Deconstructing the art of haute horlogerie - Peter Speake-Marin and The Naked Watchmaker
Deconstructing the art of haute horlogerie - Peter Speake-Marin and The Naked Watchmaker
I love the watch industry. I love its beautiful products and the people who obsess over the arrangement and the design of every single tiny component. However make no mistake, this industry has its fair share of cloak-and-dagger-ism. And where there’s money to be made, no one wants to share – anything.
Technological break-throughs are quickly bound up in patents and legalities and new developments remain shrouded in secrecy until ready to be revealed by a man in a suit. Often the men and women who spent thousands of hours working through the intricacies of a newly developed escapement component or tourbillon cage tilt just get a salary and not a mention.
But, and this is a hugely gratifying “but”, change is afoot. The watchmaking men and women who work completely independent of corporations are stepping up. Theirs is an entirely different world. Here, men and women do share ideas and machines. They also willingly give up their own time at the bench to ponder over technical difficulties in order to assist a watchmaking friend to develop tricky stuff. And, by sharing images and videos directly from their benches they are helping to inspire the next generations of watchmakers all around our planet. Welcome to the world of Independent Watchmaking, and in particular, a man we are very proud to call a friend of TheWatchPress.com, Peter Speake-Marin.
Using a platform called The Naked Watchmaker Peter has become involved in educating, informing and encouraging others by giving them an “Insight into the heart of watchmaking”. Never before has such a comprehensive tool been so freely available to ordinary individuals like you and me. And it is fascinating.
If you have ever wondered what goes on beneath the dial of a mechanical watch, then you will find the Naked Watchmaker Deconstructions section fascinating. Using beautiful macro photography (Peter is also proficient at this tricky task), and clear detailed explanations of every stage, various watch movements are stripped bare thus revealing their horological anatomy. Covering the entire spectrum of watches from Independents to mainstream brands and also vintage and pocket watches, these definitive visual deconstructed guides unscramble the complexities of watch calibres and make them logical to even the untrained eye. If your kids are using snappy short visual aids for their school education, then think of the Naked Watchmaker clips as “Bitesize Watchmaking” for adults.
The site also covers past developments in watchmaking or “Forgotten Landmarks” as well as interviews with the people who work in the industry, either at their benches or behind the scenes. And, a superb insight into artisan crafts such as marquetry and guilloché work shows how these age-old skills are achieved which will hopefully lead to a deeper appreciation for this meticulous handwork.
While the Naked Watchmaker platform is a relative newcomer to this centuries-old industry, the level of participation and involvement by many in the watch industry has ensured that it is gaining momentum all the time. Peter Speake-Marin had nothing to prove, having already had an expansive career, but in this new role, he has found an audience eager for the knowledge and teaching which he can impart. Perhaps things were already changing, and perhaps the time was right for The Naked Watchmaker to share. Maybe the wind was already blowing, but you still need the right individuals to raise the sail.