DOUBLE TIMING

I am no stranger to gifting myself with watches although the practice is not as feasible as when watches were more accessible, both in terms of price and availability.

- RUCKDEE CHOTJINDA

Still, when Ashok asked me to contribute to this article, I was excited to participate. I proposed two personal choices and hoped they were not already picked by Kelvin or Asaph, and that they would serve to broaden the stylistic or functionality range of the overall selection. Both are shaped watches, and both offer the GMT indication.

My first watch nomination to celebrate the successful conclusion of 2021 is the new BR 03-93 GMT from Bell & Ross. This is the newly updated version, unveiled to the public in April this year. Maintaining the same 42mm size and equipped with the same BR-CAL.303 self-winding movement, it replaces the previous version with a fixed, satin-polished stainless steel bezel and an orange GMT hand. The new bezel turns bidirectionally in 24 increments, and is inlaid with a bicolour anodised aluminium insert showing the night section in black and the day section in red. The GMT hand now sports a red tip to match.

I did not see this watch coming at all. In fact, I wrote an article for the March 2021 issue of WOW Thailand, detailing how I lost my appetite for GMT watches because of the travel restrictions. Two weeks after the copies came out, the model was previewed to the press and I was floored. I thought first of all about said article, how I could be mocked by my collector friends and readers for saying one thing then doing the other. Then I decided that I was human after all and made the important call to my local Bell & Ross retailer right after that fateful online presentation.