Today, Ressence takes a different approach to handcraft with the new Type 9 IKE. The Type 9, Ressence’s simplest and most minimal design, is blacked out with DLC-coated titanium throughout. That includes the 39mm case, bezel, dial components, and caseback. But rather than leaning into an all-stealth look, the execution is meant to frame the Type 9 as a sort of dark canvas for the métiers d’art component. Here, Ressence founder Benoît Mintiens collaborates with Japanese artist and raden specialist Terumasa Ikeda for an absolute showstopper of a dial.
Ikeda-san, though relying on traditional Japanese urushi lacquering and raden mother-of-pearl inlaying techniques, has managed to establish quite a futuristic, almost Matrix-like aesthetic in much of his work. On this Type 9, he creates a dial that feels like it was plucked straight from an alien spaceship. But on closer look, the work required to place tiny fragments of vibrant mother-of-pearl cured with black urushi lacquer shines through.