In 1842 Adrien Philippe invented a mechanism for watches which allowed them to be wound and set by means of a crown rather than a key. A small but crucial innovation back then. It took 176 years and a forward-thinking company to challenge this status quo. Created, engineered and developed in house, we introduce the e-Crown® technology.

We took everything back to the drawing board to create revolutions in convenience and performance for fine-watchmaking enthusiasts. e-Crown® is a cutting-edge electro-mechanical embedded system that interfaces the mechanical base movement with the in-house ROCS module. It never interferes with the gear train from the barrel to the hands. e-Crown® replaces the traditional crown’s setup functions of a mechanical watch and takes fine-watchmaking to the next level.

The e-Crown® cluster, composed of 87 components, is the state-of-the-art miniaturised electro-mechanical system that manages the different e-Crown® functionalities. The ingenuity lays in its system architecture and components that only need 1,8 joules of energy per day. Every component meets two very challenging requirements: extremely small and very low power consuming. Most components meet aerospace or medical standards and were custom-built for Ressence. A four-layered 0,25mm thick flexible custom-built PCB carries and connects all the components together.

e-Crown® is activated and controlled by tapping the glass of your watch, offering a new sense of touch and user-friendliness to mechanical watches.

e-Crown® registers the time set manually via the case back lever. It becomes the reference time for future monitoring, automatic setting and adjusting.

e-Crown® monitors at least once a day the time indicated by the graphical hands on the dial. The disc’s positions will then be adjusted automatically (if needed) as long as the movement of the watch is running.

When the watch is not worn and the movement stops, e-Crown® will put itself in sleep mode and wake up as soon as the watch is back on the wrist. e-Crown® will then automatically set the mechanical watch to the right time (based on the registered time).

The e-Crown® technology is able to set and register multiple time zones. It offers the ultimate convenience in traveller experience by allowing to switch from one time zone to another.

e-Crown® first uses photovoltaic energy to run. When required, photovoltaic cells, some hidden behind 10 micro-shutters on the dial, will use the outside light as energy source. The e-Crown® technology is therefore self-sufficient. A fundamental quality in the nomad world of today.

Developed as a discretionary technology, e-Crown® can be switched off or on without affecting the watch. The latter still and always runs fully mechanically powered by a mechanical base movement.

We developed the e-Crown® app to reach an unseen level of convenience and modernity. Using Bluetooth to connect with e-Crown®, the app displays a scroll down list of cities to choose from.

Ressence’s pursuit to improve the mechanical watch is uniquely its own and the Type 2 is a perfect example of the brand’s determination to build products that question what a wrist watch can be in the 21st century.