Rene Bannwart 1915 - 2010

La Chaux-de-Fonds, January 13, 2010
At a time when the brand celebrates several anniversaries, its founding father, René Bannwart, bows out. In the privacy of his family and to respect his wishes, a final tribute was paid to him in La Chaux-de-Fonds on Friday, January 15, 2010. The story of a discreet entrepreneur with a confirmed creative talent.

Born March 16, 1915 in Zurich, René Bannwart spent his childhood in Basel before heading to Geneva to study at the Business School, where he developed his passion for business.

With watchmaking experience acquired from the most prestigious watch manufacturers, René Bannwart began his professional adventure at Patek Philippe in 1933 before joining Omega in 1940, where he established the first creative department and launched watch models which still today remain the talking pieces of the brand. During his 15 years at Omega, he strengthened his expertise in watchmaking and with a strong entrepreneurial spirit and a will to create his own watches, he founded Corum in 1955 with his uncle Gaston Ries. In 1958, he had his first success with the “Sans Heures” model where time was indicated only by the hands on the dial. In 1966, a new interpretation of this model is embodied within the Romvlvs model (today one of the 4 key pillar of Corum) whose hours in Roman numerals are engraved on the bezel.

René Bannwart known for his humanist and aesthetic values has been able to reach his ambition by creating a company that shines today in the constellation of Haute Horlogerie. He leaves behind him as much a reputation of beautiful human as that of a part of watchmaking history. Passionate and generous, he earned the trust and deep respect of his colleagues, clients and employees by building lasting friendships and sincere relationships.
True to the golden rule used in creation, he was known for his sense of detail and artistic qualities. The strong creativity instilled by René Bannwart to Corum, has been expressed throughout its history with many outstanding creations.

In 1958, launch of the Golden Tube model, a tube of gold in which the movement is inserted. This creation is behind the famous Golden Bridge model (1980), the first baguette movement that symbolizes the technical and watchmaking mastery of Corum and now part of the CORUM BRIDGES pillar.

In 1960, the first interpretation of the “Admiral’s Cup” model with a square case was developed. This was the first ever water-resistant square watch. In 1983, the famous Admiral’s Cup was reinterpreted in its emblematic design version (twelve-sided bezel, 12 nautical pennants) helping it to become the leading model of the brand.

In 1964, the “Coin Watch”, without a back cover, was created with an ultra-flat movement that is set in an authentic gold coin, a $20 Double Eagle Coin. The model has been worn by numerous U.S. Presidents and prominent civilians alike. A timepiece that sparkles in the ARTISANS collection.

Watchmaking history and watch aficionados will also remember the feathers dial (1970), the Rolls-Royce model (1976),pioneering the way to partnerships with prestigious car manufacturing brands, as well as the meteorite dials (1986) and the Tabogan watch (1997), whose ingenious mechanism allowed the watch to be turned into a table clock, and which has been patented.

In 2010, Corum celebrates its 55th anniversary and celebrates a half century of the Admiral’s Cup collection, whose iconic design was created by Rene’s son, Jean-René Bannwart; as well as 30 years of the Golden Bridge. This heritage, which was founded in the heart and skill of one man, René Bannwart, has provided to the brand with deep and solid roots and has been revived by its current CEO Antonio Calce, who has returned to the fundamental strategy of the brand since his arrival in 2005.

Antonio Calce, CEO of Corum, spoke of the human qualities and the talent of René Bannwart: “Today marks the end of a chapter for the Corum history. I have deep respect and admiration for René Bannwart, a man who wrote a chapter in the history of watchmaking and has created a brand with a strong credibility and legitimacy in creation while adding sophisticated technical and watchmaking content. Through his work, skill and motivation, René Bannwart brought Corum to the top of the watchmaking art in the 80’s. By instilling a powerful creative identity, he strongly anchored the brand DNA providing strong roots and enhancing its reputation. I am so honored to continue to lead Corum on the path of success and especially to develop its potential. The Wunderman family and the Corum family join me to convey their most sincere thoughts to his son Jean-René Bannwart and his wife Grischka, his family and loved ones”.

Ryan St. George, Managing Director of Wyler Genève

Ryan St. George is a U.S. national from Los Angeles who graduated with an M.B.A. from the University of California in 2000 before moving to Rome to work in marketing with Johnson&Johnson Italy. A promotion in 2004 saw him move to London where he took over marketing responsibilities with Johnson&Johnson for the EAME region. In 2007 he returned to Italy to join sportswear manufacturer Adidas as the Head of Sports Marketing for Italy, handling all the brand’s athletes and team partnerships.

In 2008, Ryan joined the Milan-based Binda Group, the parent company of Wyler Genève, as International Marketing Director with responsibility for the Breil Milano, D&G Time and Jewels, Moschino Cheap and Chic and Ducati brands. He became the Managing Director of Wyler Genève on 1^st May 2009.

Breguet No. 5 Quarter-repeating, self-winding watch. 1789-94. Sold to Count Journiac Saint-Méard in March 1794. Collection Montres Breguet S.A. © Montres Breguet S.A.

Through this retrospective of the works of Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747-1823), visitors to the Louvre will discover the art of watchmaking at its apogee, evidenced by these unique precision timepieces, combining genius, virtuoso techniques and avant-garde aesthetics. Assembled in the exhibition are exceptional loans – watches, clocks and measuring instruments – alongside portraits, archival documents and patents that span Abraham-Louis Breguet’s entire career.

Abraham-Louis Breguet an inventor at the court of Louis XVI

Born in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, Breguet completed his apprenticeship and studies in France from 1762 onwards. In 1775, at the age of 28, he married and managed to establish his own business on the Quai de l’Horloge, Paris. Watchmakers of the French capital then competed with Geneva and London in the field of scientific and artistic innovation. Breguet explored and perfected these inventions and complications. But he was not recognized as a Master Watchmaker until 1784.

These intervening years saw the gradual development of the automatic (or self-winding) watch and a timepiece with a repeater (or chiming mechanism). The first self-winding watches were purchased by Louis XVI, Marie-Antoinette and several high ranking personalities at the court of Versailles. This led, in 1783, to Breguet receiving a commission for an extraordinary watch incorporating all the innovations and complications known at the time. The end result would be one of the most famous of all Breguet watches, No. 160, also called the “Marie-Antoinette”, which, after several lengthy interruptions, was eventually finished in 1827, i.e. four years after Abraham-Louis Breguet’s death.

These watches immediately reveal the originality of his style, characterized by functional simplicity, technical mastery and flawless craftsmanship. His flat watch cases, easily legible numerals, rectilinear hands and guilloched dials made Breguet watches both unique works of art and discreet, practical, everyday objects, unlike the ornate, ostentatious timepieces made in the last quarter of the 18th century.

The Revolutionary interlude

During the Revolutionary period, Breguet made regular trips to England, where he shared the fruit of his research with the watchmaker John Arnold, while enlarging his clientele, which already included the Prince of Wales. In 1793, fearing the consequences of his former relationship with members of the Court and his moderate ideas, Breguet returned to Switzerland. He pursued his research, while striving to run what was left of his Parisian workshops from across the Alps.

On his return to Paris in May 1795, Breguet started up business again with new models, notably a simple watch with one hand, known as the “subscription watch” (an advance deposit of a quarter of the price was paid when the order was placed), launched with the aid of an advertising leaflet. This revealed the subtle balance between the researcher and the entrepreneur, who combined constantly updated unique models with functional timepieces. In 1796, Breguet invented a new type of travel clock that went on functioning during transportion. General Bonaparte purchased the first one to take on his Egyptian campaign.

Breguet No. 4009 Observation chronometer Forerunner of the modern chronograph. Sold in 1825 to Mr Whaley Collection Montres Breguet S.A. © Montres Breguet S.A.

A European reputation under the Consulate and Empire

Thus began a thriving period for the House of Breguet, in terms of both sales and inventions, which seemed to spur one another on. Pure research and applied art always fused in Breguet’s work. The first patent he registered for one of his inventions was in 1798 for constant force escapement (the mechanism of the watch is driven by a rigorous constant force). Shown at France’s First Exhibition of Industrial Products (1798), in a travel clock and a metronome, it won Breguet a gold medal. The following year his “tact watch”, which enabled the wearer to tell the time by touching the watch face, was launched on the market. At France’s Third Exhibition (1802), the House of Breguet attracted a military clientele on presenting its “deck watch” and “Longitude watch”, while in 1806, the public were introduced to the “tourbillon regulator” (device that neutralizes the effects of gravity on the workings of watch movements).

Although kept in the background by Napoleon I, Breguet received orders from the imperial court and his entourage. Always ahead of its time, the company also exported its timepieces through a network in and outside of Europe, having understood at an early date that its survival depended on becoming international. England, Spain and Russia were its principal foreign markets, but the political situation at the end of the Empire slowed down Breguet’s activity considerably. To compensate for the markets it lost, the company developed its sales in the Ottoman Empire by adapting its models to Turkish tastes.

Ultimate recognition during the Restoration

When the Bourbons returned to power, the House of Breguet saw a spectacular turnaround in its activity. Its European clientele reburgeoned and included loyal customers such as Tsar Alexander I of Russia and King George IV of England. Prestigious timepieces once owned by them will be on display in this exhibition. In France, Louis XVIII publicly displayed his respect for Breguet by appointing him Watchmaker to the Royal Navy in 1815 and awarding him a seat in the Academy of Sciences in 1816. At the Exhibition of 1819, as member of the jury, Breguet presented a retrospective of his clockmaking career, during which he had raised this precision craft to a degree of unprecedented excellence. The reliability and streamlined designs of his timepieces were far ahead of his era and already belonged to modernity.

This tradition lives on at Breguet today in innovative timepieces, thus confirming their precursory status that bears witness to European culture and history.

Visitors information

Opening times : daily except Tuesdays, 9am-6pm. Late-night opening until 10 pm on Wednesdays and Fridays.
Admission : access to the exhibition is included in the admission to the permanent collections of the museum: €9; €6 after 6pm on Wednesdays and Fridays. Free admission for under-26s from the European Union, under-18s, the unemployed, card-holders (Louvre jeunes, Louvre professionnels, Louvre enseignants and Louvre étudiants partenaires) and Friends of the Louvre. Free admission for everybody on the first Sunday of the month.
Further information
01 40 20 53 17 / www.louvre.fr

(left to right): Leonid Khankin (owner and creative director Ernst Benz), Elizabeth Doerr, Kari Voutilainen, Ralf Baumgarten and Roger Smith look forward to the arrival of 12 Faces of Time: Horological Virtuosos.

Artful New Book Pre-Launches at Baselworld

Previewed to Great Acclaim

A book like this one has really never been seen before in the world of watchmaking: a non-commercial opus focusing on art on three fronts: the artistry of independent mechanical watchmaking with little or no commercial background, the artistry of creating an eminently enjoyable text with no marketing behind it, and the artistry of visuals created to express the rare stories of twelve unique watchmakers.

The atmospheric look and feel of 12 Faces of Time: Horological Virtuosos will delight both the reader of well-written, artistic books and the connoisseur of timepieces created by independent masters of timekeeping. This book is slated for release in the fall of 2009, but its pulsing energy is at this time already tangible in the horological world thanks in great part to a pre-launch party held on March 27 at Baselworld.

Leonid Khankin, owner and creative director of Swiss-American watch company Ernst Benz, threw the well-attended party to introduce his brand’s Instrument Series and simultaneously celebrate the high art of watchmaking as it is depicted in 12 Faces of Time: Horological Virtuosos. Khankin thus had the opportunity to honor some of his horological heroes while presenting them with the rare chance to step into the spotlight. Though the names of many of the watchmakers featured in 12 Faces of Time: Horological Virtuosos are spoken throughout the halls of Baselworld—and indeed the hills and valleys of Switzerland—with hushed reverence, these men rarely find the glamorous limelight they would be so deserving of with their handmade form of artistry. Khankin’s generous gesture allowed them not only interaction with the world’s elite watch press attending the party, but also the chance to preview 12 Faces of Time: Horological Virtuosos via video stream.

(left to right): Leonid Khankin (owner and creative director Ernst Benz), Elizabeth Doerr and Philippe Dufour enjoy the Baselworld party on March 27, 2009.

Sipping cocktails provided by Patrón tequila, seven of the book’s watchmakers in attendance spent the evening chatting with the press, inspecting Ernst Benz’s oversized pilot’s watches, and interacting with one another as they seldom get the chance to do. Philippe Dufour, Vianney Halter, Roger Smith, Kari Voutilainen, Felix Baumgartner, Beat Haldimann and Thomas Prescher visibly enjoyed the relaxed ambience and attention lavished upon them by the guests. The watchmakers featured in the book not able to make the evening were François-Paul Journe, Dr. Ludwig Oechslin, Paul Gerber, Volker Vyskocil, and Kenji Shiohara.

Embodying the animated yin-yang that is modern mechanical watchmaking, these twelve faces of time represent very different corners of the highest level of watchmaking: individual—and individualistic—styles of this timeless mechanical art. 12 Faces of Time: Horological Virtuosos will allow readers to see well-known horological figures such as François-Paul Journe, Vianney Halter, and Philippe Dufour as they’ve never been seen before and to gain unique insight into major independent horologists Kari Voutilainen, Felix Baumgartner, Thomas Prescher, Volker Vyskocil, Paul Gerber, Beat Haldimann, Roger Smith, and Dr. Ludwig Oechslin. Readers will certainly also enjoy learning about Kenji Shiohara, the innovator who founded a mini-department for high watchmaking within Japan’s gargantuan Seiko Corporation.

International watch journalist Elizabeth Doerr’s expertise and standing in the field of watchmaking is unique: over the course of a twenty-year career, she has written for magazines all over the world, authored and coauthored books on watches, been a member of several international juries, and is the senior editor of Wristwatch Annual, a yearly overview of mechanical watches.

Photographer Ralf Baumgarten has a varied repertoire of themes: his first book on the subject of watchmaking, UhrMenschen, received a Red Dot design award in 2005; in 2007 he spent time portraying a valley in Switzerland; and in 2008 he captured faces of camels in Dubai for a forthcoming desert-themed project. His artful photography has been featured in publications and exhibitions in a number of countries—the latter including La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland’s International Museum of Horology.

Precise details on retail price and publication date will follow soon.

Bernhard Lederer, the founder of BLU

Bernhard Lederer is the founder and chief watchmaker of the watchmaking brand BLU. He was born near Stuttgart, Germany in 1958, began a watchmaker apprenticeship in 1976 and qualified as Master Watchmaker in 1984.

A passionate desire to be independent encouraged Lederer to open his own atelier called ‘Uhrenmanufaktur Lederer’ (Clock manufacture Lederer). He specialized in the restoration of vintage watches and clocks, as well as developing his own timepieces. In 1985, Lederer’s horological talent was recognized by his peers when he was accepted as a founding member of the A.H.C.I, the Horological Academy of Independent Watchmakers.

As well as restoration, Lederer constructed unique pieces on commission: these included a table clock featuring a perpetual calendar and moonphase that it only needed correction after 1000 years. He also developed a sculptural clock called ‘Trojka’, which features clockwork concealed inside three tall, chrome-plated columns.

Lederer’s next project was manufacturing a series wristwatches called of ‘Time Dimension’ with orbiting Zeiss glass disks, which won the German Watch of the Year prize and became the inspiration for BLU’s popular Galaxy series.

BLU MT3, winner of “The Most Revered Watch 2007 in terms of design and technological innovation“

In 1997 Lederer headed to Brazil to manage a monumental clock project consisting of 24 large (14 meters/45 feet) countdown clocks placed in historical locations around the country. Then, in 2000, Lederer relocated to Neuchâtel, Switzerland and founded his own haute horogerie watch brand, BLU (Bernhard Lederer Universe).

BLU’s designs and innovation have been recognized by international awards, including the 2006 Middle East Watches and Jewellery award for Best High-End Jewelled Watch for the Baguette, and the 2007 Kuala Lumpur watch competition prize for Most Revered Watch for the MT3 orbiting triple-axis tourbillion.

Bernhard Lederer’s timepieces are united by the fact that they tell the time without imposing the constraints of time on the viewer. You can relax and appreciate the beauty of the watch without being stressed by time racing by.

Yassin Tag, the new Vacheron Constantin Brand Manager for Middle East

Dubaï (U.A.E.) – May 1, 2009 – Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest Swiss watchmaker in continuous operations, is pleased to announce that Mr Yassin Tag has been appointed as new Brand Manager for Middle East & Indian Subcontinent.

Yassin Tag replaces Hugues de Pins, who has been recently appointed to the position of President of Vacheron Constantin North America.

Prior to this new position, Mr. Tag was Area Sales Manager, Middle East & Indian Subcontinent, working closely with Mr de Pins from 2006 until early 2009. During these three years, he has notably contributed to increase the position, the recognition and the sales of the brand in the area.

Shortly after being born in Switzerland in 1975, Yassin Tag moved with his family to Egypt. Following graduation in Management and International Commerce from Ain Shams University, Cairo, he pursued MBA at Sorbonne University, Paris, France. Mr. Tag moved back to Switzerland in 2002 and joined the Maison Vacheron Constantin, the historic boutique in Geneva, as Sales Executive. He moved to Dubaï in 2006 as Area Sales Manager of Vacheron Constantin Middle East & Indian Subcontinent.

Yassin Tag’s promotion comes as a further affirmation of his abilities and commitment to the brand. As new Brand Manager of Vacheron Constantin Middle East & Indian Subcontinent, he will continue to develop the position and recognition of the brand in the luxury high-end watch category, based on unparalleled heritage, technical know-how, elegant and classic design, and exceptional hand-made finishing.

He resides and is based at the Vacheron Constantin’s offices in Dubaï.

About Vacheron Constantin: Established in the heart of Geneva in 1755, Vacheron Constantin is the world’s oldest continuous watch manufacture, maintaining its traditions of watchmaking excellence for more than 250 years. Held in high regard by watch connoisseurs and collectors alike, Vacheron Constantin’s strengths resides in its superlative technical mastery, aesthetic know-how and extremely high level of finishing.

Hugues de Pins, the new president of Vacheron Constantin North America

(New York, NY) April 1, 2009 – Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest Swiss watchmaker in continuous operation, is pleased to announce that Hugues de Pins has been appointed the new president of Vacheron Constantin North America. Mr. de Pins replaces Julien Tornare who has been promoted to the position of Sales Director of Vacheron Constantin International at the company’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Mr. de Pins brings with him 15 years of experience in the luxury retail sector. Most recently, he was Regional Director for Vacheron Constantin in the Middle East and India, based in Dubai. During four years in the Middle East, Mr. de Pins successfully grew the brand and helped it achieve a leadership position in the high-end watch category. Prior to Dubai, Mr. de Pins worked for Cartier, Vacheron Constantin’s sister brand under their parent company, Compagnie Financière Richemont SA, based first in Paris and then in Madrid, Spain, where he gained valuable expertise in the luxury market as well as an acute international perspective.

As the new president of Vacheron Constantin North America, Mr. de Pins will continue to develop the US market and solidify its leadership position in Haute Horlogerie. His understanding of the brand and knowledge of high watchmaking will support Vacheron Constantin’s growth in the US, as more customers discover the company’s unparalleled heritage, technical achievements and artistic elegance. “I am honored to accept this new role with Vacheron Constantin in the US,” says Mr. de Pins. “The company has operated continuously for more than two and a half centuries, and its timepieces have been distributed in the United States for more than 125 years. I am pleased to lead the US team, continuing in the same direction, reinforcing to our collectors that the beauty of Vacheron Constantin hand-crafted timepieces are like a work of Art that only very few master craftsmen still know how to produce. This Savoir-Faire illustrates even more the unique heritage of our manufacture and make our timepieces, an excellent lifelong investment.”

Mr. de Pins will be based at the Vacheron Constantin headquarters in New York City. He will reside in New York with his wife and three children.

About Vacheron Constantin:

Established in Geneva in 1755, Vacheron Constantin is the world’s oldest continuous watch manufacturer, maintaining its traditions of watchmaking excellence for 254 years. Held in high regard by watch connoisseurs and enthusiasts alike, Vacheron Constantin’s strengths lie in its superlative technical mastery, aesthetic know-how and extremely high level of finish.

Rufus Lin

Rufus Lin is the Chief Designer of Rufus Lin Designs. He is a Canadian artist/designer, based in Vancouver and Tokyo.

Rufus Lin has a passion for all things beautiful, in which he finds a channel for his creativity. He is the author of the novel “Trout Rising Again”, as well as a composer of orchestral and chamber music. His paintings have been exhibited in Tokyo and Vancouver.

Rufus Lin is an active participant in the fashion and jewelry industry, especially in the luxury watch segment, both in Japan and Canada, and is most well known for his design of the Rufus Gerard luxury chronograph, a limited edition timepiece that represents the only known top-end luxury watch collaboration with a foreign brand permitted by Seiko Instruments, the leading manufacturer of luxury watches in Japan.

Rufus Gerard

It is Rufus Lin’s life philosophy to share his passion for beautiful things with the people in the communities that he has access to, hence his mission as a watch distributor to make available at reasonable prices the treasures of fine luxury timepieces of independent European watchmakers.

George Daniels, the inventor of co-axial escapement

Texts about the Co-Axial Escapement are filled with adjectives like “radical” and “revolutionary”. Are you comfortable with these descriptions?
I am comfortable with hearing the Co-Axial escapement described that way because it is, in fact, revolutionary and radical. The Co-Axial Escapement solves a problem which had been perplexing watchmakers for 500 years and that is the problem of lubrication.

Is there room for another major breakthrough as dramatic – as radical and revolutionary – as the Co-Axial Escapement in mechanical watches?
It might sound immodest to say it but I honestly don’t think so. Mechanical watches have a long history and the challenges of improving them have been taken on by centuries of master watchmakers. The problems of the viscosity of lubrication and the need for lubrication caused by sliding friction had been addressed by watchmakers for hundreds of years and not solved until the introduction of the Co-Axial escapement.

Different materials may be used in the construction of certain parts of the movements but these won’t affect a watch’s fundamental performance in the way that the Co-Axial Escapement does.

Will the Co-Axial Escapement, in time, be the most widely used escapement in the construction of new mechanical watches?
The watch industry is by nature very conservative and slow to adopt new things. But basically, every maker who continues with other escapements will ultimately be trampled by the Co-Axial for the very simple reason that it’s better. OMEGA have been able to show that the Co-Axial Escapement can be serially produced on a large-scale so while it will take some doing to convince the mechanical watch industry, it’s just a matter of time.

Are you surprised by the renewed popularity of mechanical watches?
No, I’m not surprised by the renewed popularity of the mechanical watch. I have often said that I’ve never been in doubt that the mechanical watch would survive and I started its revival with my first watch fitted with the Co-Axial escapement in 1969 in London.

My mantra has long been that the survival of the mechanical watch is ensured by its qualities: it’s historic, technical, intellectual, aesthetic, useful and even amusing. These properties have sustained the popularity of mechanical watches through the ages and are bound to carry it well into the future.

Having said that, a generation ago the mechanical watch was in need of improvements which would prevent its attractions from being overshadowed by quartz timekeeping.

That, in short, is one of the real benefits of the Co-Axial Escapement: it will play a major role of extending the popularity of mechanical watches into the 21st century and beyond.

An article in the Financial Times said that you don’t create detailed drawings of your watches until after their finished. Is that true? If so, do you improvise when you are making a watch?
It’s true that I don’t create the detailed drawings until after the watch is completed. Remember that none of the great watchmakers in the past worked from drawings! When I start a new watch, I have the whole thing in my head. It’s possible that I will make some small revisions as I go along if I think of something which would be an improvement.

One of the problems with a detailed drawing of a watch is that the width of a pencil line will sometimes be several times wider than the smallest parts of a watch movement.

I should point out that the exception is escapements. Because of the very small tolerances in an escapement – just a few thousandths of a millimetre — detailed scale drawings are made of these. I’ve sometimes created a dozen drawings of an escapement in order to work out its maximum efficiency.

A few years ago, Sotheby’s assembled an exhibit of 36 of the 37 watches you’ve made. Do you have particular affection for any of these or do you love all your “children” equally?
There are two for which I have special affection. One is the Grande Complication watch which lives up to its name: it’s a gold one-minute tourbillon with a slim Co-Axial escapement and every possible complication: minute repeating, instantaneous perpetual calendar, equation of time, phase of the moon, thermometer and indication of the reserve of winding. I still have that one, by the way. The other is the Space Traveller. It has an independent double-wheel escapement and also has a large number of complications: mean-solar and sidereal time, age and phase of the moon and equation of time indications.

None of these watches were commissioned. All were especially created for experimental purposes. When I started making watches, I had already taken the decision not to make watches to order but rather to make them entirely to my own design and satisfaction. I would seel them when, and if, a suitable client materialised.

This year, OMEGA is celebrating the tenth anniversary of the first Co-Axial escapement in an OMEGA calibre. The escapements have been a part of your life for forty years. Are you pleased with OMEGA’s interpretation and introduction of the escapement?
When OMEGA made the commitment to produce the Co-Axial Escapement at a series production level I was very pleased. They were brave enough to take on this revolutionary technology in the face of a lot of criticism and scepticism from the rest of the industry. At the time, there was no praise for OMEGA. I could sympathize with them because there had also been none for me when I invented the Co-Axial escapement.

Because it is very much my baby, I had intense discussions with a number of their technicians, especially in the beginning. We have collaborated for several years on the specification of the components to define the forms of the special tools needed for production. The Co-Axial escapement is more complex than the classic lever so I kept very close to the technicians during the run up to production. Working with others was a new experience for me and I have very much enjoyed the relationship that developed between OMEGA, its technicians and myself.

The end product is most satisfying to see working and it is of course a thrill for an inventor to see his aspirations fulfilled so perfectly. The performance has been remarkable, showing long-term day-to-day use that cannot be equalled by the classic lever escapement. OMEGA is to be commended for their courage in taking on the Co-Axial escapement and I wish them every success with it.

The new Speake-Marin in-house movement SM2

Over view
The over all design of the movement is based on the philosophy of precision and longevity. The movement is large and unique in style, it retains the S-M signature winding rotor and returns to ‘the foundation watch’ style of circular grained untreated German silver bridges.

One of the approaches in designing the movement was to make a watchmakers watch, meaning that the priority was to make it in such a way that would facilitate the
assembly and adjustment for the watchmaker to be able to affect his skill with ease and precision. Examples of this are shown by the double micro regulation for the beat error and timing of the balance, as well as the milling around the balance gaining maximum access to view the balance for adjustment. In addition windows are milled into the sides of the movement to allow maximum visibility. The escape wheel bridge can be removed independently of the main train bridge to allow the escapement to be assembled separately of the rest of the watch.

The SM2 will replace our existing FW2012 automatic movement during 2009.

The MARIN-1 is the first Speake-Marin model to integrate the SM2 caliber.

Technical specifications

Diameter 32.6mm
Height 6.2mm

Functions Automatic mechanical movement, hour, minute, center seconds

Characteristics
Frequency 21600 v/h
Shock protection incabloc & kiff
Power reserve 72 hours
Single barrel
Number of jewels 29
Total number of components 211
Weight of balance 0118gr inertia 25mg.cm2
Material of bridges/main plate German silver
Chronometer balance with masslots and breguet over coil.

Finish/assembly
Movement assembled by hand
All bridges, levers and mainplate finished by hand, circling, spotting and polished.
The rotor wheel angles are hand finished then the surface is mirror finished.
All pivots burnished
Breguet overcoil lifted by hand

Peter Speake-Marin

About Peter Speake-Marin

Born in 1968 in the county of Essex in England. First studying horology London’s Hackney Technical College and then later at the prestigious Swiss watch making school WOSTEP in Neuchatel. This was followed by seven years in the heart of London’s Piccadilly, where he worked as a specialist in the restoration of highly collectible antique watches.

This period gave him the opportunity to be in intimate contact handling and restoring literally hundreds of horological treasures from the greatest watchmakers and houses in history. The inspiration and knowledge gleaned from those treasures fired his desire to work and further his knowledge of watchmaking to an even higher level.

Returning to Switzerland in 1996 to work on modern watches he specialized in complications both building them and in their development.

In 2000, after 15 years of study he embarked on his personal dream; an independent workshop in which he could design and build his own watches.

The Watch Workshop is the name of the company founded by Peter Speake-Marin to realize his ideas in watchmaking..

Source: www.speake-marin.com