RESSENCE
Meirbrug 1
2000 Antwerp (Belgium)
Tel. : +32 496 52 51 60
About
2010: Ressence exhibits at Basel with prototype of the SeriesOne
Biography: Ressence founder Benoît Mintiens
Born in Belgium, Benoît Mintiens initially planned to be a naval engineer, but then decided on a career as an industrial designer. He graduated in Industrial Design in Antwerp in 1998 and took up the position of Senior Consultant at Antwerp design firm Enthoven & Associates. While he was working at there, he also gained his MBA at Vlerick Business School in 2003.
Benoît Mintiens had always been attracted to the idea of creating a new kind of watch. Around 2006, a friend presented him with an opportunity to do just that when he asked him to create an original design for a men's watch featuring as many diamonds as possible. Benoît chose to use diamonds for their functional attributes and in particular their refractive qualities. But while he was working on a prototype, another brand launched a model based on a similar idea to his own, and Benoît’s design was put on hold. His appetite for watch design had been whetted and in 2008 Benoît finished designing his first watch, the SeriesOne which included Ressence’s now iconic rotating flat discs, which replaced traditional hands.
In 2010 Benoît founded Ressence and launched the brand at Baselworld the same year. In January 2011, the SeriesOne watch was awarded second prize in the Super Watch Awards organised by the Geneva Time Exhibition, with it gaining a special mention from the jury. Ressence really hit the world stage though in 2013 when the Ressence Type 3 was awarded the Horological Revelation prize at the prestigious Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix).