Ressence’s Type 1 collection shows the evolution of a company that continues to take a radically different approach to any other watchmaker.
When Antwerp-based Ressence showed its first prototypes in 2010, the watch industry had never seen anything of the sort.
Belgian founder and designer Benoît Mintiens had come up with a completely new way to tell the time.
The concept was to do away with conventional watch dials and hands, and instead have magnetically controlled rotating subdials that sit on top of a base movement.
The Zero Series was introduced in the spring of 2011, a year after the company was founded, and Ressence has expanded and riffed on the concept ever since.
There have been many evolutions and special editions, but the same concept of avant-garde watchmaking continues.
The latest Type 1 collection is a direct descendant of the Zero Series and offers the distinct Ressence aesthetic with enhanced comfort, readability, and usability.
Ressence Type 1
The Type is available as both a Round and Squared version, the latter seen as resonating with more traditional tastes.
Both versions have titanium cases that, along with the clean lines, make the watches feel weightless on the wrist.
The commitment to the Ressence aesthetic remains strong, but the brand continues to experiment with different looks, exemplified in last year’s release of the Type 1 Multicolor, which shows off a rainbow of colors.
This year the watchmaker has published the Catalogue Raisonné, which offers collectors a look at Ressence’s most celebrated pieces.
Ressence Type 1 watches cost CHF 18,150 for both the Round and Squared titanium models