Ressence launched in 2010 by Belgian industrial designer Benoît Mintiens, aiming to revolutionize the way we looked at time on our wrists with the cutting-edge, handless Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS) module. A couple of early models showcased this concept but it wasn’t until the Type 3 in 2013 where the brand really came into its own identity.
The Type 3 pushed the brand’s innovation even further by isolating the movement and the display into two distinct chambers, with the upper section filled with oil to achieve exceptional legibility and a flat dial appearance. This groundbreaking design was a hit with collectors and the industry as a whole, winning the Horological Revelation prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève.
Now, more than a decade after that pivotal release, Ressence has teamed up with Australian industrial design icon (and the man responsible for the look of the Apple Watch) Marc Newson for a limited-edition collaboration that serves as a fascinating synthesis of two distinct but complementary design philosophies.
An Ikepod Homage With Modern Engineering
Newson’s fingerprints are all over this piece, most notably in the completely lugless case design that integrates a synthetic rubber strap directly into the 45mm Grade 5 titanium case sides. The approach will be immediately familiar to anyone who knows Newson’s cult-favorite Ikepod watches from the ’90s, particularly the Megapode. That same pebble-like, ergonomic silhouette is here, but now it’s wrapped around Ressence’s oil-filled architecture.
The color palette pulls directly from Newson’s design vocabulary — celadon green, grey, black, and bright yellow accents that provide both visual pop and functional clarity. The minimal hands are pure Newson, but they’re displaying time through Ressence’s patented ROCS 3.6 system, where rotating titanium discs orbit to show hours, minutes, a 180-second runner, day, date, and even oil temperature across four eccentric biaxial satellites.
The Oil-Filled Magic Trick
The Type 3 MN houses two hermetically sealed chambers — the upper filled with 4.15mL of silicone oil containing the display, and the lower holding a modified ETA 2824-2 automatic movement. These chambers communicate magnetically, with no mechanical connection penetrating the case. The oil eliminates refraction, creating the uncanny illusion that time is literally floating beneath the double-domed sapphire crystal. It’s the closest a mechanical watch gets to looking like a digital display.
A compensating bellows system manages oil expansion and contraction with temperature changes, which is tracked by one of the satellite discs. The watch still features the same Type 3 elements like the 10m of water resistance and the caseback setting system. Likewise, the Super-LumiNova is in blue or green for every indicator, ensuring nighttime legibility.
Spec Sheet
Model: Ressence Type 3 MN (Marc Newson)
Case Material: Grade 5 titanium
Case Size: 45mm
Case Thickness: 15mm
Crystal: Double-domed sapphire with anti-reflective coating
Movement: ROCS 3.6 (Ressence Orbital Convex System) driven by modified automatic ETA 2824-2
Power Reserve: 36 hours
Water Resistance: 10m
Dial: DLC and PVD-coated Grade 5 titanium with blue and green Super-LumiNova
Strap: Integrated synthetic rubber with titanium ardillon buckle
Limited Edition: 80 pieces
Pricing & Availability
Priced at CHF 46,000 (~$52,000) and limited to just 80 pieces, the Type 3 Marc Newson is available now through Ressence’s website and select retailers.
Recap
Ressence Type 3 MN Marc Newson
Limited to 80 pieces, the Ressence Type 3 Marc Newson is a limited-edition collaboration that wraps the brand’s trippy oil-filled dial technology in a lugless, Ikepod-inspired titanium case with Newson’s signature design cues.
