Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

A place to discuss other watch-brands
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Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Thought I'd post this here as Speake-Marin doesn't often get a mention.

I was in Bangkok at short notice over the weekend and whilst the missus went off to deal with more sombre matters, I went to a watch 'fair' at Central Department store at Chit Lom - the one advertised here:

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It's actually where I got my Bremont U2 from last year, well not me, I hadn't even arrived in Thailand at the time, but Pam's cousin who works in the area bought it on my behalf, with a 30% discount, plus the extra 12% for having the right credit card. Got to be the best deal on a new Bremont anywhere - and as you can see, still available this year for those willing to give 30%. Certainly not the Bremont AD anymore, I checked.

Now these watch fairs aren't really fairs as we would know them, but rather a gigantic sales pitch and if truth be told, as good as they are, when you go regularly, as I tend to, either in Bangkok or Korat, they do get a bit samey. Omega and Rolex are never represented, but what you got here was Bovet, Piaget, Chopard, Corum, Zenith, Breitling, Bremont, Grand Seiko - then for example - Longines, Baume & Mercier, Ball, Nomos, Fortis, Hamilton, Luminox, Seiko, Orient and so on, right down to all the fashion brands. I've not included everyone and I've just realised I didn't notice Glycine, which is odd, as they're normally sold at this store.

So I was wandering around and the guy on the Chopard stall said, 'hello sir, nice to see you again' - obviously a man of great taste! :-" I've got into the habit of looking in the Chopard boutique which is in an adjoining Central Department store built in grounds sold off by the British Embassy here and known as Central Embassy! I love this LE, but they don't have it in stock. I was told they had one, but sold it (stock photo). Maybe one day?

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I also got to check out the Bremont Wright flyer which was very nice - the box was something else, as was the price 966,000 baht, on todays exchange rate that's £17,888! I bet they weren't offering a 42% discount on that.

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By this time I'd had a good look around, a little tired of seeing the same old same old, if truth be told. I tried to identify the various Seiko's, you know, Tuna, Monster et al, but failed as usual, and with little expectation looked out for an Orient Mako, and I was right not to be expecting anything, I mean obviously there was much there I fancied, but then there always is. Just before I was about to leave, I glanced over at a few watch stands in the middle of the room, the type that holds a solitary watch, or 2/3 watches and that's when it got really interesting!
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

I've personally never seen a Speake-Marin watch in the flesh before. So I was amazed to see a small selection here. Having since checked, I see that Harrods have them, but I never saw them there and even more interesting is the fact they have no declared outlets in Thailand - or maybe they now do?

Peter Speake-Marin is English and added the 'Marin' to his name upon marriage. I've read about him and liked the look of his watches and it's always good to see an Englishman at the top of the horological tree, albeit running his own Company out of Switzerland.

http://www.speake-marin.com/speake-mari ... eake-marin

So all of a sudden, I was a bit like a kid in a sweet shop. The problem being that my poor Thai coupled with the lady looking after these watches, poor English, meant I perhaps didn't learn as much as I would have liked. Also, I couldn't get any really decent snaps and only later did I realise I'd accidentally messed my cameras settings up!

Anyway, here's a selection of what I looked at.

First up was the Spirit Wing Commander Titanium Red, at 42mm. The lady did kindly take a wrist shot for me, but very blurred, so not used.

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As you can see it's a really bold design and I know it won't be to everyone's taste, although it's a million times better in the flesh than as shown in this photo or even on their website. The hand painted ceramic red disk is the seconds hand - the whole disk rotates - that's just so clever. The thing is, for me, the display balances out, with the date window at the top, the Roman numerals 3 & 6 and the disk. If just glancing at it on the website, I'd probably pass, but in the flesh? Top marks from me and I loved the polished case and lugs as well. The case back design and motto was great as was it's feel on the wrist, It was very comfortable and available here for about £5.7k

Next up was the more classically designed J Class Resilience. With a price tag of £16,196! This one didn't come out of the display cabinet.

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This next one is called the Serpent Calendar and another beauty. I love the design of the hands in his watches, especially the 2nd time zone hand here. This one was going for a more reasonable £7k! I'm personally, just not really into classical designs, but I'm beginning to reconsider that!

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And how about this Velsheda? I thought it a thing of absolute beauty. There is a disk each for the hour and minute hand and as they rotate you get an ever changing pattern with the central disks crossing each other. Love it! Again this watch, as the others, are 42mm. £16k will see you right for this one. They are various shades of Gold.

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Then finally, there is what he calls, 'mechanical art', in the shape of this watch, called the triad. This was incredibly difficult to photograph and didn't come out of the cabinet and as I say, I had the camera at the wrong setting in any case. But this piece was just sensational. It's not designed to be a simple timepiece and I never learnt what the price was, but here's the blurb from his website:

Triad celebrates the mystical number three with triple hour-minute indications over a stunning open dial revealing a micro-mechanical ballet of black and gold gears, all set in a steel case crowned with a regal red gold bezel.

The photo really doesn't show the actual complicated simplicity (quite like that) of this watch, with three sets of hands, with six cogs or 'triad wheels' on display. All that in a case that isn't big and bulky, not for me in any case. I'd love to own this piece, even though I know it's never going to happen.

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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Finally, changing tack completely, I came across the Ressence watch, which I've actually seen in an AD in another store in Bangkok. The design of these is mightily impressive, in that all the various sub dials continually rotate within the case. The trouble is that you don't really notice that and whilst the professional shots look great, the reality, for me, is less inspiring. If you don't know about this watch its worth checking out the website and playing around with the features in the 'how it works' tab.

http://ressence.eu/

Notice that the top watch in the 2nd photo has no crown.

And that was that for another Watch Fair. Except for the fact the missus has just said she needs to attend another meeting in Bangkok next week, so I might call in again and add to this thread.

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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by downer »

Always interesting to see commentary about brands we rarely hear about. Personally speaking, neither the Speak-Marin nor the Ressence particularly float my boat, but regardless of the movement stories, the Wright Flyer looks special to me.

Thanks for the post. :thumbup:
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Thanks for the comments Richard - appreciated. I surprised myself at liking the Speake-Marins, as I said, I wouldn't normally regard them as my thing. I found them very clever, a twist here and there if you like, just to lift them above the norm. An obvious criticism would be the lugs - not subtle. My favourite was the first one I showed. I liked the audacity of it!

We're together on the Ressence. It's clearly a clever bit of engineering, but in some respects a bit pointless and I find the end product dull. This was a watch I expected to be 'wowed' by when I first saw it a while back, instead my first reaction was 'oh'.
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Sorry about the photos. This seems to be an MS Edge issue!
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Aifo »

Thanks Caller for the write up, a watch fare is going on in HK now too but not as much a sales ground as your's, would love to be in Bangkok right now after seeing those pictures though.

Re Speake-Marin, always adore their designs but will never get one, just too funky for me. As to Ressence, even less value aesthetically as compared to Speake-Marin and always resemble a smart watch, to me at least.

I do hope you get the chance to visit Bangkok again next week!
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Aifo wrote:I do hope you get the chance to visit Bangkok again next week!
Thanks for the feedback - I'm going to Bkk again on Saturday then the following weekend as well, but that's because I'm flying back to the UK Monday week, just for a fortnight.

The photo's are still up for you to view, I assume? Not the same for me.

Edit: Weird - they just re-appeared and then went again!
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Aifo »

Photos look fine to me, I am using chrome though.
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Aifo wrote:Photos look fine to me, I am using chrome though.
Thanks - will switch to Chrome to check. Maybe permanently!

Edit - now in Chrome and all photo visible. I have this problem elsewhere and a couple of kind folk are looking into it.
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Helix Von Smelix »

could be that your links are more than 256 characters long. I didn't count. :thumbup:
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Re: Watch Fair and Speake-Marin

Post by Caller »

Helix Von Smelix wrote:could be that your links are more than 256 characters long. I didn't count. :thumbup:
That's fair point. Normally, they are two lines, but on this occasion they were 4/5 lines. Maybe I need to check the upload setting from Picassa to Google?
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