Independent watchmaker Ressence has an uncanny habit of ensuring time-telling remains an essential aspect of each of its watches. No wonder, it has designed timepieces for easy readability, and Type 8 is a significant example in that context. But what Ressence does more to the watches of simple stature is to give them an artistic upliftment by collaborating with artists. These watches, including the likes of the made in collaboration with Swiss Art & Métiers artisans, are limited in production.
The new entrant from Ressence, in its latest artist collaboration, is a dazzling timepiece featuring a geometric display laden with a joyful color palette. Designed in partnership with German sculptor and painter Daniel Engelberg, this simple two-hand watch with an automatic movement is again based on the Ressence Type 8, but what is visually represented gives the simple look of the Type 8 a new limited-edition resurgence.
Designer:
The optical illusion
Like its base model, the Ressence Type 8 Daniel Engelberg has a dial comprising two smaller concentric circles, where the hour sub-dial with the hand logo rotates along with the moving minute hand on the crescent-shaped outer dial. While that seems pretty straightforward, it’s the Engelberg genius that propels this into the artist’s own ‘inside out’ series of works, where the concentric circle motif creates an illusion of depth on a flat surface.
Here, with the interplay of colors and geometric gradients, the dial appears like an infinity mirror, where the optical illusion creates an incredible sense of depth as you look down on it for a bit. As interesting as the dial, is the caseback of the Ressence Type 8 Daniel Engelberg. All the operations of the watch are handled by its caseback, which when slowly rotated, lets you wind and set the watch to your liking.
The interesting creation
The watch case measuring 43mm is made from grade 5 titanium while the laser-etched titanium dial rests under and domed sapphire crystal, which together with the case makes the watch only 11mm at the thickest point. The watch comes without a crown and has lugs hidden behind the case, which lends the Type 8 Daniel Engelberg a smaller form factor than its actual size suggests. The watch is powered by the ETA-based Ressence ROCS 8 automatic movement that give it a 36-hour power reserve and a kick-start function (like in manual movement) that gets the watch started.
The Ressence Type 8 Daniel Engelberg is delivered in two color variants, each limited to only 40 pieces. Dubbed the DE1 and DE2 they are in a pink and vivid turquoise color scheme. The lively dial colorway of the watches is complemented by matching teal rubber straps. Both the colorways have white hands and indices, which are filled with Super-LumiNova for legibility in the dark. Ressence has made the Type 8 Daniel Engelberg available for preorder now, and it’s likely to start shipping in August for $22,500.
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