What started over ten years ago now, the path down the Independent Watchmaker road, has come full circle for me. Why a circle you might well ask, well let me tell you. It was in early 2004, Basel during the watch & jewelry fair held annually that I first met Peter & Daniela Speake-Marin. They were exhibiting at the AHCI stand, with about 5 watches in the small vitrine that was their showcase for Basel.
I immediately warmed to them, and found their watches in person, even more compelling than the few pictures I had seen on the web. We met for about an hour, discussed our mutual business future and I decided that these were people I could work with and was willing to enter into a business relationship. I signed the purchase order for 5 watches and slightly nervously bid them farewell having committed to about $80,000 worth of watches essentially no-one had ever heard of. Our remainder of the trip was to see the usual suspects and continue the dance with the big brands.
A link to a previous article I wrote that's more indepth about that initial meeting.
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When those watches showed up in August that year, we had paid in full for them and I was tasked with recovering our investment on an unknown & complete newcomer. I'm not sure many in our business would have done this. It was a long shot, and the price for failure was not attractive as I had three partners to convince. I believed in him and his work, so I spent lots of time talking to and emailing clients about this amazing English watchmaker, using enamel dials in his basic watches, who was doing back then something rather remarkable. He and Daniela had jumped into the deep end, and with his sense of design and brilliant watchmaking skill, had come up with what I thought was a cohesive design that blended classical elements with a strong style. Would I be right and have others see what I saw, or was I to receive the proverbial "egg on the face".
Well I'm happy to say that several clients were there in the store the day the FedEx box showed up, and eagerly awaited for us to reveal the contents. Within an hour 3 of the 5 watches had new owners...packing up later that evening, a light bulb went off in my mind! Here we were as authorized dealers for many of the great Swiss & German watchmaking brands, and these clients had waited, seen, handled and bought an unknown Independent Watchmaker's work. Why??
This was the piece that remained in stock for 3 months...
They collectively could have bought almost any watch they wanted, this was Silicon Valley and the money wasn't the issue. Rather I suspect looking back, that here was a compelling story of what is tremendously rare in the watch world, that of a brilliant mechanical watchmaker, who also can design and execute a good looking watch with a classical element to it. Usually these two skill sets are not found within one person, either you have one or the other. Just as I recognised this rarity and found his work compelling, these others did too. Since that time I have delved further and further into this amazing world of independent artisan watchmakers, meeting and befriending many of the top Independent watchmakers currently creating watches. I have had the fortune and honor of representing many of the now household names in the Independent Watchmaking world and count several of them as great personal friends. Their work is compelling to me and I am happy to fly the flag for all Independent Watchmakers, whether or not I represent them. It is a tough road for them to follow professionally, as the general watch industry isn't terribly supportive of Independent work, preferring the old system of the collaborative effort to create many a lovely example of the horological art form.
Possibly two of the ultimate models/pieces from Peter and from my perspective, his zenith so far as an Independent Watchmaker:
18K WG QP 1 in 20 solid gold sectional guilloche dial, stunning!
18K RG QP 1 in 20 with a 4 part enamel dial. Sublime and classic Speake-Marin.
These two examples are from his 1 in 20 series of mostly Perpetual Calendars, that were subscription pieces each created as a "Piece Unique" to fund the development of his own caliber, the superb SM2.
This was one of Peter's early Art pieces, the brilliant "Fighting Time", a collaboration with Kees Englebarts who created the phenomenal dial to Peter's design. Mokume-Gane ( wood pattern ) blended metals in the ancient Japanese style, for the main dial, with two 18K gold hand carved and hand chased dragons chasing each other anti-clockwise against time, cased in platinum 38mm case.
Fast forward to late 2011, when I came across a young watchmaker/restoration guy previously unknown to me, and I try to spend as much time as I can staying up on the latest and greatest of the watch world, from of all places Oregon, USA. Using my computer I was able to dig up some information about him and eventually contacted him via Facebook if memory serves me correctly. His name, Keaton Myrick. What I had seen of his work in restoration seemed pretty good, and knowing this is where many a great watchmaker starts out, as it is a tremendous path to learning the skills and methods of great watchmakers of the past, I decided to see what he was up to with regards to his future given that I saw some pictures of his school watch.
Restoration examples that told me he knew what he was doing!
This is highly skilled work, so it bode well for what he could create in the future.
The school watch! Pic courtesy of Keaton Myrick
Pic courtesy of Keaton Myrick.
The school watch, the KMi-001 his first completed watch had elements I loved and other I did not. However I recognized something here again compelling, and felt I ought to keep a close watch on him. Following his postings on Facebook I was excited to see parts of his prototype first serial production watch come to life. I think what finally did it for me and convinced me to begin a serious dialogue with Keaton, was when I saw him designing and fabricating his own balance wheel. This is not for the faint of heart and as the one element most crucial in keeping time, takes serious skill and dedication to do right. There are no shortcuts and if it isn't done correctly, the watch will never keep time well and consistent. After all, these precious object we love and admire have a purpose, to accurately keep and tell us the time!
This balance wheel is his own design with the 4 gold weights, the hairspring has not been vibrated yet!
Right at the beginning of 2012, months prior to Basel, I spoke with Keaton on the phone and told him I was interested in acquiring his first watch. Initially, as I felt quite strongly that I could find a client for it, the thought of having the serial number one of thirty pieces would be exciting to several collectors, so I committed to buying it. In our discussions I knew that Keaton was going to attend the Basel show and this gave me the push to commit to buying it sight unseen, as I strongly felt he would be showing the prototype in Basel and someone else would buy his #1 watch. Collectors like to have a number one for all the obvious reasons. Also as I have a business to run, this would be a coup for me to be able to offer it. We made plans to meet up in Basel as I was excited to meet this young man and see his work.
Basel, Switzerland March 2012, I meet up with Keaton in the Hall 1.0 where all the big brands who exhibit at the fair in Base are to be found. Meeting between the Rolex & Patek Philippe stands, we head over to the AHCI stand chatting away. Quickly I realized here was a comfortable, confident and passionate young guy who was really excited to be in the Mecca of the watchworld. I wanted to see the proto watch and make sure I had not made a terrible mistake! Once we had found a quiet spot near the AHCI stand, he revealed what was on his wrist. Again a couple of elements had me pause, the dial had his initials in an 18K yellow gold rectangle at 3 o'clock, I suspect to balance the sub seconds dial at 9 o'clock and the hands were high polished steel, a bit tricky to see in certain lighting. However, the overall effect was brilliant and as a first effort, a tremendous piece of work.
And the caliber side to follow...
I was very happy to have committed to the first watch in the series of 30 pieces and so eagerly introduced him to several of my friends, the Independent Watchmakers whom I represent. I think they were all quite impressed with his first effort and made positive comments, with some ideas too for improvement. I think this was very constructive for Keaton and I am thrilled I was able to make some introductions for him. Once I had seen the prototype and then subsequently having spent the next 4 days and a couple of evenings with Keaton in Basel, I realized this was not going to be for sale! I would sell others of his but not the first watch, I wanted to be connected to Keaton and be able to represent his work. What better way than to have this watch.
The two watchmakers doing what watchmakers do, examine each others work...
Keaton meets another brilliant watchmaker, John McGonigle at dinner, swaps watches for this out of focus picture!
So....since that time, I have eagerly been awaiting the my watch. As time went on, Basel 2013 was the target delivery date, certain features were changed slightly, the biggest for me was the name plate and the serial number plates (now front & back) were able to be made in 18K red gold rather than the yellow gold of the proto.
Also the yellow gold name plate on the front with his initials "KM" disappeared to be replaced with a "KM" being engraved on the surface of the German Silver mainplate/dial at 12o'clock. Keaton actually designed the font too! A small red gold number plaque was to be located at 6 o'clock on the dial. No complete pictures were forthcoming, so I was left to imagine how it would appear in it's final version. As with many initial efforts by Independent Watchmakers, and Keaton was no exception, the timing proved too ambitious and Basel 2013 passed without my watch. By this time too, I had also gained one of my clients who had also found Keaton's work compelling and he had already agreed to acquire one of his watches. We patiently waited and finally in December 2013, I received a message from Keaton that he would have our watches completed early January and that he was going to come down to Solana Beach and hand deliver them. Excitedly I went about setting up an evening event and making plans for the weekend he was to visit. When I picked him up at the San Diego airport on the Friday, he asked me once we were in my car if I wanted to see my watch. I told him no, "I've waited this long, I can wait the 20 minutes it will take us to get to the shop", where in a relaxed comfortable space, I could see his creation.
Wow, what an experience, having a watchmaker hand you a rosewood box that contained a watch they have spent thousands of hours creating!!! I think Keaton was almost as nervous as I was. I know he hadn't had much sleep the prior 2 weeks, getting everything right and up to his high standard for this moment! As I slid open the box to reveal the watch, my eyes were initially tricked into thinking he had set diamonds all around the outer edge of the dial for the individual minute markers. It was in fact the LED lights inside our location that were reflecting off the perfectly polished bevels of these markers. Turning it over, the superb hand finishing of the caliber was even better than I remembered, with the classical black polishing of the steel parts contrasting against the German Silver plates and bridges. He had refined and improved the anglage (bevelling) on the balance wheel bridge and the circular grained 3/4 plate glowed. I began to wind it and was rewarded with the joy of watching his stunning and again improved click work it's magic, the balance wheel sprang to life and the watch started to do what it is designed to do. Tell time and thrill it's owner!
Outdoors in the natural North-Eastern daytime light.
Inside again...the circular graining is shown off quite well here.
Back outside, to reveal the black polishing of various parts.
A close up the lovely balance wheel and bridge. Note the big center jewel in a black polished steel chaton. This is technically tough to do, requiring 4/1000th of mm tolerance to fit in, without shattering the synthetic ruby bearing!
So, here we are at the beginning of Keaton's watchmaking production of serially produced watches. I have had a small part to play in this and am honored to call Keaton a good friend and to able to represent his work and help him connect with collectors, is a blessing. It is not often the skills and passion required to do what he is doing, occur in a human being. To me it is worth supporting, as this form of micro-mechanical art is truly compelling. I invite you to consider this too. His production will remain tiny, at the most he is looking at a possible 12 pieces max. per year, that together with his restoration business, will keep him busy and happy for years to come.
In the coming year or so, he will be revealing his next complicated watch. I'm afraid all I can tell you is that you'll have to wait and see, however you will not be disappointed! The future is bright for artisans like Keaton, as fortunately many collectors recognize that as an artform it has intrinsic value. For me, this has come full circle, as an early wish of mine was to help support Independent Watchmaking, especially here in my adopted country of the USA.