Ressence - Type 9 Jules Wittcock
Some watches tell time. The new Ressence TYPE 9 Jules Wittock tells you to slow down, look closer, and get a little lost along the way.
For this year's Art Watch, Ressence has teamed up with Belgian artist Jules Wittock, who is famous for drawing labyrinths entirely freehand—never with a ruler, never with a plan. His maze now takes up residence on the dial of Ressence's smallest and most wearable model, the TYPE 9, in two limited editions of 30 pieces each: the T9 JWE in Emerald Green and the T9 JWB in black.
Solve It Twice a Day
Here's the hook: the maze isn't decoration. It's a puzzle with a secret. Wittock has hidden a word inside the labyrinth: a single entrance, a single exit, and a path between them that spells something. And thanks to Ressence's patented Orbital Convex System (ROCS), the dial is never static. The entire display rotates in continuous motion, so the maze shifts with every glance.
Twice a day, at midnight and midday, everything aligns. That's when the hidden message reveals itself—a playful nod to Wittock's childhood ritual of making a wish at times like 11:11 or 22:22. What does the word say? That stays between the artist and whoever owns the piece. "I like hiding things in my paintings," Wittock says. "There's always a mystery within the maze."
Engraved, Not Printed
What makes this collaboration so satisfying in metal is that Wittock's drawing lives in depth, not on the surface. The labyrinth is milled directly into a Grade 5 titanium dial, with each path traced at a hair-thin 0.2 millimetres wide, then hand-filled with white paint so the line catches against the metal. It's a remarkable translation of a freehand drawing into micromechanical form—as founder Benoît Mintiens notes, Wittock's line "stays extraordinarily consistent across every path," a mastery few could replicate without guides.
The two colourways offer very different moods. The T9 JWE sets its white maze against an Emerald Green ALD-coated titanium dial that shifts to purple depending on the angle of the wrist—arguably the most colour-shifting dial Ressence has produced. The T9 JWB is the stealth option: white maze on black titanium dial, inside a black-coated case. Both debut on leather straps.
The Canvas That Moves
The TYPE 9 is arguably the perfect host for this concept. Launched in late 2024 as the most compact Ressence ever, a 39mm, crownless, pebble-smooth case weighing just 39 grams on the wrist, it distils the brand's philosophy of "less, but better" into hours and minutes only. The minute track sits on a fixed external bezel for the first time, keeping the dial clean for the art.
Beneath it all runs the ROCS 9, Ressence's patented orbital module driven by a customised ETA 2892 automatic, with 31 jewels and a 36-hour power reserve. There's no crown to interrupt the case's flowing silhouette. Winding and setting are done by rotating the titanium caseback itself, keeping the design seamless enough to wear on either wrist.
"A Ressence adds a fourth dimension to the canvas: time," says Mintiens. "The artwork keeps changing. It appears differently with every glance."
That restless dial is precisely what turns Wittock's maze from a static illustration into something alive, a labyrinth you can wander through all day, twice rewarded daily when the paths finally align.
The Art Watch Series Continues
The TYPE 9 Jules Wittock joins a growing lineage of Ressence guest editions, each pairing the brand with artists whose visual language speaks to its own. Previous chapters include Shantell Martin's "Enjoy Life" TYPE 1 Square, Stefan Sagmeister's "Now is Better" TYPE 3X, Alain Silberstein's "Carpe Diem" TYPE 1 S REV, Daniel Engelberg's concentric-circle TYPE 8 editions, and Terumasa Ikeda's urushi-lacquered TYPE 9 IKE. With only 30 pieces of each colourway, expect this chapter to close quickly.
Technical Specifications
Movement
Module: Patented ROCS 9 — Ressence Orbital Convex System — module driven by the minute axle of a customised automatic base calibre
Functions: Hours, Minutes
Winding: Self-winding
Power reserve: 36 hours power reserve
Frequency: 28,800 vibrations per hour
Jewels: 31 jewels
Gears: 20 gears
Bearings: 4 ball bearings
Dial
Base: Grade 5 titanium dial (75mm diameter) running on a jewel ball bearing with eccentric satellites rolling on jewel ball-bearings inclined at 9.75° (hours)
Finishing: Engraved indications hand-filled with white lacquer or and Grade A Super-LumiNova® on an Emerald Green ALD-coated titanium dial
Case
Material: Polished Grade 5 titanium
Crystal: Domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating inside
Dimensions: 39 mm (diameter) x 11 mm (thickness)
Water resistance: 1 ATM splash-resistance
Operation: Manual winding over 12° and set-up via caseback
Rotation: Rotating two directions
Buckle & Strap
Buckle: Titanium ardillon buckle
Strap: Soft calf leather strap (20/18 mm)
Components
Count: 182 components
Weight
Total: 42 grams (strap included)
Price: HK$200,000