Ressence Type 1 Slim From SIHH 2019
Baselworld 2014 was notable for many things. Rolex released their Pepsi GMT-Master II in a white gold case. Omega rolled out their Seamaster 300, a line that later served as the basis for the James Bond watch in Spectre. Lastly, Ressence, small Belgian watch manufacture came to the market with their first Type watch; the Ressence Type 1. The brand had only been alive for 4 years at the time. They had previous models, but the Type 1 was the forerunner of their new evolution. A watch that had no crown, thinner case and different lugs than the previous Ressence models. Needless to say, it was a success. Fast forward to 2019 at SIHH Ressence is giving us yet another Type 1 watch. This time it is the Ressence Type 1 Slim. 5 years after its initial launch the Type 1 gets a makeover.
The original Ressence Type 1
Ressence Type 1 Slim
As its name would suggest, the Type 1 Slim is the next generation of the regular Type 1. Actually, Ressence puts it better in their release, they say: “the new case design is not a revolution but rather an evolution.” This is true. The Ressence Type 1 Slim is thinner than its predecessor at only 11mm (!) and 42mm wide. Though it looks more contemporary with its cushion-like case, where the lugs are integrated into the case. So much so, that the case and lugs are milled in one step from the very titanium block (grade 5). It is water resistant to 1 ATM (around 10m), no your diver’s watch for sure. Regarding the function, the Ressence Type 1 Slim is basically a time only watch with a date complication. You have hours, minutes, seconds and weekdays
B, N, RS or W
The Ressence Type 1 Slim comes in four different dial variations. Layout-wise all four are the same. You get a convex German silver dial with “with three eccentric biaxial satellites” aka subdials. The largest subdial is for the hours, the largest hand pointing at the edge of the dial is for the minutes. The seconds’ dial has 12 short white indexes. While the date dial displays with 7 long flat indexes, 2 of them being empty, for the weekends. All indicators are hollow (engraved into the dial surface) and have Superluminova paint inside them. The Ressence Type 1B is for the black dial version. Type 1N stands for the Night Blue (my favorite), 1RS is Ruthenium/Silver and 1W is for the white dial. Due to the material used in the watch like titanium the Type 1 Slim weights is only 67 grams.
ROCS 1
Inside the Ressence Type 1 Slim lies the company’s ROCS 1 (Ressence Orbital Convex System) caliber. It is not an in-house movement, the base comes from ETA’s 2892/A. However, as you’d imagine, it is indeed highly customized in house by Ressence. Just like with the regular Type 1, the watch winding and time setting are via the special case back, though the Ressence Type 1 Slim is an automatic watch. The ROCS 1 gives you 36 hours of power reserve with 28,800 Vph. There are 40 Jewels in the movement and 27 gears. The total count of components is 212. All 4 Type 1 Slim variants – as parts of Ressence’s Air Filled Collection – have the same retail price at 16,800 CHF (excluding tax).
The Ressence Type 1 Slim’s movement
If you wish to visit Ressence’s website, click here.
