Some collaborations feel inevitable in hindsight, and the new Type 3 Marc Newson from Ressence is one of them. Benôit Mintiens, CEO of the Belgian brand, whose wildly creative design looks unlike anything on the watch market has teamed up with fellow innovator and designer, Marc Newson. When we spoke with him a week ago at Dubai Watch Week, Mintiens’ friendly smile and trademark knit and oxford shirt felt charmingly at odds with his avant-garde output. Ressence has always been different and appeals to stereotypical black-tee-shirt, Apple Watch-wearing architects and Silicon Valley types, as well as watch collectors—even the kind that may have more traditional timepieces in their collection. Newson, therefore, was the perfect fit as a collaborator.

It marks a meeting of two design minds who have spent their careers reshaping how objects should feel, function, and behave on the wrist. “I wanted to merge our universes,” says Mintiens. “Knowing Marc Newson’s design universe, I wanted to bring Marc’s and Ressence’s vision of watchmaking into one perfect product. How often do designers work together on one product? In my eyes, one plus one can become more than the sum of its parts.”

Newson has lent his eye for numerous projects from a Qantas A380 jets to a Ford concept car and even Kellogg’s cereal packaging, but his biggest claim to fame was co-designing, with Jony Ive, the smooth look of the original Apple Watch. Some will also remember his way-ahead-of-its-time brand, Ikepod, from the early 2000s; in fact, the new Type 3 Marc Newson, while distinctly Ressence, channels the Ikepod Megapode 1 with its similar tones.

The new Ressence is a watch that will completely reset your perception of watches, starting with a display that feels weirdly two-dimensional and intensely legible from all angles thanks to its oil-filled case and interesting design (let’s not even call it a dial). It takes the centuries-old layout of a regulator, harking back to marine chronometers, and subverts it, Ressence-style, with a dash of intense yellow. There is no getting away from the size of the Type 3 MN. Measuring 45 mm with a 15 mm thickness, it feels massive with no discernible bezel, a pebble of horological mech-tech. But it is unusually comfortable, and is hypnotic in its defiant rewriting of the rules, with a graphic sensibility that just grabs you. Polarizing is the word for what is not simply a co-signed timepiece, but a fusion of Marc Newson’s sculpturally industrial language with Benoît Mintiens’ radical rethinking of horology. “As a longstanding admirer of Benoît’s pioneering engineering and unique approach to watchmaking at Ressence,” says Newson, “this collaboration provided a wonderful opportunity to synthesize our approaches”.

This design synthesis works right down to the simple yet comfortable strap. In soft grey-blue rubber, it is dramatically angled down, a design that helps make the lug-less titanium shape feel a lot more relaxed on the wrist than any 45 mm watch has any right to, aided by a 95-gram weight. Ressence’s Type 3 has long been the brand’s signature creation; its dial, or display if you will, floats weightlessly thanks to the oil-filled upper chamber. In the Type 3 MN, Newson’s elliptical design has us reminiscing about his Ikepod creations and their style sensibility, but also elevates the Ressence Type 3 signature, accentuating the domed sapphire crystal and the absence of traditional hands. Everything, from the hours, minutes, day, and date to a running indicator, and even oil temperature, is displayed through Ressence’s patented ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System) 3.6 mechanism, which orbits beneath 4.15 ml of oil in the sealed upper chamber, creating unbeatably crisp legibility.

The 45 mm case is crafted from Grade 5 titanium with DLC- and PVD-coated elements, paired with a synthetic rubber strap and a titanium buckle. Super-LumiNova-filled engravings ensure that even with its fluid, boundary-blurring aesthetic, legibility remains sharp. At CHF 46,000 (around $57,000, limited to 80 pieces worldwide), the Type 3 MN is an investment in avant-garde wrist sculpture. For collectors, it represents a rare moment: two icons of contemporary design speaking fluently in one voice.