Ressence’s Colorful Addition Debuts in Type 1 Squared X

Ressence was born in 2010 with a clear purpose: improving the function of the mechanical watch in the 21st century context. After refining legibility, daily wearability and overall intuitiveness, the innovative company’s next pursuit is dedicated to being more conscious of the passage of time.

Ressence wants us to make better use of our time by focusing on our relation to it. This purposeful ambition continues now with the new Type 1 Squared X, a limited-edition focused on the speed of reading.

The first decade of a brand is always an important milestone. For Ressence, it has been a meaningful journey so far, with a multitude of important moments. Memorably the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève award in 2013 gave Ressence an international resonance. Becoming a member of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie in 2016 was recognition from industry insiders. It anchored the brand in the Fine-Watchmaking category. But it is the successful launch of Ressence’s patented electronic crown, the e-Crown ®, that was without doubt the most challenging and rewarding step. Demonstrating that the brand will relentlessly move forward, out of its comfort zone and continue to approach fine watchmaking differently.

Collection X: Ressence continues to change the way and the why we experience watches by introducing the fourth and last piece in its X collection. Collection X marks the first 10 years and brings the brand manifesto to life. Visually Ressence created a dedicated symbol for the collection that is the fusion of an X, or ten in Latin, and an hourglass. It sits proudly on the hour disc of the Type 1 Squared X.

Each of the four watches of the Collection X are limited to 40 pieces, with the dark olive-green color being the common thread linking all pieces.

The collection focus continues to be the better utilization of time through design – graphically making us more aware of the importance of passing time.

Colors. A new time perspective: As humans we seem to have forgotten how to read time without looking at a watch. Today we are taught to look at hands on a dial to indicate a point in time. But what if we could challenge that paradigm? What if being inspired by the position of the sun or feeling the daylight’s brightness was more effective?

Our thinking started a few years ago when Ressence was approached by Professor Christopher Harvey of the department of neuroscience at Harvard. At that time, Prof. Harvey was studying the way our brain makes sense of information displayed on a watch dial and how it understands time. He was studying the process that transforms a graphical representation of time into an orientation in the dimension of time.

One of his findings was that the way watches with hands represent time might not be the most efficient way to indicate multidimensional information in the glimpse of an eye. According to Prof. Harvey the unique and patented Ressence dial (ROCS) corresponds to a more natural way of representing information. Ressence was onto something.

Another output of his study was that colors are the easiest and hence the fastest way for our brain to determine a moment in time. After all, it is natural light that regulates our biological clock, not a watch.

Form Follows Nature: The new patented system, a world premiere, is Ressence’s first attempt to make those conclusions a reality. It is not about representing time in the most precise way but rather in the most efficient way. Instead of focusing on precision, Ressence’s new complication is about the speed and ease of reading.

The Time by color system on the Type 1 Squared X represents a moment in a day by a mix of colors.

The dedicated sub dial contains 48 colored ceramic micro-balls (0,9mm of diameter) from 4 different colors (yellow, grey, blue and black) but only shows a maximum of 3 colors at once.

Each moment in time has a unique mix of colors. In the morning (starting at 6am), the yellow is dominating while in the evening (starting at 6pm) it is blue that prevails.

The Type 1 Squared X rests on the Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS), the in-house developed (and patented) horological unit, which features discs that continually orbit around one another. The dial is dark olive-green with a hint of light green and orange.

It features a cushion shape case in grade 5 titanium (a first for a Type 1 Squared) that subtly plays with a few classic watch codes for a more assertive wrist presence. The Type 1 Squared 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.

A new colorful and natural ritual on your wrist.

The Type 1 Squared X works with nature, not against it.