Worn & Wound
Ressence Hits Warp Speed with the new Type 9 IKE
When we create a post on the Worn & Wound blog, we check a little box on the sidebar of our backend system to categorize the watch we’re writing about. The options are things like “Diver,” and “Chronograph” and “Dress,” which is about what you’d expect, and these well understood categories are appropriate for most of the watches we write about. But my absolute favorite thing is when a news release (or an actual watch!) comes across my desk that can only fit into one category, at the very bottom of the list: Unique. More than any other brand (besides perhaps MB&F; and Urwerk), Ressence really has a lock on the Unique category here at Worn & Wound. One of many reasons we continue to be drawn to them year after year. Their latest, the Type 9 IKE, is unique even within the Ressence catalog. Built on the (relatively) approachable Type 9 platform, which features an easy to wear 39mm case and a simplified version of the already incredibly stripped down Ressence Orbital Convex System (ROCS), the new limited edition is a collaboration with Japanese artist Terumasa Ikeda. It’s also a twist on a trend we’ve been seeing play out in the watch industry over the last few years, but you probably wouldn’t think at first glance that this is actually a very intricately crafted mother of pearl dial. Ikeda’s work has a style that can be described as mixing very old craft techniques with a futuristic, almost sci-fi inspired design code. The Type 9 IKE’s dial looks...