Ressence Type 1 Slim X
The Ressence Type 1 Slim X is the latest creation from the acclaimed Belgium designer, Benoît Mintiens. It displays hours, minutes, seconds and weekdays using the brand’s ingenious system of three rotating dial-side satellites. This particular iteration is made from Grade 5 titanium and weighs a mere 67 grams.
In 2010, Benoît Mintiens, a Belgian industrial designer, founded his high-end watch brand, Ressence. The company’s name is a portmanteau of ‘Rennaisance’ and ‘Essence’. Unusually, Mintiens was not a proven watch designer prior to establishing Ressence. His portfolio of designs included a diverse mix of aircraft cabins, medical devices, leather goods and even high-speed trains.
A key benefit of not being an established watch designer was that Mintiens’ ideas were not coloured by industry norms or inhibited by watchmaking conventions. Mintiens had spent a number of years exploring watch design, commencing with a diamond-set concept in 2004, but when a similar watch subsequently emerged he abandoned that project. However, at this stage, he was already bitten by the horological bug and began designing a new watch in 2007. His initial design included Ressence’s fabulous rotating discs, a characteristic which has since featured on all of the brand’s creations.
While the Belgium Maison produces contemporary creations, it still upholds fine watchmaking techniques.
The brand’s latest model, the Ressence Type 1 Slim X, is formed of Grade 5 titanium. It is a lightweight watch weighing just 67 grams and subscribes to the firm’s ‘no hands’ design philosophy. The model is presented with a dark olive green dial and is produced in a limited series of 40 watches.
The brand’s press release (July 2020)
Ressence was born in 2010 with a clear purpose in mind: improving the function of the mechanical watch in the 21st century context. After refining legibility, daily wearability and overall intuitiveness, the innovative company’s next pursuit is dedicated to being more conscious of the passage of time.
Ressence wants us to make better use of our time by focusing on our relation to it. This purposeful ambition starts now with the new Type 1 Slim X, a limited-edition piece marking its 10th anniversary.
10th anniversary
The first decade of a brand should always be seen as an important milestone. For Ressence it has been a meaningful journey thus far, with a multitude of important moments. Memorably the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award in 2013 gave Ressence an international resonance. Becoming a member of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie in 2016 acted as recognition from industry insiders. It anchored the brand in the fine watchmaking category. But it is the successful launch of Ressence’s patented electronic crown, the e-Crown ®, that was certainly the most challenging and rewarding step. Demonstrating that the brand will relentlessly move forward, out of its comfort zone and continue approaching fine watchmaking differently.
The brand manifesto
Time is an asset.
Every day, we all get 24 hours.
No more, no less.
Still Time seems to slip through our hands.
Modern society, made of fast and over-connected consumerism, pushes us towards meaningless and passive activities.
Ressence is dedicated to changing our relation to Time.
So that we can spend it more consciously,
and make every minute count.
Time is now.
Collection X
Ressence continues to change the way and the why we experience watches by introducing the first piece of their X collection. Collection X marks the first 10 years and brings the brand manifesto to life. Visually Ressence created a dedicated symbol for the collection that is the fusion of an X, or ten in Latin, and an hourglass. It sits proudly on the hour disc of the Type 1 Slim X. Each of the four watches of the Collection X is limited to 40 pieces and shares the main dark olive-green colour. They are all devoted to a better use of time, graphically making us more aware of the time that is passing like an hourglass does.
The watch
Objects primarily designed as tools, such as watches, must evolve with their time. Featuring the emblematic Ressence ever-changing dial, the Type 1 Slim X’s discs have been given a subtle, but focussed handmade makeover.
The new design is, as always with Ressence, driven by functionality. It all starts with the Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS), the in-house developed (and patented) horological unit, which features discs that continually orbit around one another. On the Type 1 Slim X, when the watch indicates midnight or midday, the dark olive-green dial is equally divided into two separate finishes; matte on one half and circular on the other half. In a playful way, the different finishes reinterpret the colour as the light hits the surface.
On the minute and the hour discs, the two finishes are a graphical extension of the hands. Once in motion, magic takes on new meaning. At a glance, you can literally observe the passage of time. It is meant as a modern and wearable interpretation of an hourglass.
The watch is also organic in its form, with tactile curves and domed sapphire glass extending to the very edge of the case, making the watch more sapphire than metal.
The Type 1 Slim X is manually set via a lever on its case back. The watch has no crown, the winding and setting mechanism being the case-back itself, for better ergonomics and allowing a left-right fit.
Intuitive in viewing and motion, understated in its aesthetics, the Type 1 Slim X is a playful and relevant companion that reminds us to conscious that every minute counts.
Further reading