Imaginative and (dare I say) genius watchmaker Benoit Mintiens has let loose an advance preview of his new Ressence Type 3 replica watch that he will be showcasing at Baselworld 2015 in a couple weeks. Behold, the Ressence “New Type 3” (lose your creativity there for a minute, did you Benoit?). Let me say it another way: Tony Faddell’s watch has been upgraded (hey, it happens). The New Type 3 is distinguished with a new display indicator (an oil temperature gauge) and a couple other tweaks which I’ll run down below. Otherwise, the piece keeps with the look and feel of the original Type 3.Basically, if you are swimming in the polar seas or relaxing in a sauna, the Ressence Type 3 might not read time as accurately as it should.
If you are not familiar with the Ressence Type 3 replica watch, I strongly encourage you to check out my in-depth explanation (including a very illustrative video) of the Type 3 that I posted a few months after my face-to-face meeting with Ressence Founder Benoit Mintiens at Baselworld 2013. If you’d rather not click over now, here is the essence of my take on the Ressence type 3 (excerpted):
I would submit that the Ressence Type 3 is one of the most original and unconventional watches you will ever see. Not only the design but also the way you wind and regulate this watch. For starters, the watch dial chamber is filled with liquid. And there is no crown, as you can see (its on the back of the case, and only works when you set the watch on its dial). What you can’t see is that, via a carefully designed titanium membrane, the liquid-filled dial is 100% separated from the movement. That’s right — the movement (which is of course responsible for keeping the time), is physically separated from the dial (which of course is responsible for dispalying the time). How can this be? Information from the movement is transmitted to the dial indications by micro-magnetic fields. This is what can happen — perhaps only happen — when someone completely outside of the “traditional” watch industry sets forth their own definition of what a wristwatch is and can be. The result — the Ressence Type 3 — is nothing short of spectacular.
The New Type 3 fake watch is really just an evolution of the original. The addition of a temperature gauge is interesting to me. I wonder if some customers experienced sub-optimal timekeeping which was subsequently attributed to temperature variations (a problem, by the way, that HYT, another liquid timekeeping technology watchmaker, also experienced). Perhaps. Or, perhaps, Ressence just wanted to make the Type 3 dial even more interesting.
Knowing that the oil inside the time display module is sensitive to temperature changes, the temperature indicator thus suggests to the wearer that the watch is running at, or near, optimum. Temperature gauge display functions via a bimetallic spring immediately beneath the dial which fluctuates in response to temperature changes ranging from -5 to 55 degrees Celsius ( 23F to 131F). Though without further information on temperature tolerances, the gauge seems a general indicator. but I get the point.
As I mentioned above, there are a couple other minor changes but ones that I think make the watch more legible. First, the seconds display (also seen above) — I’m actually not sure if there has been a functional change here or not so this is an open question for me. The original Type 3 had a 360 seconds (6 minutes) seconds display with 6 numerical markers and 6 intermediary hashes. This slower rate was due to the fact that, at 60 secs/rotation, the the drag coefficient of a seconds have moving through oil would have created excessive wear on the components. However we see here that the New Type 3 seconds display has 8 hashes; maybe I’m missing something here, but it is unclear to me how may seconds are represented by each hash or a full rotation.
Next, the day of week display. It is now a bit more well defined with the use of seven arcs which together form a circle; the two which are circled in orange are, of course, Saturday and Sunday. Previously the day of week gauge was a series of hash marks, with Sat/Sun being white vs. the others being white outlined. The new format is much more legible and I prefer it to the original:
Price: $42,000.
And if you haven’t seen it already, now would be the time to check out my original, in-depth article and video on the Ressence Type 3, right here>>>