Ressence is what happens when a designer approaches the problem of telling time from first principles. Founded in 2010 by Benoît Mintiens in Belgium, the name is a portmanteau of 'Renaissance' and 'essence'. Fitting, as their work takes the essence of time-telling and revolutionizes it. The hyper-legible display Mintiens landed on has come to be known as the Orbital display, a contemporary take on the regulator where seconds, minutes, hours, and days are on individual, ever-changing discs which orbit each other while always staying upright. The genius of this watch lies not in the case design or movement finishing, but rather the 107 components which translate the timekeeping of its base ébauche's minute axle to a display unlike any other.
This is the Type 1 Slim HOD3, a limited edition from Hodinkee in 2023. Hodinkee worked with Ressence to pare back their simplest offering to the very bones, resulting in the most distilled Ressence to date with a partially skeletonized dial. The openwork includes an irregular honeycomb structure, which reveals what Ressence call the Ressence Orbital Convex system, or ROCS for short. The movement is split between a lower half, utilizing a reworked 2824 ébauche, and ROCS upper half. The ROCS comprises 107 components, 27 gears, and 40 jewels, which back-calculate hours, seconds, and days from nothing more than the minute axle as input.
The HOD3 brings a monochromatic experience, with a DLC-coated grade 5 titanium case and black dial. Only the direct time elements are luminous grey. The 42mm case of the Type 1 Slim was designed to hug the wrist as tightly as possibly, with a uniquely sloped lug and 11mm case thinness. The watch wears considerably smaller than its given dimension from a lack of crown. Time is adjusted via a recessed lever on caseback, the design has intentionally done away with any traditional crown.
This is independent watchmaking with no ties to traditional horology. Mintiens' approach is decidedly contemporary, not focused on complication or finishing but rather how much of a watch can be simplified in order to display time as clearly as possible. Their peers in avant-garde time displays such as Urwerk build around aesthetic drama, where Ressence are founded in minimalism. When you pause to contemplate how alike nearly all wristwatches are, but merit in Mintiens' pursuit becomes obvious.
