Speake Marin’s latest piece takes time telling to new levels, with a Carillon Minute Repeater and a Flying Tourbillon for good measure!
Here at Watch Advice, we’ve had a little bit to do with Speake Marin over the past few months. We reviewed the Ripples Original in Black back in October, then headed down to the Sydney International Watch Fair where they were one of about 14 exhibiting independent brands and had a great talk with their GM for Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, Stéphane Pagès on what made the brand tick. Whilst there, got to see their special edition Koala Art Series they did in conjunction with Queensland-based not-for-profit Queensland Koala Crusaders and interviewed President, Linda Barnes and Treasurer, David Mackenzie, which you can read here.
Being familiar with this brand more than other independents, you end up having a fondness for them and what they are trying to do in the watch world – which is to be a little different and to stand out from the crowd. How many other brands will put a love heart on their hour hand? This release is Speake Marin with their in-house watch atelier Le Cercle de Hologers flexing their horological muscles and know-how. And they’ve done just that!
For this piece, Speake Marin has chosen to house the movement in their ‘Piccadilly’ case. For those new to the brand, Speake Marin’s cases are all named after areas in London, paying tribute to their founder. The Ripples for example is the ‘La City’ case, named after the financial district in London, whereas this one along with many of their models is in their famous ‘Piccadilly’ case.
The Minute Repeater Carillon’s 42mm Piccadilly case which is 16mm thick, is crafted in three distinct parts. The bezel is crafted in platinum, the side case in grade 5 titanium and the caseback is in platinum with a sapphire crystal showcasing the movement. Speake Marin also has this model, but housed in a full Sapphire Crystal case, which also makes for a stunning visual.
The 60-second flying tourbillon is visible at 6 o’clock which balances the design of the dial, given that this is a fully open-worked design, there isn’t a dial so to speak. As for all Speake Marin tourbillon cages, the upper bridge is done in the shape of the Speake Marin logo which adds to the uniqueness of these pieces. It also makes for a nice visual as well, seeing the cage spin around with the logo moving as the tourbillon oscillates. The red variant has a red cap on the tourbillon, whereas the blue strap variant does not, allowing for some small differentiation in the 2 versions available.
The case construction is particularly fascinating, as its material influences the note of the minute repeater chime and once activated by the sliders, the Minute Repeater Carillon mechanism comes alive and is fully visible at 12 o’clock under the Roman numerals. It’s a nice balance to the dial and offsets the flying tourbillon well. One point to note, the numerals also move and collapse during the chiming sequence, something kind of cool and a little bit of showmanship here from Speake Marin!
The minute repeater features the in-house calibre SMAHH-02. The manual winding movement was developed and assembled by Speake Marin’s movement maker, Le Cercle des Horlogers. According to Speake Marin, it requires around a month to assemble the 536 components that go into the SMAHH-02, decorate it, and then set it by a master watchmaker. Whilst the watchmaker has to set the time, in a minute repeater, you also need to adjust the chiming rhythm so it sounds the way it needs to. In this instance, Speake Marin sets this piece to chime for 18 seconds, starting at 12:59.
Whilst hard to convey in writing, the Minute Repeater Carillon when chiming indicates the time by the use of three hammers: one for the hours, all three simultaneously for the quarter-hour chimes, and one for the minutes – all sounding different depending on the hammers and tightness of the chiming rings they strike.
Speake Marin has decorated the movement and finished it extremely well, and if you look at other movements from Speake Marin, you can see these finishes coming through all their movements. In the case of the Minute Repeater Carillon, the hammers, tourbillon cages, minute repeater regulator bridge and other steel components such as the screw heads are black polished by hand to obtain sharp angles. The bridges are decorated with Côtes de Geneve and hand-beveled at 45°. The gears are circular satin-finished giving them a nice contrast to the Geneva Stripes. The movement components are vertically satin-finished and the main plate is hand-finished with circular graining.
Final Thoughts
The Speake Marin Minute Repeater Carillon is one of those watches that If You Know, You Know! Minture repeaters are a little like this. Fairly unassuming with all the good bits under the hood. Speake Marin has made this piece a little less subtle and you can see what’s inside from the moment you lay eyes on it. This is probably good given this is a piece unique – you may want to show off what’s on your wrist with a watch like this one!
At CHF 360,000, this isn’t a piece for everyone, but it’s not meant to be either with some of the most complicated watch-making within this piece. But if you’re lucky to get your hands on it, then you’ll be safe knowing you’ve something very special on your wrist.
Reference: 964282520
Specification:
- Case: 42mm and 16mm thick
- Case Material: Central case in grey PVD titanium (Grade 5) with lugs and platinum bezel.
- Case back: Platinum with sapphire crystal treated with anti-reflective coating.
- Dial: Openworked dial with collapsing red 12 o’clock hour marker (hand-painted). Carillon Minute Repeater, Central Hours and Minutes. Flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock and collapsing animation of the numeral 12. Heart-shaped blued hands
- Crystal: Sapphire with anti-reflective coating
- Water resistance: 30 meters
- Movement: Calibre SMA-HH02 Manual winding movement, 60 seconds flying tourbillon, Carillon Minute Repeater. Pivoting on 51 jewels and beating at 21,600 VpH / 3Hz
- Power reserve: 72 hours
- Strap: Coloured rubber or leather strap with choice of folding clasp or pin buckle.
