Oil may not mix too well with water, but as an innovate new watchmaker has discovered, it goes quite nicely with sapphire crystal and titanium.
Designed by Belgian-based Ressence, the Type 3 is a tasteful new timepiece that operates by using magnets to rotate discs underneath an oil-filled chamber encased in crystal. The face features a six-part display showing hours, minutes, “runner” time (360-second intervals), day of the week, date and oil temperature.
And while the Type 3 looks unmistakably similar to many electronic and smart design, it’s fully analog, and operates using a ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System) movement made of 215 parts, all of which are titanium except the wheels.
To further differentiate the piece, the horological startup eliminated the standard watch hands and crown and engineered the Type 3’s caseback to serve as its winding mechanism. The watch is so well-engineered it even compensates for fluctuations in the oil’s volume level due to temperature changes with a system of seven bellows that compress and expand as needed.
Made of 376 components in all, the 79-gram watch balances “simplicity and complexity” to ensure its owner “constantly finds new meanings and enriched beauty” over a number of years.
As Ressence founder Benoît Mintiens, who used to design guns and trains, explains: “Built on the expertise of yesterday, crafted with today’s technology, our watches are designed for tomorrow.”
The $42,200 MSRP ticker is available at 11 U.S. stores. Hopefully you live near one of ‘em.
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