A combination of the words 'Renaissance' and 'essentiel', is a young, independent brand with a unique approach to contemporary watchmaking. Their motto “Built on the expertise of yesterday, crafted with today’s technology, our watches are designed for tomorrow” - very much speaks to this, innnovative identity. Founded by the Belgian industrial designer, Benoît Mintiens in 2010, all of the brand’s watches carry ever-changing ‘regulator’ dials, in which the sub-dials and main-disc continually orbit one another.

First debuted at Baselworld 2013, the Type 3 was the brand's first oil-filled, mechanical watch and a follow-up to the Zero series, which introduced us to Ressence’s method for displaying time. The goal was to achieve a “water drop effect” - optimising legibility from any angle, creating an optical effect of the indications appearing on the glass itself. This achievement was not without its challenges. Until the release of the Type 3, oil-filled watches had only been achieved using quartz movements, as the escapement of a mechanical timepiece struggled to oscillate properly in a viscous fluid.

To keep the mechanical movement separate from the oil, the watch is split into two modules; a lower-half comprised of a customised ETA 2824/2 ébauche, and a hermetically-sealed, display module, or ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System), flooded with 35.7 ml of oil. Composed of 215 parts, 44 gears and 47 jewels, the gears in the ROCS calculates the hours, day and date, taking only the minute as a reference from the movement. Unlike the Type 1, there's no mechanical link between the movement and the ROCS, instead using a magnetic coupling to tie the modules together.

The ’B’ in ‘Type 3BB’ refers to the black finish of the dial and winding rotor, giving the watch an industrial feel and matching the colour of the case. The orbital display shows hours and minutes, as well as the day of the week (with weekends shown in orange) and the date on the outer edge of the dial. All indicators are filled with generous quantities of Superluminova, for maximum low-light visibility.

With temperature change, expansion and contractions of the oil might ordinarily cause bubbles of air (due to oil contraction), or leakage (if the oil expands), and so bellows are integrated in the upper module, which compensates for the changes in oil volume and make the watch wearable in temperatures from -5 to 50 degrees. This can be monitored through the temperature indicator, also seen on the dial side.

With two highly-domed, sapphire crystals covering both sides of the watch, the Type 3 has an almost pebble-like appearance and is clearly influenced by current industrial design trends. The black DLC-coated, grade 5 titanium case measures 44 mm, yet wears smaller than expected, due to the absence of the external case seen in traditional watchmaking. The watch also goes without a traditional crown, increasing the organic feel, with the user instead interacting with the domed, sapphire case-back to wind the movement and set the time.

This Type 3BB is an ex-demonstration piece in mint condition, having recently returned from a full service at the manufacture, and comes with a one year warranty from Ressence. It is available as a complete set, with box, papers, warranty card and black leather strap with corresponding DLC-coated tang buckle.

Viewings can be arranged in Central London by appointment only.

Closer look