Why Ressence waited 16 years to make its own movement

For many in luxury watchmaking, the sector’s thriving independent scene is defined by the complex original movements conjured by its lodestar watchmakers. Luminaries such as Philippe Dufour, Roger Smith and Rexhep Rexhepi have earned their status by turning horology, the science of watchmaking, into an art form.

Benoît Mintiens has always seen it differently. “The majority of watches are created by watchmakers, so they begin with the movement,” says the Belgian industrial designer, who founded his high-end watch company Ressence in 2010. “But at Ressence, the focus is not watchmaking but industrial design. We believe you first design the relationship, then the function and then the system that drives it.”

This would explain why, 16 years since its first watch, Ressence is only now introducing its first “in-house” movement. Ressence Werk RW-01, an automatic with a 60-hour power reserve and power reserve indication, debuts in a new watch called Type 11 at Watches and Wonders in Geneva on Tuesday. It becomes the first movement designed by Mintiens and the first that was developed explicitly for the signature Ressence Orbital Convex System — or ROCS. “We are at the last step,” says Mintiens. “For a normal brand it would be the opposite. For us, it’s logical.”

Until now, Ressence watches have run on off-the-shelf movements supplied by Swatch Group company ETA that are specially adapted to integrate and drive the ROCS series of curved rotating discs that relay the time in place of conventional hands.

These have had their drawbacks, though, sometimes making Ressence watches a little thick or difficult to wind and set, challenges that Mintiens does not hide from. Over time, complex challenges with power delivery and shock resistance have had to be countered, too.

Mintiens believes the RW-01 will make these compromises a thing of the past. “We normally apply movements to something they’re not designed for,” he says. “But all these problems we had, we solved them by having our own movement.”

The new movement could also alter the way the company is perceived, because of watch enthusiasts’ appetite for innovative mechanical movements. But Mintiens is nervous of what he sees as a trap that has been fooling buyers for years.

Around 15 years ago, Swatch Group began withdrawing supply of its movements to its competitors, forcing groups such as Richemont (Cartier, IWC, Panerai) and LVMH (Tag Heuer, Hublot) to invest heavily in movement creation. Many brands upped their prices to account for the cost of developing in-house or “manufacture” mechanical calibres, but without greatly improving performance, according to Mintiens.

“Brands have had to explain why their watches became so much more expensive, so they invented the marketing term ‘manufacture’ to hide the fact they were unprepared and not industrial enough to make these movements at the same cost as Swatch did,” he argues.

“This has left a very deep impression on our industry, making people believe that if a watch doesn’t have an in-house movement it’s less worthy, less high-end,” he adds.

Mintiens says that while he wanted a bespoke movement for his designs, he also wanted to avoid a big price increase. He approached four suppliers with a tight budget and told them he would only commission a movement that “would not double the cost of our watches”. Only one, the highly regarded Swiss company Concepto, was ready to deliver to Mintiens’ terms, which included permitting him to design the main architecture of the movement, which is almost triangular in shape, rather than round like most movements.

Base calibres, as time-only movements are sometimes known, can cost millions to deliver, but Mintiens says his cost much less, confirming only that the 18-month process has cost his company a low six-figure sum.

The Ressence Type 11 will be available in 3 colours including Sky . . . 

. . . and Latte

The RW-01, he says, fits Ressence’s approach to watchmaking. “You need something to drive the dial, an engine, a workhorse,” he says. “But our philosophy is more Germanic and less poetic. We’re not putting €100,000 into [the finishing technique] anglage.”

The watch is not without its flamboyant touches, though. The Type 11 has a quirky power reserve indication based on a system devised for a concept piece released on the brand’s 10th anniversary. Instead of a hand, the patented display uses a ring of 48 coloured ceramic micro-balls that rotate through an aperture to show the power remaining. The Type 11 colour palette adds a flourish, too, with models in “latte”, “pine” and “sky”.

The result is what Mintiens calls “a now watch” because it is “designed according to the logic of 21st-century design and based on the proportions of a classic watch but with a modern feel”. Its 41mm grade 5 titanium case is 11mm thick and weighs 49 grammes on a leather strap, rising to 65 on a grade 5 titanium bracelet. It will retail for £22,000, roughly double the brand’s current entry-level Type 9, which shows only hours and minutes, but half its Type 3 Marc Newson, which was released late last year.

Mintiens expects the RW-01 to drive the brand forward into its next phase. Ressence increased revenues by 12.5 per cent in 2025 to “a little above €8mn” against sales of 700 watches, he adds. The aim, he says, is to produce 750 RW-01 movements a year within three years. Ressence will continue to use outsourced movements, he adds, noting that an “entry-level” piece powered by an adapted ETA movement is scheduled for release in November.

“The next five years are going to be very important for us to become a more established organisation,” says Mintiens. “We have to blend in without being the same, so that people have a frame of reference when they’re making decisions. But we will never be a mainstream brand.”