Longines La Grande Classique Quartz 37 Yellow (L4.766.2.11.9)

 
WORLDTEMPUS - 14 November 2011

An independent transforming into a brand without losing its soul: this seems like an impossible task, but with Peter Speake-Marin, really, anything is possible.
This talented watchmaker named a brand after himself in 2000, but continued doing contract work for other watchmakers and companies up to 2008. Only in that year when the world seemed to go financially awry did Speake-Marin decide to fully focus on his own watches and invest all of his energy in this venture.
This also meant a change in strategy. While Speake-Marin previously focused on unique pieces that were often collaborative in nature - both with other artisans such as engraver Kees Engelbarts and the future owners of his bespoke pieces - since 2008 the London-born watchmaker working in Switzerland has tried to put something more like model lines on the market. This was achieved to great critical acclaim in the past two years with the Thalassa model and Speake-Marin's own Caliber SM2.

Spirit Pioneer
Making a huge splash at SalonQP, which closed on Saturday, was Speake-Marin's latest work of art: a 38 mm stainless steel beauty housed in his typical Piccadilly case. The case isn't the only element taken from previous Speake-Marin watches: the hands are also the same shape as those on the experienced watchmaker's original Foundation Watch, which is currently undergoing refurbishment. Turning the watch over, one finds Speake-Marin's typical rotor design winding Caliber FW2012.
The immediate question that enters a connoisseur of this brand's mind upon seeing this watch is certainly its departure in style: an aviation-style timepiece is definitely new within Speake-Marin's collection.
"Spirit is inspired by a timepiece I bought fifteen years ago when I was restoring antique pieces in Piccadilly," 43-year-old Speake-Marin explained at the event. "It was an authentic military watch from the first half of the twentieth century that I restored in my own time and wore regularly as my personal timekeeper. I always wanted to create my own piece based on this personal favorite and have toyed around with ideas to realize this ambition ever since I founded Speake-Marin."

That timepiece, a vintage Longines, seems to have meant much to him. However, this model symbolizes even more to Speake-Marin. First off, it is an "affordable" Speake-Marin released in part as a gesture to his many fans wishing to own one of his timepieces (retail price is 9,800 Swiss francs). This was made possible by the use of the rest of his stock of Caliber FW2012, a truly reliable ETA-based movement that he also used in the original Piccadilly line. The limitation of 68 pieces is a natural one dictated by the number of movements he had left.
Perhaps most striking, however, is the message engraved into the case back: "Fight, Love & Persevere." This is a personal message from the watchmaker, but also sort of a personal motto.

"The global economic downturn and natural disasters of the last few years have meant that people all over the world - myself included - have had to face up to increasing challenges that can test the limits of endurance," he explains. "But what has struck me in my experiences is the drive people possess to fight on, to adapt and to forge forward, with their capacity for love never diminishing. The themes of determination, tenacity and love were at the forefront of my mind when I created this timepiece and so I have paid tribute to them by christening it 'Spirit' and by engraving the motto on the case back."
Powerful and striking on so many levels, Speake-Marin's Spirit hit a real chord among the visitors to SalonQP, where the independent hall was literally buzzing. It would seem that the collection sold out.