Bell & Ross
Endurance & Speed
Bell & Ross
Endurance & Speed
We still decided to go ahead with me wearing a chronograph to time the race whether I hobbled my way around or whether I found my inner-wannabe Mo Farah. I decided to go with a piece that encapsulated endurance and hardship. The choice, Bell & Ross Desert Type Chronograph, a watch which represented Bell & Ross’s true military aviation roots, whilst being ideal to run in due to being easily readable and having a fabric strap.
Standing at the start of the race in the sunken moat of the Tower of London with crowds of cheers encircling us from above, I felt rather out of place compared to my fellow runners. Digital countdown ahead, iPhones in every hand, earphones in, running apps poised to go, and myself – no earphones, no phone, just me and my wrist, with my finger hovering over the pusher to activate the chronograph function of the BR126. The competitive streak shaking at the ready, the bell rings and ‘click’, I compress the pusher, the gruelling experience begins. After 3km I check the watch and somewhere through my blurred running vision I see the chronograph dial, an airplane arrow, hovering somewhere over 12mins which indicated that I had definitely set off at quite a pace for myself, one which I was never going to keep up for 10km. I cooled off the pace into a steady rhythm until the beginning of kilometre 7. I took a more precise look at the watch to gauge myself and the airplane was pointing at 25mins, I could not believe it, 15mins to complete the last 3km and get home in a total of 40mins, my original target time was more than doable!
No technology, no app telling me to ‘keep up the great work’, no music. Through it all, the coolness of the steal casing, the bulkiness that turned out to be as light as a feather and the leather strap that was the only part of me that didn’t feel drowned in sweat and sticking to my person, the BR126 was the perfect companion. I looked at it and everything that people say to you about the relationship you have with your watch was right, that race was to be a treasured memory. It may not have been the Desert Chronograph but I didn’t want to take the BR126 off and I point blank refused to reset the chronograph function, gazing at the airplane on 39 mins for the rest of the evening. I relished in it whilst I could until the following day when I proudly displayed my time to the Revolution team and a fellow member broke my heart somewhat when I handed him the watch. With a smile and a pat on the shoulder to tell me well done, ‘click’ he reset the chronograph function to zero.