Peter Speake-Marin, Renaissance man

For those visitors to Baselworld fortunate enough to have experienced the Renaissance hands-on, it's a case of once held, never forgotten. This latest timepiece from Peter Speake-Marin expresses the watchmaker's talent with full force. "We wanted to produce a flagship for the Speake-Marin brand," he explained. "I conceived a watch that would encompass my experience, from starting out in London in antique restoration to recent work since launching my own brand in 2002. The result is the Renaissance, to which I have given a tourbillon and a minute repeater, two of the most accomplished complications. The base movement was developed by La Fabrique du Temps. I then fully reworked and adapted it. A lot of my inspiration came from my foundation watch, a pocket tourbillon. The overall style is rather gothic, while the open-dial architecture completes the whole."

Another characteristic of the Renaissance is that Speake-Marin has designed the movement back plate so that the entire surface becomes a canvas for hand-engraving that is different each time, making every one of the six watches in this very small series unique. The first is enhanced with a dragon, an immortal creature and the Chinese zodiac sign for this year. It will be followed by a Botticelli Venus, then a tiger. Two of the timepieces have still to find a taker, hence the future owner can reflect in leisure on the decoration of their choice.

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