4 Current Watch Beauties with a Beads of Rice Bracelet

You either love them or hate them: stainless steel bracelets in the “beads of rice” style. The name says it all, as their appearance is reminiscent of grains of rice laid side by side, giving “BOR” bracelets the elegant look loved by so many.

Although many watch brands have adopted this style of bracelet over the years, it is now generally agreed upon that the legendary company Gay Frères, founded in 1835 by Jean-Pierre Gay and Gaspard Tissot, was the driving force behind its development. Originally successful with the sale of pocket watch chains, the company also quickly entered into the production of various other types of bracelets. Rolex was one of the first major customers to order the original Oyster bracelets from Gay Frères.

At the beginning of the 1940s, the Beads of Rice bracelet was officially introduced to the watch world and also promptly purchased by key players as Patek Philippe and Vacheron Constantin. (If you want to know more about it, here is an excellent summary).

Even almost 100 years after its invention, the bracelet still enjoys a huge fan base due to its inimitable vintage charm. Watch brands therefore still use it in their current line-ups. We’ve compiled our Top 4:

4) Rado Captain Cook

With the Captain Cook, Rado has revived a design from 1962 and has given the watch, seen here in the green version (Ref. 01.763.0505.3.031), the ideal bracelet. A fitting choice, considering that the original Captain Cook was already equipped with the same style of bracelet.

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3) Baltic Aquascaphe

At this point, we recommend you to just take a look at our Baltic page and video to admire the beautiful Aquascaphe with its Beads of Rice bracelet in action.

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2) TAG Heuer Heritage Autavia

The name “Heritage” already suggests that this Heuer Autavia is inspired by older times, and indeed, this reference is based on a watch from 1962. True to the original, the Beads of Rice bracelet was also adopted for this 2017 re-edition because anything else would just be a denial of its heritage.

1) DOXA Sub 200

The diving watch specialists at Doxa, who in 1969 launched the Doxa Sub 300 T Conquistador – the first watch with a helium valve (which Rolex in turn patented as early as 1967) – presented this pretty three-hand watch at Baselworld 2019: the Doxa Sub 200. A visual highlight is surely its Beads of Rice bracelet with Doxa’s fish symbol engraved on the buckle.

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