Entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch spotted wearing a Ressence

At a Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit — an event populated by the tech and media elite — James Murdoch chose not to wear the expected Patek Philippe or Rolex that his industry peer group favors. Instead, perched on his wrist was a black Ressence Type 3, a watch that communicates insider horological knowledge far more loudly than any recognizable crown or logo ever could.

Ressence, founded in Brussels in 2010 by Benoît Mintiens, built the Type 3 around a genuinely disruptive concept: the ROCS (Ressence Orbital Convex System) module replaces traditional hands with orbiting discs that display hours, minutes, seconds, and AM/PM indicators in a continuously rotating relationship. The defining innovation, however, is the oil-filling of the dial chamber — 0.57ml of specially formulated fluid eliminates air entirely between the sapphire crystal and the dial surface, producing a lenticular magnification effect and a depth that photographs cannot fully capture. The movement powering it all is a modified ETA 2824-2 automatic, wound via a dedicated caseback mechanism since the oil-filled chamber cannot contain a conventional rotor.

The black PVD variant raises the aesthetic stakes considerably. The 44mm case in DLC-coated titanium disappears against a dark environment, making the orbiting disc display appear almost suspended in space. It is a watch that rewards close inspection and punishes casual observation — exactly the kind of piece that serious collectors gravitate toward.

For James Murdoch, whose post-News Corp career has tracked toward climate investment and technology ventures, the Ressence Type 3 is a coherent lifestyle statement. It signals alignment with design-forward, sustainability-conscious thinking — Ressence has invested heavily in ethical sourcing and Swiss-Belgian manufacturing — while demonstrating that his horological interests extend well beyond status signaling.

On the secondary market, the Type 3 black has held its value with quiet dignity. Original retail sat in the $28,000–$32,000 range depending on configuration, and grey market pricing tracks closely to that, occasionally commanding modest premiums for the DLC variants. Production volumes remain deliberately limited, keeping collector demand consistently ahead of supply.