The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2026
Ressence TYPE 3 Marc Newson: oil-filled floating dials fuse two design worlds — BoB 2026
Marc Newson's Ikepod-inspired shell wraps Ressence's oil-filled, crown-less satellite display; the fusion won Red Dot Best of the Best 2026.
Ressence
What it had to solve
Ressence founder Benoît Mintiens had built the TYPE 3, a crown-less watch whose oil-filled upper chamber cancels light refraction so its magnetic satellite display stays legible from any angle. He wanted to merge that universe with industrial designer Marc Newson's, so the two designed a TYPE 3 together.
How it works
Ressence, the Belgian watchmaker founded by Benoît Mintiens, is best known for the TYPE 3: a crown-less watch whose display is driven by the patented ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System), a mechanism of magnetically driven rotating discs. The upper chamber is flooded with 4.15 ml of silicone oil, which cancels distortion caused by light refraction so the time is readable from any angle.
For the TYPE 3 MARC NEWSON, Mintiens invited industrial designer Marc Newson — famous for furniture, aviation, automotive and product design, and for his early Ikepod watches — to reinterpret the platform. Newson contributed the super-elliptical silhouette and domed sapphire crystal on a black DLC-coated titanium case. The four biaxial satellite discs appear to float in the oil, reinforcing the illusion that time is projected directly onto the glass.
At the 2026 Red Dot Award: Product Design, the watch won Best of the Best, one of only three watches to receive the top honour that year. The jury praised 'a truly symbiotic combination' of the two designers' universes, and Newson called the crown-less form 'a seamlessness and purity of form that I have always dreamed of.'
Why it lands
- The collaboration pairs a proprietary technical platform — the oil-filled ROCS display — with a star designer's signature silhouette, so novelty comes from fusion rather than added features.
- Oil in the display solves a real problem, refraction and legibility, while also creating the floating, projected-on-glass illusion the jury singled out.
- Removing the crown (setting happens via the case back) pushes the product to an uncompromised, seamless form, a decision Newson called his dream.
- Mechanism, material, silhouette and collaboration story all support one line: two design universes meeting in a single object.
What it did
Won Red Dot Best of the Best 2026 in the Watches category, one of only three watches to receive the top honour that year. The jury called it 'a truly symbiotic combination' and praised the domed display's 'pristine legibility' as an outstanding example of design innovation.
What you can take
Pair a proven proprietary platform with a distinctive outside designer: the technology stays protected, while a fresh silhouette and a famous name make the same mechanism feel like a new object.
Since then
After the Red Dot Best of the Best 2026 award, the TYPE 3 MARC NEWSON became the centrepiece of Ressence's story, presented through product films and a Red Dot magazine interview in which Newson and Mintiens explained how the collaboration worked. Ressence continues to position the piece as the meeting of its oil-filled technology with one of the most recognised industrial designers of the past four decades.
Sources
- Red Dot Design Award: TYPE 3 MARC NEWSON
- Ressence TYPE 3 Marc Newson
- RESSENCE Interview with Marc Newson, Benoit Mintiens
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