#GTE/ A period of reassessment and regrowth has given this charming Englishman and his boutique brand a fresh burst of energy
WORLDTEMPUS - 25 January 2013Yiah Chan 
While visiting Peter Speake-Marin at Geneva Time Exhibition and talking to him about some of his more recent releases (Spirit, Resilience, Renaissance), one thing shone through – a certainty of purpose and direction that boasts nods to past models but with clear differences that are the result of much thought and reassessment of his models, including the input of his customers and admirers. In a way, these three models describe three stages of his watchmaking life, if you think of the model names in this order.The alignment of models and movements is clearly defined, and the move toward a more accessible case size and price point, not to mention the popularity of the much more casual Spirit, is something that the watchmaker feels confident about.Speake-Marin SpiritThe “spirit of Sprit,” if you will, is engraved on the back: “fight, love, persevere.” As Speake-Marin puts it, it sums up what he has learnt from being a watchmaker, as well as from life, with the slogan representing the human spirit. The Spirit's black dial is a deep color created by black resin. The Super-LumiNova is applied by hand, with each mold used only the once. It is not possible to see it clearly unless you look at it under a loupe, but there is in fact a layered aspect to this watch. The tramlines in Super-LumiNova are slightly under the dial, the Roman numerals are 0.2 mm above surface, and the dots are 0.3mm above surface. At 7,000 Swiss francs, this has been the least expensive of any of his watches, and its price, size and pilot-style look have made it his best-selling watch to this point. Deliveries will start in April.
The Resilience, with its very classic oven-fired enamel dial and iconic Speake-Marin Piccadilly case design, describes the staying power of what arguably became his signature look. The purity of the dial design with its blue-steeled hands and Roman numerals has been enduring and resilient for Speake-Marin, with the current version powered by his Eros 2 caliber. 
New direction, new energyAnd after perseverance through resilience comes Renaissance, the open-dialed, tourbillon minute-repeater that shows off all of this talented watchmaker's skills and knowledge to a far more technically complex way than the past, with his signature Foundation hands and topping tool motif, a Piccadilly case and the personal touch of each movement being decorated with a different hand-engraved design so that each piece is unique. 
Some time has passed since I last spoke to Speake-Marin about his watches. Each time has been quite a different stage, in terms of the direction of his collection, but the thing that struck me the most this time was that, above all, the watches that he was showing at GTE, the core of his current collection, are about as personal as you can get with a watch; they speak of the highs and lows that have taken him to this point in his watchmaking life - the model names are the embodiment of his journey. READ OUR "WATCHMAKING 2013" DOSSIER
While visiting Peter Speake-Marin at Geneva Time Exhibition and talking to him about some of his more recent releases (Spirit, Resilience, Renaissance), one thing shone through – a certainty of purpose and direction that boasts nods to past models but with clear differences that are the result of much thought and reassessment of his models, including the input of his customers and admirers. In a way, these three models describe three stages of his watchmaking life, if you think of the model names in this order.The alignment of models and movements is clearly defined, and the move toward a more accessible case size and price point, not to mention the popularity of the much more casual Spirit, is something that the watchmaker feels confident about.Speake-Marin SpiritThe “spirit of Sprit,” if you will, is engraved on the back: “fight, love, persevere.” As Speake-Marin puts it, it sums up what he has learnt from being a watchmaker, as well as from life, with the slogan representing the human spirit. The Spirit's black dial is a deep color created by black resin. The Super-LumiNova is applied by hand, with each mold used only the once. It is not possible to see it clearly unless you look at it under a loupe, but there is in fact a layered aspect to this watch. The tramlines in Super-LumiNova are slightly under the dial, the Roman numerals are 0.2 mm above surface, and the dots are 0.3mm above surface. At 7,000 Swiss francs, this has been the least expensive of any of his watches, and its price, size and pilot-style look have made it his best-selling watch to this point. Deliveries will start in April. The Resilience, with its very classic oven-fired enamel dial and iconic Speake-Marin Piccadilly case design, describes the staying power of what arguably became his signature look. The purity of the dial design with its blue-steeled hands and Roman numerals has been enduring and resilient for Speake-Marin, with the current version powered by his Eros 2 caliber. New direction, new energyAnd after perseverance through resilience comes Renaissance, the open-dialed, tourbillon minute-repeater that shows off all of this talented watchmaker's skills and knowledge to a far more technically complex way than the past, with his signature Foundation hands and topping tool motif, a Piccadilly case and the personal touch of each movement being decorated with a different hand-engraved design so that each piece is unique. Some time has passed since I last spoke to Speake-Marin about his watches. Each time has been quite a different stage, in terms of the direction of his collection, but the thing that struck me the most this time was that, above all, the watches that he was showing at GTE, the core of his current collection, are about as personal as you can get with a watch; they speak of the highs and lows that have taken him to this point in his watchmaking life - the model names are the embodiment of his journey. READ OUR "WATCHMAKING 2013" DOSSIER
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