Divers
What Watch Would Captain
Nemo Wear?
The Ressence Type 5.
There is no shortage of dive watches in the world today. It is, pardon the pun, an over-saturated market space. A dive watch, by its very nature, is meant to be utilitarian. So utilitarian
it is often referred to as a tool watch. And by and large, you know a dive watch when you
see one. Block, sometimes blue, sometimes a more daring dial color. Moreover, the size and
shape, again, are fairly uniform.
So it is always a pleasure to see something completely different, designed by someone who
clearly thinks outside of the watch box. The Type 5 is in many ways a radical departure from
the typical approach and execution of dive watch design.
One of the most crucial aspects of a dive watch is its legibility under water. Most dive watches depend on heavy applications of lume. Moreover, owing to the way that they are designed
and constructed, a typical dive watch can only be read correctly under water by viewing it
straight on. If not, the refraction of the light creates a mirror effect creating a less-than ideal
condition for knowing the actual elapsed time at perhaps the most crucial time.
vEvery problem has a solution and Benoît Mintiens and his team took a very different approach to solving the “mirror” problem. The display of the Ressence TYPE 5 is facilitated by
what is known as the ROCS 5 module. This is the “Ressence Orbital Convex System”. The
module, combined with the main and sub discs creates a 3 dimensional dial that is constantly
in motion. Ressence utilized oil to fill the top portion of the watch which contains the dial and
the ROCS 5 module. The use of 37.5 ml of oil provides ideal legibility at any angle the watch
dial is viewed at. The entirety of the ROCS 5 module is immersed in oil, including the dial.
We are just getting our toes wet with this amazing watch. This is just one of the very, very
amazing technical features found in this amazing dive watch, and we will be going into much
greater detail in a follow-up piece in a future issue. Stay tuned!
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Wristwatch | 2016