Peter Speake-Marin is a highly noteworthy independent watch maker who has his hands in many interesting watches out there. Most important of course is his own brand, Speake-Marin. 2010 sees a new model, and most importantly a new movement – the Speake-Marin in-house made SM2 automatic. The movement is really beautiful. You can see it through the new Marin 1 watch caseback – being able to appreciate not only Speake-Marin’s attention to detail and decoration, but also how beautifully it is made. The hallmark of a true luxury movement is that it looks beautiful from a quality standpoint, and that the actually design of it is made with form and function in mind. The automatic rotor has a hidden weight on the bottom so that seeing it from the top makes it look symmetrical. The design (which is carried over to other parts of the movement) of the rotor is very cool looking, like a mixture of classic floral decoration and tribal style tattoos.

The SM2 automatic movement took Speake-Marin a few years to complete and will find its way into other watches – including most of the Piccadilly case timepieces. The movement is totally unique, and highly decorated – including the pieces you don’t even seen. Speake-Marin spares no expense, and cuts no corners time-wise when making and finishing the SM2 movement (with a price to match of course). The SM2 beats at 21,600 v/h (vibrations per hour) and has a power reserve of 72 hours. The plates and bridges are in German silver, and it has an Incabloc shock protection system. For now, the automatic movement indicates the seconds, minutes, and hours – but I can see Speake-Marin building on to the movement in the future to add more complications. Often times the development of an in-house calibre is done to leave room for modules (for other complications) to be built on the movement, etc…

The watch made to showcase the new SM2 movement is the Speake-Marin Marin 1. I believe that Mr. Speake-Marin told me that it will have a variety of dial customization options available to customers who are interested. So you can see this skeletonized dial concept meant to showcase the flexibility of the design – which is known at the Marin 1 Mark II watch. The beautiful standard dial is a two-piece enamel dial that is pristine in appearance. I recall the dial from a previous watch – the 1in20 model. Not only it is ultra legible and attractive (something Speake-Marin is always good at), but the precision of the numerals and markers in the enamel is very impressive. The sapphire crystal is AR coated for a very clear view of the face. You have traditional looking Speake-Marin hands in blued steel, here with SuperLumiNova luminant applied on them.

Speake-Marin is likely best known for his iconic Piccadilly watch case – which he is a bit larger and continues to mature gracefully. It is a great looking design. The larger size is 42mm wide – which i think is finally a good size for western wrists. Previous sizes down to 38mm wide sometimes made the watch look a bit petite. At 14.5mm high, the watch is tall, but not too tall. While it is hard to tell, the Marin 1 watch is in a titanium case. It is hard to tell because the grade 5 titanium is so well polished. Who would have thought 10 years ago or so that titanium could be polished up as nicely? The bezel design and those crowns never get old feeling to me.

While I don’t think the Marin 1 is going to be a limited edition, the watches will be individually numbered and not exactly made in high numbers. I am not totally sure about the price right now, but I will update the post with it when I get it. With a charismatic personality and lots of apparent talent, Peter Speake-Marin should do his new SM2 movement and Marin 1 justice as he continues to get watch lovers excited about his creations. For those who are looking for a beautiful, well-made watch from an indy brand that is connected to a strong personality – the Marin 1 or other Speake Marin watches aren’t a bad choice at all.