The French-Swiss watchmaker expands its aviation-inspired universe with three bold new releases, each blending advanced materials, luminous design and mechanical precision.
2 min
Bell & Ross has re-engineered its iconic BR-03 line with the launch of the BR-X3 series, a new generation of professional instrument watches designed for those who live at the edge of performance.
The new models — the BR-X3 Black Titanium, BR-X3 Blue Steel and BR-X3 Night Vision — take the brand’s signature “circle within a square” aesthetic into more experimental territory, merging technical mastery with striking design.
At the heart of the BR-X3 line is the BR-CAL.323 calibre, a self-winding mechanical movement developed by Kenissi for Bell & Ross, offering a 70-hour power reserve and COSC-certified precision.
Each piece is built around a multi-component 41 mm case that uses advanced materials including titanium, steel, carbon fibre, and luminescent resin, with a 5-year warranty across the range.
Three Takes on Flight
The BR-X3 Black Titanium focuses on lightness and strength, combining micro-blasted titanium plates with a perforated rubber strap for comfort.
The BR-X3 Blue Steel channels the colour of the stratosphere, with polished and satin-finished steel, anodised blue aluminium pillars, and a sunray blue dial inspired by space flight.
Completing the trilogy, the BR-X3 Night Vision pushes into nocturnal territory, its LUM-CAMO carbon-fibre case infused with photoluminescent resin for readability in total darkness — a 250-piece limited edition referencing the green glow of aircraft head-up displays.
A Partnership Born in the Skies
Unveiled at the 2025 Paris Air Show, Bell & Ross became the official partner of the Rafale Solo Display, the French Air and Space Force’s official flight demonstration unit.
To mark the collaboration, the brand released the BR-03 Chrono Rafale Solo Display, a 500-piece limited edition that embodies the precision and performance of the fighter jet it honours.
Housed in a 42 mm micro-blasted black ceramic case, the chronograph features the BR-CAL.301 automatic movement with a 42-hour power reserve.
Its matte black dial incorporates aviation-inspired details — a yellow dotted line around the date window, orange chronograph hands, and the Rafale Solo Display insignia.
The watch comes on a black rubber or ultra-resilient fabric strap, both built for durability under extreme conditions.
Precision Meets Passion
Since its founding in 1994 by Carlos-A. Rosillo and Bruno Belamich, Bell & Ross has built its identity around precision timekeeping for professionals — from fighter pilots to deep-sea divers.
The BR-X3 and BR-03 Chrono Rafale Solo Display extend that lineage, fusing experimental design with the technical sophistication expected of modern instrument watches.
For collectors and aviation enthusiasts alike, these new releases represent Bell & Ross at its most daring — and most authentic — where mechanical innovation meets the thrill of flight.
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Meta is betting on a human-first AI future, but growing legal battles and declining public trust are putting Mark Zuckerberg’s vision to the test.
3 min
“Call us optimists. Call us dreamers. Call us whatever the hell you want, but we’re betting on people, and we like those odds. The future is for everyone.”
That ad copy is from the voice-over of a July Meta Platforms META -3.38%.
spot that’s been part of a public-relations blitz to position Meta as the humanist AI company. The message was undercut by the ad’s inclusion of David Bowie’s “Five Years,” a brooding 1972 song about an impending apocalypse. But this week CEO Mark Zuckerberg left no ambiguity, publishing a 6,500-word manifesto—about 10 times the length of this newsletter—with a title that echoed the ad: “The Future is for Everyone.”
That seems to be Meta’s new tagline. In light of sinking public opinion and the company’s thousands of lawsuits from states, school districts, parents, and users, Meta’s public relations have been defensive. This push represents a return to offense, with a chance to distinguish Meta’s approach to AI from other labs like OpenAI, Anthropic, or SpaceX SPCX +9.65%.
“It is surprising that the discourse from many developing AI is so filled with doom,” Zuckerberg wrote. “I do not understand why anyone who believes that AI will eliminate most jobs and much of humanity’s relevance would rush to build that future.”
Zuckerberg frames what sort of future we build with AI as the central issue of our time. “We believe that delivering superintelligence to everyone is the way to answer this question,” he says. “This has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where individuals can use this powerful new capability to reach their full potential, pursue their interests, and improve their lives and the world more than ever before.”
The flood of words belies the situation on the ground in mid-2026. Americans, at least, have a love-hate affair with social media. A November Pew Research Center poll reported that 71% of U.S. adults used Facebook, and 51% used Instagram. Worldwide, 3.6 billion people use at least one Meta app every day.
But in a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in July and August, 61% of respondents said they wanted more government oversight of social media, and two-thirds supported laws to keep children under 16 years old off the platforms. When it comes to Meta in particular, in the 2026 Axios Harris 100, an annual poll about corporate reputation, Meta placed 96th out of 100. It’s only above two other social media companies, Chinese ultracheap retailer Temu, and Spirit Airlines, a defunct air carrier. Regarding ethics, Meta came in last, and it was only ahead of TikTok in trust.
The steady drip of headlines in the teen social media trials isn’t helping. Last week, Meta lost a judgment in New Mexico state court that raised their liability in that relatively small jurisdiction to nearly $1 billion dollars. On Wednesday, jury selection began for a federal case with four states suing Meta over addictive product design, and false marketing that said its platforms were safe for teenagers. In July, Meta claimed that the states are asking for a total of $1.4 trillion in damages, in addition to design changes in the apps. This is part of a multidistrict litigation, where thousands of federal trials with social media defendants are coordinated in Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers’ district courthouse in Oakland, Calif.
There is a separate such group of thousands of cases in California state court, mostly with individual plaintiffs. The steady drip of bad headlines from the courts will continue unless Meta decides to settle en masse.
Meanwhile, in the second quarter, Meta booked “$2.40 billion of charges related to legal proceedings,” according to its quarterly filing. That may be just the beginning.
Zuckerberg spent 6,500 words getting his utopian message out, but I can sum it up in two: Trust us. The evidence is that Meta has a long way to go to win back that trust.
