Only 20 of these exist on planet Earth, born from a 2017 collaboration between Ressence and Hodinkee that produced the first skeletonized model Ressence ever put into production and the first Type 1 ever cased in stainless steel. Straight out of the retro-futuristic world of the 1927 film Metropolis, it reads like machinery from a future that never happened. Collectors who chase true independent watchmaking rarely get a second chance at a piece like this.

Presents itself in mint condition with little to no signs of wear. Wrapped around the movement, the brushed stainless steel case flows straight into a domed sapphire crystal with no bezel to interrupt the view. Machined from German silver, the openworked dial floats in soft matte gray, its sandblasted discs orbiting each other like tiny planets. Hidden in the discs and minute track, a light green lume glows after dark and turns the whole orbital display into a floating constellation.

Functions include hours, minutes, running seconds, and a day of the week indicator, all displayed by the patented Ressence Orbital Convex System where entire discs rotate instead of hands. There is no crown anywhere on this watch. Flip it over and the entire caseback becomes your control center, with the instructions engraved right into the steel. Turning the caseback counter-clockwise winds the automatic movement, good for a 36 hour power reserve once fully charged. Turning it slowly in either direction sets the time, and short clockwise turns advance the day indicator, shown by the small bars around the subdial where the solid bars mark the weekend.

Comes as a full set, boxed with warranty documentation.

Hodinkee has partnered with Omega, TAG Heuer, and other giants over the years, but this Ressence collaboration remains the one collectors whisper about, and piece counts this low almost never resurface. Wearing one means owning a moment when independent watchmaking and watch media created something genuinely new together. Some watches tell time. This one starts conversations that never end.