Call it a cousin to the BR01 Radar – this is the fake Bell & Ross BR01-92 Compass watch – also based directly on aviation cockpit instrumentation. I recall a few years ago fake Bell & Ross showing off a similar Compass watch concept, but here is the final production model. Though it will only be made as part of a limited edition of 500 pieces.

Fake Bell & Ross takes a Swiss ETA 2892 automatic movement and swaps hands for discs. The white vertical line on the upper sapphire crystal is the reference point for the time. You read the time by looking at what is indicated directly underneath it on the discs. The inner disc is for the minutes, while the outer disc is for the hours. Reading it easily, as well as being able to properly sport it, involve someone with the right personality. Though the watch itself, with its nod to pilot instrumentation fits nicely into the fake Bell & Ross Instrument collection.

As you can see, the case is the standard BR01 46mm wide case in steel (PVD black coated), with a modified dial. It has been split into two sections, with the lower section having a smoked sapphire crystal. There is an elegant symmetry to the design, but it lacks a bit of the pizazz that most BR01 watches have. Maybe it needs just a bit more color. I wonder what it would have looked like if the time telling strip on the upper crystal was colored yellow – or something similar. Still, there is an honest, straight forward sense of style in the watch that I appreciate.

Priced at about $5,500, the 500 fake Bell & Ross BR01 Compass watches will start to become available Fall 2010.