The latest limited-edition timepiece to celebrate Ressence’s 10th anniversary is a surprising take on the Type 5 dive watch.

I’ve seen plenty of diving watches, and I’ve seen plenty of driving watches. But I’ve never seen one turn into the other with any degree of success. Until now.

The ethos behind Ressence watches has always been about solving what it sees as the fundamental problems inherent to mechanical watches. Legibility and ease of use in particular, and with the Type 2, the question of a finite power reserve – all pretty earnest stuff. It’s this fresh attitude, the scale of the ambition and the quality of the execution, that has really endeared Ressence to collectors over the past decade.

Now, with its second watch released in 2020 to mark 10 years in business, Ressence has turned its attention to solving slightly more rarefied problems. Working with Mr Eugenio Amos – the man behind plans to revive cult car brand Lancia, having shown a concept at the 2018 Geneva Motor show that had the automotive world cooing – Ressence has modded its Type 5 diver into something a bit more at home on the track (or perhaps, given the Lancia Delta’s pedigree, a rally stage). Instead of a rotating bezel with minute markings to track your time underwater, the watch now has a set of indicators of practical application for anyone looking to drive a powerful, turbocharged racecar.

It is, as any gentleman racer should know, important to make sure your engine is warmed up before you set off, and equally important to give it time to cool down before shutting it off afterwards. Hence the Type 5X bezel has markings on one side for “start”, “drive” and “race”, spanning 15 minutes overall, and a 10-minute cooldown indicator on the other. Simply rotate the bezel accordingly to line up with the minute hand at the appropriate time.

Stylistically, the Type 5X shares an olive-green dial with the Type 1 Slim X released earlier this year, but thanks to the oil-filled dial space (which is also key to the Type 5’s legibility from all angles) it appears darker. The eye is more likely to be drawn to the red and yellow details, which have been specifically matched to the display found in Automobili Amos’ Lancia Delta Futurista concept car, and the choice of straps – green rubber or brown Alcantara with Velcro which, similarly, have been matched to the car’s interior trim.

To really bring home the connection with car culture – Italian driving culture in particular – there is one last trick up your sleeve should you buy the Type 5X. If you weren’t aware, it’s de rigueur in the motherland of fast cars to flash your lights at the slower-moving vehicle to encourage them to let you past, and Mr Amos went so far as to include a button on his car’s steering wheel for that exact purpose.

Ressence, meanwhile, has created a rubber patch, shaped – cutely – like the button, described as the “levanti”, to clip onto the back of the watch. The point of it? To allow your watch to sit comfortably on the side of your wrist, for wearing while driving. No more taking your hand off the wheel to check the time while you make a spirited overtake on Tuscany’s meandering backroads…

Materials: Titanium and Alcantara or rubber

Width: 46mm

Height: 15.5mm

Water-resistance: 100m

Power reserve: 36 hours

Price: £31,000