becoming Tired And Needing More Energy
Fiona Krüger’s Celebration Skull: Life, Death, Mortality . . . And Watches
The HYT Skull: Fad, Trend, Style, Or Movement?
Give Me Five! Bronze Watches At Baselworld 2016
Lighting Up With Lume At Baselworld 2015. Warning: Sunglasses Advised!