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Mintien’s foray into watchmaking was fairly unintentional. “I had a pal within the diamond enterprise who requested if I might design a look ahead to him. It by no means received additional than a great drawing and a prototype, however after that I began to go searching and see what the business was doing.” Curious to see how far he might take his personal concepts, Mintiens took the plunge in 2010, bringing the primary Ressence prototypes — the now-discontinued Zero Collection — to Baselworld.
“After I arrived, guys like [Maximilian] Busser and [Felix] Baumgartner came visiting to introduce themselves and mentioned, ‘Properly, you appear to be an alien right here. So if we may also help you, simply give us a name.’ It was superb,” Mintiens recalled. “I known as my pal that night going, ‘Are you able to imagine my opponents are serving to me? The place else do you’ve got that?’ So I used to be extraordinarily charmed by my early days within the watch enterprise. Impartial watchmaking was not what it’s in the present day. We have been stronger collectively.”
Definitely, the curiosity in unbiased watchmaking has flourished over the previous decade, which Mintiens attributes to the rising sophistication of patrons. “The business is sort of a savannah, and the key companies are just like the lions that may catch the zebra. I’m too small to do this, however their leftovers are greater than sufficient for me, so it’s high quality,” he said. “However I believe many individuals are beginning to realise that the massive manufacturers have an agenda, and because of social media they’re discovering extra profoundly what’s on the market, they usually can see the depth or the self-love of sure propositions.”