Independents

One of the treats for our group during the week of SIHH was a visit with Peter Speake-Marin at his new quarters -- a very pleasant facility in a light-industrial park area. 

Since I have the pleasure of seeing Peter fairly often, I didn't do a lot of photography.  Mostly we sat around chatting and hearing about Peter's latest progress. 

Certainly one highlight was hearing about his new Renaissance line, the first example of which is the splendid Perpetual Calendar Minute Repeater:

Lovely repeater sound, and very attractive presentation (in my view) -- including custom engraving on the reverse of the movement by Eddy Jaquet, who also did the engraving on Kari's Masterpieces 6 and 7, the Voutilainen "Orion" unique piece, and the movement of the MB&F Legacy Machine 1.

At the other end of the offering is the Classic series -- the current offering being the Spirit shown below.  A very attractive piece, in my view, and obviously very popular given that it has now sold out

Finally, the last of the Thalassas -- a black dial version with lots of bling.  My impression from Peter was that there will still be some Marin-movement based watches, but the economics of producing this extremely high quality movement at small volumes makes it difficult to recoup the investment in the retail price, especially once channel margins are added in.  Still, a lovely watch and a great accomplishment in movement design and execution, if you ask me.

It was great to see Peter in good spirits, as the past couple of years have been quite challenging for him as well as for many other independent watchmakers.  He seems very focused on his two main product lines, has bolstered his distribution and marketing, has brought in the right supporting staff for everything from operations management to accounting, and seems ready for a major expansion in his business.  He has great ambitions for his brand, and the optimism, energy, and now resources to pull them off.

All best wishes to you, Peter, for continued success!

Best,

Gary G

nt

...I had bought that PSM tourb when I had the chance -- even so, I like the more modern case proportions of this new series even better.

Best,

Gary

A very good capture of the clear sound of this repeater.  All in all a really good effort by Peter, I think!

Best,

Gary G

... but feel a bit hard, perhaps i like a bit soften one.

thanks for sharing, Allen.

stefan

Good to see Peter on the way up !

He really seems upbeat about his prospects, and I sense that he has come out the back side of the "art vs. commerce" mental battle with a good view of how he can pursue his passion for design and at the same time build strong markets for his work.  Not the easiest thing!

Best,

Gary G

I had the pleasure of handling this minute repeater in a private dinner not too long ago before SIHH.
At that time no pics was allowed before the official announcement.
But even in a fairly noisy room i could hear the clear chime of the hammers.
Very impressive piece indeed.

towards more models/complications within the Piccadilly line?

...is that the Classic line will be the extension of the original Piccadilly models, including models you will recognize from the original line.  But, with a new base movement (not the 2824 base).  Different case proportions (more like the Marin 1 based watches) -- so basically an update on the traditional PSM pieces, with price points to make them accessible to a broader buying population.

The Minute Repeater Tourbillon is not really based out of the "Classics" or the SM-2 based Marin series.

In fact, the calibre, the case, the dials, the bridges and the striking mechanism were all specifically designed for

this project in particular. The case profile is familiar, yet in a size of 44mm diameter, that was previously not done

by P S-M. The case itself, designed specifically to optimize the ambient sound of the minute repeater. In fact, the concept of

the skeltonized dial is also to yield a greater sound quality, by effectively enlarging the spacial parameters by opening the dial.

Each of the six watches in the series has a unique handengraving on the bridges, making each a piece unique.

 

The Piccadilly is not dead, not gone...just on hiatus...for a few more weeks... stay tuned...Basel grows near!

P S-M has more..and more ..and more coming!

...but I think we are in agreement (unless I've missed it again).

...just depending on how different parallel course come together at different

times, we could see a model from any of these series.

Right now..the Classics are up.

 

Thank you Gary G.!