Ressence’s snazzy concept watch pairs with your phone for accurate timing

By Christian de Looper January 16, 2018

Ressence Type 2 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The watch is evolving faster than it ever has, but that isn’t stopping many from holding on to the watch styles of old. For example, many prefer to use mechanical-style watch faces on their smartwatches. Ressence, a luxury watchmaker from Belgium, has come up with a concept design for a smart mechanical watch — or a watch that blends the style of the mechanical watch with the mobile connectivity of a smartwatch.

The device is called the Type 2 e-Crown, and it was designed with the help of Nest co-founder Tony Fadell. While it does offer some smart connectivity, it’s probably aimed more at mechanical watch lovers who like the idea of a little extra connectivity, rather than those looking for a smartwatch to deliver notifications and access to a digital assistant.

But what’s smart about it? Well, it connects to your phone via Bluetooth, after which it’ll adjust the time automatically depending on the time on your phone. It adjusts for daylight savings automatically and you can switch between two time zones without having to adjust. If it runs out of power, you don’t have to adjust it manually once it’s charged up again — just tap on the watch face and it will connect and adjust the time.

Those that do like setting the time manually don’t need to worry. The watch offers three modes — one fully automatic, one semi-automatic, in which you can adjust the time manually and it will adjust to the minute, and one fully manual mode. Though, if you’re going for the fully manual mode maybe there’s not much point in buying this device in the first place.

There is another reason you might not want to buy the Ressence Type 2 e-Crown — it’s a concept and not yet available, though a version of Type 2 will reportedly be available later in 2018. According to The Verge, Ressence’s watches go for between $15,000 and $35,000.

If you are looking for a hybrid watch, however, there are a few options out there. The Garmin Vivomove HR, for example, looks like a standard mechanical watch but can also track activity, show notifications, detect heart rate, and more. The likes of Skagen, Kronaby, and even Nokia also offer their own hybrid watches with mechanical designs and smart features.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Christian de Looper

Contributor

Christian’s interest in technology began as a child in Australia, when he stumbled upon a computer at a garage sale that he…

Gaming

iOS 16 lets you pair Nintendo Switch controllers to your iPhone

Two players play Nintendo Switch.

Apple forgot to mention one important detail about iOS 16 at its annual WWDC conference yesterday: iPhone users will be able to play games with their Nintendo Switch Pro and Joy-Con controllers.

iOS 16 won't be released to everyone's iPhones until fall, but it is currently out as a developer preview, giving devs ample opportunities to test out and discover some of the new operating system's quirks and exploits. Riley Testut, the developer behind the Delta emulator and AltStore, shared his discovery of iOS 16 natively supporting the Nintendo Switch Pro and Joy-Con controllers, although they show up as a single device. He reported that "they work perfectly with Delta," which emulates games from SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance.

Mobile

Watts don’t matter when fast charging your phone — time does

Realme GT Neo 3 with its box, showing the information on the back.

The race to have the highest-wattage battery charger is firmly on among many smartphone makers. Yet quoting wattage is confusing and technically questionable, and we shouldn’t be sucked into believing this number matters, or thinking it tells us anything remotely informative.

What’s most frustrating is there is a far more helpful number that perfectly captures what’s great about fast charging just waiting to be more widely used, and it’s one that everybody understands.
Big numbers
Wattage is the megapixel of our times, with manufacturers touting bigger numbers as better, without actual clarification. Here’s how crazy it’s becoming. The Realme GT Neo 3 comes with a 150-watt charger in the box and the OnePlus 10R does too, while the Poco F4 GT comes with a 120W charger, as does the Xiaomi Redmi K50. The OnePlus 10 Pro has an 80W charger internationally and a 65W charger in the U.S., while the Oppo Find X5 Pro has an 80W charger too. The Honor Magic4 Pro comes with a 100W charger in the box, but you can buy a 135W charger separately, and it’s also compatible with a 100W wireless charger.

Mobile

What you can (and can’t) do on your Apple Watch without your iPhone

Apple Watch Series 7 in a pocket.

The Apple Watch has seen enormous success. In fact, it’s the most popular item in Apple’s quickly expanding Wearables, Home, and Accessories division, which also includes Apple AirPods.

Since the Apple Watch was released in 2015, the smartwatch has gone through a number of makeovers and gained several new features. People love the Apple Watch for its durability, water resistance, and fitness-tracking abilities. Early versions of the watch could measure your activity levels, heart rate, and several other health metrics. Later versions even come with tools like ECGs (electrocardiograms) that can tell you when your heartbeat is abnormal and oximeters that can measure your blood oxygen levels.