When oil above the dial becomes the near-sighted's best friend, Ressence Type 3 BBB
Plenty of oil in the watch case and not just a few drops, so that the movement runs smoothly. That is Belgian Ressence's award-winning recipe. Ressence Type 3 BBB limited edition – an oil-filled mechanical watch that will be produced in a limited edition of 200 pieces during 2022. Not one watch more or less will be made of this model – says Benoît Minitiens, Belgian industrial designer and founder of Ressence – that's it. Eqotime's Britta Rossander has taken a look at the unique model.
Text: Britta Rossander
Plenty of oil in the watch case and not just a few drops to make the movement run smoothly. That's Belgian Ressence's award-winning recipe. Ressence Type 3 BBB limited edition – an oil-filled mechanical watch that will be produced in a limited edition of 200 pieces during 2022. Not one watch more or less will there be of this model – says Benoît Minitiens, Belgian industrial designer and founder of Ressence – that's it. Eqotime's Britta Rossander has taken a look at the unique model.
Type 3 BBB is of course a continuation of the Type 3B and Type 3BB. With its ultimate monochrome (single-coloured) execution it is immediately recognisable to those who have familiarized themselves with Ressence's crown-free case design. The crown sits on the back of the case with crystal that reaches out to the edge, no visible case ring here. The case in titanium grade 5 with polished DLC coating. That makes it resemble the perfect smooth black stone one might be lucky to find on a beach.
Ressence gladly devotes itself to challenging the status quo of mechanical watchmaking. Type 3BBB is a continuation of the development found in the Type 3B and Type 3BB. And as such it is the ultimate monochrome execution of the revolutionary oil-filled mechanical watch that was first launched in 2013. The name stands for 'Black, Black, Black' referring to the watch's reduced colour palette. Type 3BBB will be manufactured over one year until December 31, 2022. Ressence's crown-free case design with the sapphire crystal that goes edge-to-edge on both the front and back of the watch, makes the Type 3BBB resemble a perfectly smooth, black stone. A stone that has been worn by water and the tooth of time and therefore acquired a rounded perfect ergonomic shape.
All colour is gone from the indicators, only white and light grey remain as contrast against the black background. And a difference from the earlier Type3 models is that SuperLuminova has been changed from blue to green.
Oil-filled
The oil-filled chamber between sapphire crystal and dial provides unsurpassed readability. Think of the Rolex date display that came about after Hans Wilsdorf read the date through a drop of water… All information is shown in a single flat plane, much like words written on a piece of paper, which gives fantastic readability. Oil and glass have similar refraction of light. When the space between the dial and the crystal is filled with oil, the eye is tricked into temporarily losing its depth perception. The result is that the watch's dial appears to come closer. And one perceives it as if there is no crystal between eye and dial.
Ressence has constructed an ingenious two-chamber system inside the case to keep the mechanical movement and the oil separated. If the top sapphire crystal breaks it's just a matter of having it replaced at the watchmaker – the oil is in the next layer.
The case is 44 mm, the parts in the movement number 376, and the price for this coal-black delicacy is 328 500 kronor + tax. And amusingly enough there is a retailer of the brand in Sweden. Bo Bergren Urhandel in Stockholm, with Petter Berggren (third generation) at the helm has recently become a retailer of Ressence.
