Every meaningful watch collection includes pieces that go beyond telling time to telling stories about craftsmanship, beautiful design, personal significance or, in some cases, a great cause. Speake Marin’s new Art Series piece, Promenade à New York (A Walk in New York City), delivers on all of these points. The miniature painting on the dial depicting a scene from Central Park was rendered by hand, and took over 100 hours of work.
“Like paintings, sculptures or other works of art, the pieces in our Art Series are intended to evoke strong emotions”
The scene was inspired by Speake Marin CEO Christelle Rosnoblet’s fond memories of a long stay in New York, which included leisurely Sunday walks in Central Park. The scene portrays in meticulous detail the park’s picturesque Gapstow Bridge with its ornamental arch over the Pond, surrounded by brilliant fall foliage and city skyscrapers in the background. It’s a walk that holds significance for millions. The watch is one-of-a-kind, and Speake Marin is donating it to a great cause: TimeForArt is an auction supporting the Swiss Institute, a non-profit organization that benefits contemporary art and artists.
Central Park’s Gapstow Bridge comes to life on a the dial
“We are sharing with the artistic world the same desire to explore new paths in design, technical innovation and craftsmanship in the production of timepieces,” says Christelle Rosnoblet. “Like paintings, sculptures or other works of art, the pieces in our Art Series are intended to evoke strong emotions in the connoisseurs who collect them.”
The canvas for the Central Park scene was top-grade mother-of-pearl, chosen for its special shimmer and the light reflections it would produce. It was attached to a rhodium-plated dial base, and a grid was drawn to define the precise proportions of each figurative element – just as a painter would begin a composition on a larger canvas. Blue brush strokes were applied to the back of the mother-of-pearl disk, adding depth to the scene and creating the effect of water reflections on the Pond. Brushes and paints were used to bring the Gapstow Bridge to life in a colorful autumn landscape, with gold, bronze and orange foliage against a contrasting blue sky.
Phillips will auction the unique piece in New York December 7
Of course, any watch that is highly hand crafted should also have an elite movement. The Promenade à New York features the automatic caliber SMA03, designed and manufactured in-house by Speake Marin’s Le Cercle des Horologers atelier in La Chaux-de-Fonds. It keeps the watch slim, thanks to a micro-rotor perfectly integrated into the components, and the open caseback reveals high watchmaking finishes, including a circular-grained mainplate, Côtes de Genève bridges and polished beveled profiles. To “top” it off, the dial features Speake Marin’s signature flourish: a small seconds indicator in the form of a topping tool, positioned as always at 1:30.
The caseback is hand engraved with the words “TIME FOR ART 1/1,” and it is estimated at $40,000-$80,000. The auction, which includes 25 donated timepieces in all, will be conducted by Phillips in Association With Bacs & Russo on December 7 – in New York, of course.