In Search of Resonance: What if brands worked by synchronization?
In the rarefied world of haute horology, few timepieces have stirred philosophical awe quite like François-Paul Journe’s Chronomètre à Résonance. It’s built on the centuries-old principle that two vibrating bodies, when placed in close proximity, will begin to oscillate in synchrony. In this example, the watch does does the work of telling time. But it also demonstrates relationship.
Two independent balance wheels, encased side by side, regulate each other through vibration and shared frequency, not through force or touch. It’s physics made poetic. And yes, it’s another metaphor that posits: What if branding — often treated as a matter of message, reach, or control — was approached instead as a practice of resonance? You get the drift.
From Mechanism to Metaphor
In physics, resonance describes the amplification of energy that occurs when one system begins to oscillate in phase with another. This is why a singer can shatter glass, why a bridge can collapse under rhythmic footsteps, and why two balance wheels — like those in the Résonance — eventually fall into sync.
While resonance is a physical phenomenon, it’s also a structure of feeling or kind of attunement that signals this is in rhythm with something else.
When applied to branding, it shifts the frame. Rather than asking, How do we broadcast our message more clearly? we can ask:
- What are we in relationship with?
- What are we tuned to?
- Where do we vibrate in sympathy with others?
Resonance vs. Reach
Much of modern branding still operates on a paradigm of reach — maximizing exposure, optimizing impressions, building awareness. These are quantitative models, grounded in transmission. In contrast, resonance is about vibration, not volume. A brand that resonates doesn’t have to say much. It doesn’t have to dominate the timeline. It enters culture at just the right frequency — with language, imagery, values, or rituals that feel attuned to something already humming deeply inside its audience. Resonance is how we recognize when a brand “gets it.” When it feels like it’s on our wavelength and is both heard and felt.
Designing for Synchrony
In Journe’s timepiece, synchrony emerges from co-regulation, with balance wheels that begin independently but over time begin to influence each other. In this way, a new kind of system emerges that makes alignment feel static and irrelevant.
The best brand experiences don’t insist on perfect control or fixed expression. They create environments where mutual influence is possible — between brand and customer, voice and context, intent and experience.
In practice, this could look like:
- Interfaces that adjust to user rhythm over user flow.
- Messaging that mirrors real-world tempo with more breath, less urgency.
- Visual systems that allow difference while still holding coherence.
- Brand rituals that invite participation beyond consumption.
The Emotional Layer: Resonance as Recognition
Resonance is also how humans recognize each other — through shared tone, pace, and energy. Neuroscientists call this interpersonal neural synchronization. Poets call it chemistry. In branding, it’s the elusive moment when something just lands. And it can’t be faked with cleverness. And like the resonance in Journe’s watch, it doesn’t always happen instantly. It needs to build, deepen, and grow more precise with time, cultivating trust along the way.
Resonance and Asymmetry
Interestingly, collectors prize the “12/12” Résonance models, — those in which both dials mirror one another perfectly — more than later versions with asymmetrical displays. The market responds to symmetry as a sign of philosophical clarity. But in practice (as I’ve written about previously), true resonance means harmony, not sameness. .
This, too, is a lesson for brand builders. The goal isn’t to produce identical outputs across all channels. The goal is to create conditions in which the same energy can express itself in different forms — each part of a system, echoing the others, without losing its uniqueness.
Resonance as Responsibility
Journe’s watch resonates because it honors the invisible relationships that make timekeeping beautiful, not because it is loud or fast or new. Similarly, resonant brands carry an implicit responsibility: to vibrate in ways that are honest, coherent, and culturally aware. They demand that we pay attention to what already exists. This includes the rhythms of our audiences, the conditions of our context, and the energy we’re putting into the world. It asks us to stop broadcasting, and start tuning.
