Ressence's Newest Art Watch Is A Maze That Solves Itself At Midnight

Ah, yes, Ressence, my quiet passion. Founded by industrial designer Benoît Mintiens in 2010, since it's start, Ressence has used ROCS, the brand's patented system of rotating discs that replaces conventional hands, and the moment I saw them I fell in love with them. Since then, they've expanded their collection to dozens of models and lately have been working on a series of Art Watches. Which has been very cool. Just look at this new Type 9 done with Belgian artist Jules Wittock, known for his incredible and massive freehand maze paintings. The mazes come to the unusual Type 9 and it's a very nice combo.

The case is 39mm wide and 11mm thick in grade 5 titanium, with or without a black DLC-coating, and weighs 42 grams with the strap. It wears fantastically on the wrist since it has super short lugs and no crown. On top is a fixed bezel with a minute track in five-minute steps, surrounding a domed sapphire crystal. The bezel is where you'll find the first Wittock intervention, with small "In" and "Out" markers, showing you where you need to start or end the maze. But good luck, since the maze is constantly on the move.

Wittock's pattern is milled into the titanium discs and filled by hand, so ROCS pulls it apart and puts it back together as the day goes on. You can have the dial in emerald green with a lacquered maze that shifts toward purple at an angle, or black. Get the green. The matching chapter ring has Arabic numerals at 3 and 9 o'clock and the Ressence hand logo at noon, and the maze creeps into the tip of the white-lacquered hour hand. Everything is lumed, maze included. The main disc turns once an hour and the hour disc once every 12, and the hidden word only appears at midnight when the glowing hands line up.

The ROCS 9 module is driven by the minute axle of a modified ETA 2892 automatic, running at 4Hz with 36 hours of power reserve. The watches come on black or white leather straps.

The Ressence Type 9 Jules Wittock is limited to 30 examples in emerald green and 30 in black, priced at CHF 20,000 without tax. See more on the Ressence website.