From haute horlogerie movements to COSC certified movement SMA, the Swiss independent watchmaker Speake-Marin has paid high attention to R&D of movements since launching its own atelier in 2014 in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
In response to the refurbishment trend in the luxury industry recently, the brand launched a new 15-piece edition of London Chronograph powered by the mythic Valjoux 92 vintage calibre at SIHH 2018 during 15-19 January in Geneva.
A vintage hand-wound chronograph movement, Valjoux 92 calibre was made during the 1950-60s and was widely incorporated by well-known watch brands ranging from Patek Philippe to Rolex and TAG Heuer. In the modern fine watchmaking industry, although the calibre can still be spotted in many timepieces, they are very rare in the market and most of them are from old stock, said some watchmakers.
As the components of Valjoux 92 calibre are sold by batch with the need to identify the quality, it took Speake-Marin many years to acquire the necessary quantity to launch this vintage product range. Once reached a certain number of movements, the brand revived the myth and created a design that pairs with Valjoux 92 calibre, said CEO and president Christelle Rosnoblet. He said: “Valjoux 92 calibre is an iconic chronograph movement because it demonstrates a true watchmaking know-how that requires hand-assembling. Speake-Marin takes the liberty to use the vintage movement and propose it as a modern timepiece.”
The London Chronograph is housed in a 42mm titanium case with the brand’s signature three-dimensional white dial, incorporating two floating counters. This is the first time for a Speake-Marin dial to have indexes replaced by letters, spelling “S-P-E-A-K-E”. The red counter at three o’clock measures the chronograph minutes, and the white counter at nine o’clock is for the small seconds. At the centre of the dial is the central rotor shaped like the band symbol and engraved with “London” and “Chronograph”. As the central rotor rotating with the hours, the two words appear at 12 o’clock and three o’clock respectively.
Rosnoblet says that new collections are showcased at SIHH every year. In the second half of 2018, Speake-Marin plans to unveil another signature movement with a special focus of market development on Asia and the United States in future.
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