The Ressence TYPE 3 BB2 Tells Time Through Liquid Precision
Ressence as a brand and a watchmaker has been around for a little over a decade, but it has since disrupted the world of watches with its new and creative take on telling time. Created by Belgian watchmaker Benoît Mintiens in 2010, Ressence has grown from strength to strength over the years with its oil-based watches. Its latest release in conjunction with Geneva Watch Days, Ressence has introduced the TYPE 3 BB2, a new black edition that further accentuates the contemporary look and feel of the watch that won the ‘Best of the Best’ distinction for this year’s Red Dot Design Awards.
The black edition further accentuates the hyper-minimalist look of the TYPE 3, thanks to the combination of oil with a dark hue. This makes the thin space between the discs invisible and whenever the dial gets in motion, wonders occur with the turning of time itself. While this isn’t exactly a brand-new watch from Ressence, it’s a significant upgrade from the predecessors of the TYPE 3, which was first introduced in 2013.
Ressence TYPE 3 BB2 – Back in Black
The Ressence TYPE 3 BB2 perfectly complements the TYPE 3 in Black, White, and Eucalyptus Green.
At first glance, one would think that the Ressence TYPE 3 BB2 is much like one of its predecessors: the Type 3 BBB. However, upon closer inspection, this isn’t the case due to how well it was created. Its design features a distinctive edge-to-edge and front-to-back sapphire crystal that envelops the watch to resemble a sleek, dark pebble. This has allowed the watch to have a bold and captivating design that also highlights plenty of its capabilities.
The case of the watch is made of grade 5 titanium with a black matte DLC coating to give it a truly blacked-out look and feel. It also has two separately sealed chambers with the upper half filled with oil while its double-domed sapphire crystal top and bottom features an anti-reflective coating on the inside. This protects the watch’s dial as its convex shape is made of grade 5 titanium discs with four eccentric biaxial satellites.
These are inclined at 3° (hours), 4,75° (oil temperature and days of the week) and 6,25° (runner) while the dial of the disc itself is at a 125 mm radius. All this was created to support the beating heart of the watch: the patented ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System) 3.5 module, which is driven by the minute axle of a customised 2824/2 base calibre. This automatic movement is made of 44 gears amongst 47 jewels, which also includes four ball bearings to keep it all in place.
The watch also features a state-of-the-art bellows system, a self-equilibrating pressure-balance system that was specially designed to extend or compress. This allows the bellows system to compensate for changes in the oil’s internal temperature situations, which can range from -5 degrees to +55 degrees Celsius. As for its advanced micro magnetic transmission, it is what helps to connect the two separately sealed chambers in the watch.
As the movement is physically separated from the rest of the watch due to being suspended in oil, the use of micro magnets is crucial. Several micro magnets are positioned on both the upper and lower half of the watch and are connected to each other. This ensures that minute information can be relayed back to the ROCS even if its magnets are separated by a titanium-grade membrane.
It’s in the Name
Ressence has embraced the design ethos of ‘less is more’ with its approach to the TYPE 3 BB2, which features an ultra-minimalist look.
Why BB2, one might ask? Well, the Ressence TYPE 3 BB2 actually stands for ‘Black Black 2’, which carried on the legacy of the 2022 TYPE 3 BBB with its reduced colour palette. Because of this, the dial of the TYPE 3 BB2 features a mostly white and grey inscriptions on the dial, which is further accented by warmer primary colour tones to depict oil temperature indications as well as the weekend.
The engraved indications are also coated in grade A Super-LumiNova for greater readibility, regardless of lighting conditions. This is due to the upper chamber of the watch being flooded with 3.57 ml of oil, thus creating a magnified projection effect that gives the illusion of information displayed directly on the glass. Whether you’re under direct sunlight or in intense lighting, the TYPE 3 BB2 ensures that you will always be able to tell the time no matter the situation.
To secure the watch on your wrist, it will come with a 22 mm black honeycomb strap with a titanium ardillon buckle.
