9. 2007 Speake-Marin and the SM2

SM2 movement

Over the previous years the brand had been working with a range of calibres from different manufacturers that we used as the basis of the original Piccadilly.

An in-house calibre was needed for the credibility of the brand and we achieved this with the SM2 movement: The flexibility of the design meant we were able to make six different versions of the calibre. We started designing the SM2 in 2007 one short year before Lehman Brothers failed.

By August 2010 the watch industry as a whole was in bad shape; arrogance and complacency had been replaced by war. CEOs of large companies came and went with alarming frequency, stability didn’t exist, and burn-outs and breakdowns were commonplace. Companies that I had worked with for years, that had been second and third-generation family businesses, folded or were bought out by large groups.  

During the first ten years of Speake-Marin the Shimoda (a single-handed watch named after the Japanese client who commissioned it), the Resilience (a classical, enamel dialled model with Roman numerals and blued steel hands), the Serpent calendar, the Vintage Tourbillon, perpetual calendars, jumping-hour timepieces and a series of unique art pieces often influenced by Asian Culture were developed made and sold.

The SM2 was a beautiful movement but its development during the crisis we were living was ill-timed. It resulted in the search for investment and partners to continue the journey. Initially, a small group of collectors/patrons helped to pre-purchase examples of the first series of the SM2 called the 1in20’s. 

The impact of the crisis was too profound and the increasing costs of development and execution of the watches were disproportional to the market that then existed. The original business plan drawn up back in 2007 was realistic in every way except it didn’t consider how to navigate a financial crisis. 

In order to survive, the investor route was pursued and investors found to assure the future of the brand. In 2017 I left the brand. The accumulated stress of the journey had affected my health and I had to change direction, or like so many of the people I saw ‘brake’ during that crisis, I would follow suit.