Ressence Type 1 Slim X

PRESS RELEASE 7 July

Ressence was born in 2010 with a clear purpose in mind: improving the function of the mechanical watch in the 21st century context. This summer the brand presents the new Type 1 Slim X, a limited-edition piece marking its 10th anniversary. 

There were a few brands and watch manufacturers who were pretty active in the recent months, despite of the challenging situation caused by the Covid-19. Ressence is certainly among them. They had a great charity initiative together with Sotheby’s – in April they were joining forces against the coronavirus and launch a competition to design a unique watch and support a Covid-19 research programme. Since then the manufacture created the piece in metal and the piece will be offered at the Sotheby’s Hong Kong “Important Watches” auction on 11 July.

Now Ressence celebrates its 10th anniversary and on the occasion the limited edition Type 1 Slim X was just launched. 

Ever since I started attending watchmaking events, I have paid special attention to independent brands. These manufactures offer unparalleled excitement due to two facts: being considerably smaller than their big brothers they have more personality and they possess the luxury of doing what they want to do. These ateliers want to be niche with the desire to grow limited sized, but they have loyal and zealous fan clubs. In the current economical circumstances it is not easy to grow or even survive, so the 10th anniversary is an important milestone for any company. 

Benoît Mintiens, the founder or Ressence is an industrial designer who already had a portfolio of designs to his credit and experiences in other fields of engineering. The complex nature of watches offered him a great field of research and as a result he encapsulated time in a fresh and really novel setting. The Type 3 timepiece received the Horological Revelation Prize of the 13th Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève. In 2016 becoming a member of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie acted as recognition from industry insiders. The successful launch of Ressence’s patented electronic crown, the e-Crown ® was a solid sign again that the brand is approaching fine watchmaking differently. 

Collection X – Ressence Type 1 Slim X

The Collection X marks the first decade of Ressence with four watches, each is limited to 40 pieces and shares the main dark olive-green colour.

Ressence created a dedicated visual symbol for the collection that is the fusion of an X, or ten in Latin, and an hourglass – as you can see the small symbol on the hour disc of the Type 1 Slim X. The piece includes 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 German silver dial is equally divided into two separate finishes; matte on one half and circular on the other half. 

On the minute and the hour discs, the two finishes are a graphical extension of the hands. Once in motion, you can literally observe the passage of time – as Ressence’s contemporary and wearable interpretation of an hourglass. 

The Grade 5 titanium 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 olive green calfskin strap completes the whole dark green look.

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. 

The idea of Type 1 Slim X is to remind us that every minute counts and it is worth to consider a pause time to time – as the brand’s manifesto describes.

Source: press release. Photo credits: Ressence
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