SalonQP 2011 highlights: The Fool’s choice, the Ressence Type 1001
By The Prodigal Fool, published on 25 November 2011
Six and the Fool squabbled throughout SalonQP and so it was no surprise that when trying to decide which watch to name the ‘discovery’ of the show, the two cretins were incapable of agreeing. So it was that we had to give each of them a post with which to argue their case. Six presented his choice yesterday: The Schofield Signalman. Today, the Fool has a go at convincing you that he’s found the show’s true star: The Ressence Type 1001.
The piece I’m naming my ‘discovery’ of the show is going to surprise our two readers because they know what a die-hard traditionalist I am. The piece I saw at the show that got me most excited was nearly 40 years old: the 1972 Audemars Piguet Royal Oak (being displayed as part of the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie’s A History of Watchmaking exhibition.) The Royal Oak is such an important piece to me because it single-handedly created an entire new watch segment, one that I favour to this day: the elegant, steel sports watch.
And because I’m such a traditionalist, it’s very, very difficult to catch my eye if you’re a new brand. To my mind, the established brands have pretty much already done it all. It’s close to impossible to bring something to the table that hasn’t already been done and perfected by someone else.
That is why the achievement of charming and innovative Belgian brand Ressence and its founder, industrial designer Benoit Mintiens, is so very impressive.
Mintiens has done the ‘close to impossible’ and created something new, unique in the world of horology: a watch without hands that completely avoids superimposing information. So, instead of hands covering an underlying dial, you have a display system that features a set of revolving modules. The revolving dial plate points out the minutes, the sub-dials inside the main dial plate indicate the hours, seconds and am-pm. It’s hard to describe but impossible not be charmed by once you see it in action.
In our video, you’ll see Mintiens himself show you his “platform watch” in action. It’s really the only way to appreciate how enchanting this thing is.
Some people during the show baulked at the Ressence’s price (around EUR 10,000) because it was based on a ETA movement. This is a tired argument that I have heard too many times before from movement snobs. To my mind, the Ressence is reasonable value for money. The company is not selling you a piece of watchmaking, it’s selling you a wonderful, playful (very Belgian) piece of design. And Mintiens has, quite sensibly, decided to power this innovative, elegant and rare watch design with the most thoroughly tested and reliable movement he could find at a decent price: an ETA. Nothing wrong with that.
So, no doubt about it, Ressence was the ‘discovery’ of 2011′s SalonQP. The Type 1011 just kicked ‘Moules Frites’ off the top of my list of favourite Belgian things.
SalonQP 2011 highlights: The Fool’s choice, the Ressence Type 1001
No doubt about it, Ressence was the ‘discovery’ of 2011′s SalonQP. The Type 1011 just kicked ‘Moules Frites’ off the top of our list of favourite Belgian things.
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Matthew
29 November 2011
Fool… god knows I love most things Belgian (think Horta, Grand Place, Jupiler, Gueuze…..) but this just doesn’t work for me. Too much of a gimmic. Clever watch making…sure….. but nothing I would sell my first born for. Straight’s first born …maybe…