Category: Ressence

Frank Geelen’s Top 10 of the SIHH 2017

The SIHH 2017 ended already a few weeks ago, and our own Xavier an Brice already shared their favorites of this year’s Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. In the mean time I’ve been busy, among others with a trip to the far north of Finland with Porsche and Porsche Design. While drifting on ice with a host of 911’s, I got to experience how perfectly both brands match, and I got a lot of hands-on time with the 1919 Chronograph that Porsche Design introduced at Baselworld last year. Later more about that, but now it’s time to list my top 10 watches from the SIHH.

8 years ago

Brice Goulard’s Top 10 of the SIHH 2017

First one to pull the trigger was Xavier, with his Top 10 watches of the SIHH 2017. It was not fair to leave that task to him only, so I had to do the job too. Still, picking up my 10 favorite pieces of the Geneva-based fair was not easy. Not that there was not enough material this year – we’ve seen many interesting propositions, both dream-watches or more commercial offers – but it’s always difficult to set barriers. Whatever, here they are, my 10 favorite watches of the SIHH 2017 (plus a few special mentions, some watches or policies dear to my heat…)

8 years ago

The Ressence Type 1 Squared – A Subtle and Dressier Take on the “Beyond Hands” Concept (Review)

When just before the SIHH 2017, we, at the Monochrome redaction, received the news about a new Ressence Type 1, I have to admit that I was personally quite curious. From what I could see on the photos, this new “Squared” was clean, more horological, slimmer and with a shape that I love, an elegant cushion. Still, nothing worth a try on the wrist (you can’t imagine how many deceptions I had after strapping on the wrist a watch that I loved on photos). And, oh boys and girls, what a pleasant surprise I had with the Ressence Type 1 Squared…

8 years ago

Press Release – RESSENCE TYPE 1 “Squared”

RESSENCE Watches is a relatively young brand in the watch industry and took many by surprise when they unveiled their prototypes at Baselworld in 2010. Benoit Mintiens, the founder and creative mind of RESSENCE Watches had a simple concept in mind when designing his watches which was to keep users at the core of his design. RESSENCE watches are…

8 years ago

SIHH 2017 – Ressence Type 1 “Squared”, the new Cushion-Shaped Version of The Minimalistic Watch

With Ressence, everything started with a style, a shape and a perception of the watch that were rather different from the traditional codes of watchmaking. Very round, almost void of case, smooth, without crown, almost entirely focused on the dial and the display, this concept used on the Type 1, and even emphasized on the Type 3, was the hallmark of the brand. Then came the Type 5, a dive watch which combined the Orbital Convex display with what was a proper materialized case. Today, Ressence comes with its fourth watch, the Type 12 (or Type 1 “Squared”), less dematerialized and more horological than before, in an assertive cushion-shaped case. Still, the fantastic “Beyond Hands” display of the brand has been kept.

8 years ago

Christmas Buying Guide – 5 Best Dive / Sports Watches of 2016

Today, our readers on the other side of the Atlantic are celebrating Thanksgiving, and while this day doesn’t make a lot of sense for those in Old Europe or Asia, it however opens the festive season. And who says festive season says Christmas and our usual buying guides – and also an overview of the best watches we’ve seen this year. After long debates and fights at the Monochrome-Watches headquarters (not literally, no worries), here are our 5 Best Dive / Sports Watches of 2016, for all budgets and tastes.

8 years ago

Review – Ressence Type 3, The Oil-Filled Watch That Goes Beyond Hands

When it comes to unique displays of the time, you though you’ve already seen everything: wandering hours, chains, magnetic balls, liquid-filled capillary, rotating prisms… Then, in terms of complications and construction of the overall watch, you thought the same. Well, you’d better look at this watch, the Ressence Type 3, simply because it has both a very special display and an almost unique construction. Certainly, the Type 3 doesn’t have the visual flamboyance of a MB&F, the bold high-tech design of an URWERK or the apparent complexity of an HYT. However, under this restrained attitude and this relative discretion hides a watch filled with oil and that does not use hands to display the time. And that makes the Ressence Type 3 very special to us.

8 years ago

Unanimous Predictions In The Sports Category Of The 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève

Quill & Pad’s early 2016 Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève predictions in which the team picks favorites and explains why. In contention this year are the Tudor Black Bay Dark, the Eberhard & Co. Scafograf 300, Montblanc’s TimeWalker ExoTourbillon Minute Chronograph Limited Edition, the TAG Heuer Heuer Monza Chronograph, Ressence’s Type 5b, and the Ulysse Nardin Grand Deck Marine Tourbillon.

8 years ago

My Summer with the Ressence Type 5 (and does it really have zero reflection under water)

If you remember, back in December 2015, when Benoît Mintiens (the founder of Ressence) showed me the Ressence Type 5 for the first time, I actually ended my article with a wish to have this watch as my summer watch. The team of Ressence heard my wish and granted it so here we are, with my review of this great, sort of unique watch, which I’ve been wearing for an entire summer. Usually I tend to be rather technical and factual in my reviews, but here I’m going to be slightly more focused on the wearability and on the feelings, trying to position myself as the owner of this watch. Here are my thoughts after my summer with the Ressence Type 5 on the wrist.

8 years ago