ressence’s benoît mintiens talks watchmaking marvels inside TYPE 3 BB2

The Ressence type 3 BB 2 watch

When peering into the glossy black surface of Ressence’s TYPE 3 BB2 watch, a crafted illusion takes place. The shining, spinning display of date, hour, and minute is not a product of LEDs or circuit boards. Instead, the modern watch company has achieved a completely mechanical watch with a distinctly futuristic air thanks to a few optical tricks, oil, and a couple hundred, skillfully-designed mechanical pieces. In designboom’s interview, Ressence’s founder and designer Benoît Mintiens reveals the mechanical and philosophical components that drive his watches, specifically the 2024 Red Dot Design Award-winning ‘Best of the Best’ TYPE 3 BB2.

the Ressence TYPE 3 BB2 won the 2024 Red Dot Design Award-winning ‘Best of the Best’

all images courtesy of Ressence Watches

Founded in 2010 by industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, Ressence brings a 21st century methodology to traditional watchmaking. Marrying Swiss-made calibers with self-engineered parts, the company has built a niche for itself in the industry. At the heart of their design philosophy is a profound consideration for the user-product relationship. This approach involves stripping away non-essential elements, resulting in watches that don’t just tell time, but provides a crucial service.

‘When we design our watches, we first design the relationship with the watch. We start to define what the interaction with the product will be: what is the function and what is the user’s context. Then we think about what functionalities and features we want to add… It’s really about the functional and emotional connection that we want the user to develop with his watch,’ says Ressence founder and designer, Benoît Mintiens, on going from user needs to building out the product.

Ressence – and their designs like the TYPE 3 BB2 – are profoundly consider the user-product relationship

Dematerialization of an analog watch

Through a process of ‘dematerialization,’ traditional watch components were eliminated from the surface of TYPE 3 BB2 (Black Black 2). All the hands, dials, and embellishments normally found on a watch are abstracted to minimalist graphics arranged on a slick, black background. This reduction to a seemingly two-dimensional, screen-like interface hides the nearly 400 components that give the piece its time-telling ability. Focusing on functionality, simplicity, and legibility, this quasi-digital, all-black look differentiates this piece from the rest of the Ressence collection.

‘Because of its extreme dematerialization, the wearer doesn’t even feel the components anymore. Looking at it, there’s just a kind of black lacquer with graphs on it… many people even think it’s a digital watch. It’s this very hyper-minimalism that we integrate in the watch.’ remarks Mintiens on the watch’s particularly digital aesthetic.

traditional watch components were eliminated from the surface of through a process of ‘dematerialization’

This digital screen effect is achieved through the particular oil-filled construction of the watch. The oil serves two crucial purposes. First, underneath a convex, sapphire dome is a chamber filled with 3.57 ml of oil. This bends light, much like a magnifying glass, to project the graphic elements onto the inner surface of the crystal. Second, the inky black background is achieved with a carbon layer on the titanium components. The oil comes back again, working like a drop of water on a stone, making this coating appear even darker.

‘By combining many things that are unique to Ressence, we get to the effect [of the TYPE 3 BB2]: its three-dimensional construction, discs, black color, and oil. All these different parameters combine to generate these very special effects with the product.’ says Mintiens, emphasizing how the process expertise inherent to Ressence enabled this optical marvel.

the digital screen effect is achieved through the particular oil-filled construction of the watch

To achieve a smooth, flush integration of the graphic elements with the surface, precision milling is employed. Each line is meticulously carved out, creating a precise groove. This cavity is then filled with luminous material, Grade A Super-LumiNova®, to achieve a uniform layer height. However, the challenge lies in the inherent roundness of the milling process, which necessitates a round start and end to every line.

With these technical constraints, Mintiens adds, ‘I also designed the font. It is the consequence of the way we produce the watches and the discs. On most watches, manufacturers put on or print the dial. But on a Ressence watch, nothing sticks out. We mill out the dials. That’s why the Ressence font looks like it does because it’s made by a mill.’

precision governs every element of the timepiece design

All the elements combine to create a striking flatness on the surface of the watch, despite its actual dome shape the oil chamber cancels out the distortion caused by the refraction of light, ensuring exceptional readability at any angle relative to the wearer. It also remains easy to read, regardless of the lighting conditions, even in the dark, thanks to the properties of the filling used in the engraved indications. To compensate for the oil’s expansion or contraction under varying thermal conditions, Ressence has developed a Bellows System. It is a self-equilibrating pressure-balance system that maintains an even pressure and prevents any negative impact on performance. The Bellows System is also represented on the watch face with a temperature gauge.

Prioritizing readability motivates TYPE 3 BB2’s flatness, Mintiens talks about the visual perception science behind this by saying, ‘if you make everything two-dimensional, a bit like words on paper, your left eye and your right eye see the same thing. That’s why people can read a piece of paper very quickly. That’s what I’ve done. I made, like words on a paper, a two-dimensional dial. I applied the logic of a dynamic, flat screen to a mechanical watch.’

a striking flatness on the surface – despite its actual dome shape – aids readability, as seen in the white TYPE 3

The poetry of mechanical things

To achieve the specificity in form and function, Ressence has made great strides in their manufacturing processes. They are constantly striving to simplify the aesthetics of time telling. This is why they design their components in-house.

Mintiens desire for minimalism drives the design process because, ‘it’s a lot more complicated to do things simply than make them complicated. Additionally, everything we do has never been done. In terms of the logic of a Ressence and all its parts: we don’t have a reference to something that already exists. We even see it in the watchmakers we work with. We need to train them again, even if they come from very good schools or come from very good brands… because it’s a completely different process. We design everything in-house because my aim for Ressence was to create a new reality within watchmaking.’

the Ressence TYPE 3 has evolved from a single watch that engages physics like no other into a collection of four

Making a mechanical watch with this level of fidelity, precision, and vision is undoubtedly difficult. Nevertheless, Mintien explains why he’s pursued this, saying, ‘the empathy that we feel for mechanical things is a lot higher than the empathy that we feel from digital things… Even if the wearer is not technical, they can locate the little gears, realize the oil is a bit dry, or that there is a little dust blocking gears. It’s going to be fixable. The wearer understands what’s happening in their watch. It ticks! It’s that sound! It’s alive! All these elements generate empathy. That’s exactly what I aimed to achieve with Ressence: to create a meaningful, lovable connection with this companion on your wrist.’

The Ressence TYPE 3 has evolved from a single watch that engages physics like no other into a collection of four, including the BB2. As recognized with its ‘Best of the Best’ winner in the 2024 Red Dot Design Award, the TYPE 3 BB2 takes this distinction further. It augments readability, innovates traditional watchmaking, and creates a marvel on your wrist.

the timepiece is highyl deserved of its ‘Best of the Best’ winner in the 2024 Red Dot Design Award

project info:

brand: Ressence | @ressence_watches

founder: Benoît Mintiens

model: TYPE 3 BB2 (Black Black 2)

functions: Hours, Minutes, Runner (180 seconds), Day, Date, Oil Temperature

movement: Patented ROCS 3.5 – Ressence Orbital Convex System – module driven by the, minute axle of a customised 2824/2 base calibre, Caseback winding and day/date/time setting, Magnetic transmission, Compensating Bellows System, Self-winding, 36 hours power reserve, 28,800 vibrations per hour, 47 jewels, 44 gears, 4 ball bearings,

dial: Convex Grade 5 titanium discs (250mm diameter) with four eccentric biaxial satellites inclined at 3° (hours), 4,75° (oil temperature and days of the week) and 6.25° (runner), Engraved indications filled with green Grade A Super-LumiNova®

case: Matt Grade 5 titanium, Two separate sealed chambers with upper half filled with 3.57 ml of oil, Double-domed sapphire crystal top and bottom with both sides anti-reflective coating, 44 mm (diameter) x 15mm (thickness), 1 ATM splash-resistance

buckle & strap: Titanium ardillon buckle, Honeycomb strap(22/22mm)

components: 387 components / 79 grams