Ressence Type 1N, Titanium

Changing How We Read Time 

While the layout of a dial and how we read it may now seem like second nature, we often forget that it is something that is taught to us, rather than it being entirely intuitive. Ressence’s watches use an “orbital system” that divides the dial into different subdials, indicating days, hours, minutes, and seconds, allowing the wearer to gather a more intuitive sense of time from the position of the sub-dials. 

First debuted at Baselworld 2014, the Type 1 followed on from the Type 3, as a reinvention of the original Type 1001, with a new crown-less winding system and thinner case. In comparison to the Type 1001 with its large crown and thick case size, and the Type 3 with its innovative oil-filled dial, the Type 1 expresses perhaps the most minimalist vision of the brand.

The Design

The "N" in Type 1N is intended to represent the night sky, distinguishing the dial by its deep, greyish-blue colour that is made from convex German silver and which blends into the case. The orbital display shows hours and minutes on convex discs, as well as the day of the week, with weekends outlined in yellow. All indicators are filled with generous quantities of Superluminova, for maximum low-light visibility.

With a highly-domed, sapphire crystal encasing the front side of the watch, the Type 1 has an almost pebble-like appearance, clearly influenced by current industrial design trends. The case of this Type 1N is thinner still, due to the absence of a sapphire caseback, with the closed caseback also doubling up as a crown. On the caseback of the watch there is a small retractable lever, which, when setting the time, corresponds exactly to the movement of the discs on the dial (in a ratio of 1-to-1), with each rotation.

Meanwhile, the polished, grade 5 titanium case measures 42 mm, yet wears smaller than expected, due to the absence of the external case seen in traditional watchmaking. The watch also forgoes a traditional crown, increasing the organic feel, with the user instead interacting with the retractable lever on the case-back, to wind the movement and set the time.

The Movement

The watch is split into two modules; a lower half comprised of a customised self-winding ETA 2824/2 ébauche, and a display module, or ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System). Composed of 107 parts, 27 gears and 40 jewels, the gears in the ROCS calculates the hours, seconds and day, taking only the minute as a reference from the movement. In the Type 1, there's a mechanical link between the movement and the ROCS display.

The Set 

This Ressence Type 1N is accompanied by its original outer sleeve and box, in addition to a warranty card, instructional paperwork and a Ressence strap with corresponding buckle.

If sold within the United Kingdom, this Ressence Type 1N will be subject to 20% VAT. 

Closer look