Type 1° Round

Ressence built its reputation on the orbital disc display, and the Type 1° Round is the brand's first attempt to bring that concept into a conventional round case. At 42.7mm in titanium, it sits closer to what most collectors already wear, making it a genuine entry point rather than a compromise. The display logic is unchanged: no hands, just rotating sub-discs that read hours, minutes, seconds, and date in concentric orbit.

What it is

Ressence was founded in Brussels by Benoit Mintiens in 2010, and the original Type 1 was deliberately disc-shaped , a radical form to match a radical display concept. The ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System) module sits on top of a base movement and converts its output into the synchronized rotation of the sub-discs, with no hand-to-gear interface between the driver and the dial surface. For over a decade, every Ressence came in some variant of that flattened disc form.

The Type 1° Round, released in 2023, breaks that pattern by fitting the ROCS 1.3 module into a round 42.7mm case without altering how the display works. It is a packaging decision as much as a design one, aimed at collectors who find the standard Ressence form too alien to live with daily.

Buying notes

The base movement is an ETA 2892, which is a sound caliber but not one that justifies the price on its own , you are paying for the ROCS module, and that is worth understanding before you buy. The disc display reads intuitively in person but is genuinely unfamiliar at first, and some owners find it slower to read than a conventional dial after months of ownership. Servicing the ROCS module requires sending the watch to Ressence directly, and that is not a cheap or fast process.

The round case is new enough that long-term case wear patterns are not well-documented yet, though titanium's scratch resistance should help. Pre-owned pricing is thin because the reference is recent and production volumes are modest, so expect to pay close to retail on the secondary market for now.

Market read

The Type 1° Round launched at roughly $18,000–$20,000 depending on region and configuration, which puts it at the lower end of the Ressence range. Pre-owned examples are scarce because the reference is young, and the few that have traded have held close to retail. Demand from collectors who want the Ressence experience in a more wearable shape has been steady enough that discounts are unlikely to appear soon.

Service expectations

The movement inside is an ETA 2892, a workhorse that any qualified watchmaker can service. The ROCS 1.3 module on top of it is proprietary and must go back to Ressence for any work involving the disc system. Budget accordingly and expect longer turnaround times than a standard service.