News • 10 Oct 2023
The Hour Glass Welcomes Ressence to Malaysia
Founded by Benoît Mintiens in 2010, Ressence reimagines the elements essential to watchmaking. Distinct to the brand is its iconic aesthetic, where the display is innovatively set on different subdials that rotate as time passes.
Drawing on his experience as an industrial designer, Benoît Mintiens conceived his first horological creation by considering what a watch might look like if it were a 21st century invention based on today’s cognitive technologies and sciences. This holistic approach places the end user experience at the heart of his work.
Built on the expertise of today, crafted with today’s technology, and designed for tomorrow: this is the underlying philosophy of Ressence.
Interview: Benoît Mintiens on Design
The Collection
Representing an independent way of thinking about fine watchmaking, Ressence takes on an industrial design philosophy that seeks to be progressive with an unapologetic contemporary aesthetic.
Key to this is the smooth, pebble-like profile on all its watches, achieved by the unique crown-free design topped with a domed sapphire crystal. Instead of a crown, the watches are wound and adjusted by a recessed lever that flips out from the case back.
Every watch in the current Ressence collection features the patented Ressence Orbital Convex System (or ROCS). This system blends the different information layers on a traditional watch into an animated display on a single surface, using the same reading pattern as traditional dials with hands indicating the time, but with improved reading ergonomics. The system places convex discs of 125mm radius with three or four bi-axial satellites inclined to varying degrees. The subdials, and the main disc continually revolve, like moons around a planet. It is this very system that gives Ressence its most distinctive look, where the dial indications give time a certain sense of tactility, while allowing for a more intuitive reading as well.
The Hour Glass is proud to be the Official Retailer of Ressence in Malaysia.