Ressence

Benoît Mintiens is an industrial designer, not a watchmaker. He spent his career designing trains, aircraft interiors, and consumer products, and founded Ressence in Antwerp in 2010 after concluding that the wristwatch had a fundamental design problem nobody had addressed: hands sit above the dial, casting shadows and creating visual clutter, and the arrangement exists only because that is how it has always been done.

His solution was to remove the hands entirely. The Ressence Orbital Convex System uses discs rotating within discs — the whole dial turns, with satellite subdials counter-rotating on it to keep their indications upright. The result is a completely flat surface with no hands above it, and time displayed by markings that continuously reorganise themselves.

The Type 3 went further, filling the upper section of the case with oil. Because the refractive index of the oil is close to that of sapphire, the display appears painted directly onto the crystal with no visible depth, and remains legible from any angle underwater. Managing thermal expansion of the fluid required a bellows system Mintiens developed specifically.

The watches have no crown; setting and winding are done by turning the caseback.

Ressence remains independent, produces a few hundred pieces annually, and has won multiple GPHG awards.

Ressence holds 1 model, from £23,950 to £23,950. Half cost less than £23,950, and a quarter less than £23,950. 1 of 1 is automatic. 1 is stocked by more than one retailer, giving 2 offers in total. Prices are checked nightly against the retailers’ own feeds.

2010

Benoît Mintiens founds Ressence in Antwerp.

2013

The Type 1 introduces the Orbital Convex System.

2015

The oil-filled Type 3 eliminates visual depth in the display.

2018

The Type 2 adds an electromechanical setting module.