I’ve been known to get caught off guard by an interesting dial design, some crazy pattern on it, or the occasional mix-up in how the data is displayed on the dial. Ressence has done all of that, and really raised the bar.
First off, take a look at the picture at the top of the post. That looks like it’s either a render, or some sort of curved LCD screen displaying the various hands and dials, right? This is actually a watch driven by a mechanical movement, which in turn drives a rather complex gearing to get the dials to show the correct time and date.
So, how is giving the digital display appearance? The domed sapphire crystal is holding in a liquid, which acts much like a water drop would, magnifying what’s underneath it, and projecting the image to the top of the liquid. Here, there’s no air bubble, so it gives a completely smooth look – and I’m just blown away.
This also means another innovation had to happen around the back – where the movement sits, is actually completely seperated from the liquid up front. Here, that also means there’s no crown for setting functions (you have to do that via the case back), and that the movement communicates to the dials via magnets (another feat there, so it’s not impacting the movement).
Frankly, this is what innovation in horology will look like for it to make both us watch nerds and the public at large take notice of what’s going on. It’s a good thing these pictures (and the writeups) are fun to read, as not many folks will be able to pick up this level of cleverness and workmanship – pricing is projected to be around $34,000. What a grail to have, though, right?
If you’d like to read more about this, check out what Ariel had to say earlier this month right here.
