Timelords: Benoit Mintiens
Founder of Ressence watches
It’s hard to believe that the award-winning watch brand Ressence has only been in existence since 2009. The pebble-shaped watch, brainchild of industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, was an instant hit, the revolving dial as mesmerising as it is clever. With the recent release of the Type 1 and Type 3, it seems there’s no stopping Benoît, although we still managed to slow him down enough to ask him a few questions.
Q. You studied industrial design—how did that lead you to watchmaking?
Unlike many products, a watch is multidimensional. It is very interesting to design a watch, because you can create on a lot of different levels and domains—for example, you can create the aesthetics, but also be creative in the technicality, in the ergonomics, in the animation, in the social dimension, even in the cognitive patterns of the brain. You also need to create a brand, and everything that comes with it. It is a vast creative building yard.
Q. What inspired the Ressence concept of a rotating dial with smaller rotating sub-dials?
To answer that question, you need to know about one of the four pillars of the brand: dematerialisation. This is designer-speak for taking away the tangible and replacing it with a representation. A Ressence dial is the dematerialisation of the traditional—and archaic—hands of a classical watch, and expresses time with a mechanical screen in one layer right under the sapphire crystal.
Q. It’s such a simple yet clever idea—were you surprised that you were the first to do it?
Yes—I did a lot of patent searching before I introduced the concept, but none were the same, so I patented it myself.
Ressence Type 1W
Q. What other watchmaking concepts do you admire?
I'm a big fan of the Bulova Accutron Spaceview for many reasons: it is the first digital watch ever; it is based on a hybrid between digital and analogue; but more than that, it has a poetic dimension. The regulatory organ of the watch is a tuning fork, and it makes the sound of a mini-nuclear power plant as it gives time. The fork has a 360Hz frequency and the second hand is mechanically linked to the fork’s vibrations, so every second the hand moves 360 steps. This gives it a wonderfully natural motion. It doesn't look mechanical at all, but more as if it is a living creature. From an aesthetic point of view, I can really appreciate its reflection of the mindset of its era—the Apollo era.
Q. Are there any watchmakers you’d like to collaborate with?
Sure. I'm already working with some. Can’t say too much about it . . .
Q. Do you have any non-watchmaking projects you’d like to explore?
I've had the chance to work as a design consultant in a medium-to-large size consultancy. The company worked for a wide variety of sectors and I was given the chance to try a bit of all of it. I've also learned that you need to dig in a lot before you can come up with your own innovations. The last projects I did with that company were very interesting because I was not designing products anymore, but experiences. That was a new dimension I'd like to work more on.
Q. What’s next for Ressence?
A lot. Ressence is an embryo. The DNA is set, but that’s it. But I guess you’re asking about the next model. It will be called Type 2. Unfortunately you will not get to know more about it today!
Q. How do you spend your time when you’re not developing Ressence?
Ressence is still a start-up—there’s not much time for doing other things.
Q. Favourite band at the moment?
What a question . . . what do you think? [I’m guessing Kraftwerk—Ed]
Q. And finally, ultimate watch collection, money no object?
Bulova Accutron Spaceview for the technology, IKEPOD Hemipod for the design, Junghans Chronoscope for the essence, Panerai PAM00021 for its chic.
Ressence Type 3
