America’s luxury watch show, WatchTime New York, is only weeks away, as we continue to spotlight some of the most notable timepieces that you’ll find on display there. Today we look at indie brand Speake-Marin and the new watches in its elegant J-Class collection, the simply named One and Two, which are equipped with all-new, in-house movements.
The watch dubbed the One is in an 18k rose gold case; the Two features a grade 5 titanium case. Both are available in two case sizes — 38-mm diameter and 42 mm — and are distinguished by their highly skeletonized dials that put the micromechanical vista of the new movement, Caliber SMA01, on full display. Speake-Marin says that the development of this in-house movement, the first to be used in the J-Class collection, required many months from the design stage to the manufacturing process. The Speake-Marin watchmaking team kept the movement slim by using a micro-rotor to wind the mainspring and positioning it flush with the bridges. Assembled entirely by hand and possessing a fully wound power reserve of 52 hours, Caliber SMA01 carries a COSC chronometer certification, testifying to its timekeeping precision and reliability.
The case is an evolved version of Speake-Marin’s hallmark “Piccadilly,” engineered for a slightly more technical look. The shorter lugs allow the strap to be integrated more closely into the case, and the crown has also been moved closer to the case middle. The bezel and the caseback now slightly overlap the central case section, and the sapphire crystal over the dial is now a box form, further reducing the overall thickness of the case. Both the front and back crystals, the latter offering a rear view of the movement, are treated with nonreflective coating. The openworked dial, swept over by Speake-Marin’s distinctive hands, is bereft of numerals except for the ones on the small seconds subdial, placed uncharacteristically at the 1:30 position to create a visual balance with the dial-side rotor and mainspring barrel.
The Speake-Marin J-Class One and Two watches are all limited editions; if you’re curious to see them up close and see how they feel on the wrist, order your tickets now for WatchTime New York 2017. Tickets are going fast!
