The CB01 GMT
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Cedric Bellon Sustainable Tool Watches CB01 GMT

 

The CB01 GMT is the second chapter of the Cedric Bellon Sustainable Tool Watches collaboration with Watch Angels. Circularly produced and machined out of 100% recycled and certified stainless steel, the CB01 achieves an 87.59% sustainability score.

The CB01-GMT has been designed to re-use the same tooling’s of the first watch of the brand, the CB01, to avoid waste and unnecessary energy consumption. The technical conception has been refined to simplify the production process even further, making it less material and time consuming than for the CB01.
Like for the CB01, a repurposed movement, sourced from a stock of unused Soprod C125 GMT automatic movements, has been encased.
Aided by an objective sustainability index to guide design and production choices, the CB01 GMT has achieved slightly higher sustainability score than the CB01 despite offering black PVD dial and a coloured GMT hand (the decrease in sustainability due to these components has been offset by a simpler construction).

Design

The “Freccione” (large arrow) claims the GMT function without any possible doubt, while the essential and raw 100% recycled stainless steel  CB01 GMT case and the 100% recycled stainless steel dial remain loyal to the simple and efficient skin diver tool watch style design of the CB Brand.

“Through this watch, I try to do my job in a more virtuous way. It aims at pushing the watchmaking industry to question its design and production processes, and consider that changes are needed. And possible. The CB01 is a tribute to the women and men whose work contributes to a better future, and an ode to craftsmanship and the people of watchmaking. A concrete step towards a more sustainable watch industry”.

Cedric Bellon. Watch designer, Founder of CB Watches and Sustainability advocate.

Two executions

The 90 Models  
The CB01 GMT 90 features and orange GMT arrow-hand and white indexes. The orange hand was iconic in the epoch. On dashboard instruments, manometers and tools, the orange colour is commonly used to identify a precise function thanks to its readability. The 1990s evoke the last era of mechanical devices; the first website went online in 1991, and then things started to change.
The 60 models 
The 1960s were the original skin-diver case era. The lume of the skin-diver watches from this time has become beige over time. The old radium colour Superluminova ® allows the CB01-GMT to meet the watches coming from this decade. The white arrow contrasts harmoniously with the old radium colour and the raw steel dial and keeps the GMT function easily readable.

The models

The CB01 GMT collection features 6 models. Two COSC chronometers, executed with naked dials only, and 4 automatics.
Prices
COSC chronometer models: CHF 1’750,00
Automatic models: CHF 1’490,00
The CB01 GMT watches are exclusively available from the Watch Angels Store
Technical specifications 
  • 100% Circularly produced
  • Case, dial and buckle in 100% Recycled Stainless Steel – 1.4441 PuReSteel ®
  • Repurposed Soprod  C125 automatic GMT movement (COSC and non-COSC)
  • 39mm diameter
  • Handmade sustainable leather strap (no chemical tanning)
  • 87.59% sustainability score (more than 2x than a comparable price category series swiss made watch)
  • Type of production: top grade, in-house, 100% Swiss made
The Sustainability score
The production and supply chain choices of CB01 GMT the have been made with only one objective in mind: maximising the sustainability score while assuring an aesthetically strong tool watch. The index measures the circularity, origin and transformation score for each component.
Each individual component score is then compared with the theoretical maximum achievable score. The index is an objective value that has been build to measure and compare sustainability improvements on watch projects.

About Cedric Bellon

Cedric Bellon was born in Nantes. He grew up in a  traditional middle-class caring and value-oriented family. From a young age he was fascinated by science, and throughout his academic path he explored geology, ecology and anthropology. His creative vein finally made him graduate in Product Design from the Nantes’s School of Design. At age 27, a personal health issue forced him to bed for several months. During this period, he developed a keen interest in Horology and, naively according to him, he put down a few of his watch ideas on paper and sent them to renown Brands (most of whom would initially not even reply). However, after a while, Bell & Ross and TAG Heuer became his first clients. In 2005, he founded Cedric Bellon & Partner making watch design a full-time career. Since then he has worked for many renown watch brands. He describes himself as the equivalent of a ghost writer for the Watchmaking industry. Among his clients: Longines, Bell & Ross, Hermès, Frederique Constant, Tag Heuer, Graham, Whitings, TechnoMarine, Alpina and others.

Cedric Bellon

Cedric Bellon

Text & Images by Watch Angel

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