Peter Speake-Marin, Founder, The Naked Watchmaker, Switzerland
January 9, 2018

Video recordings of meetings are available to HSNY members.

For the first HSNY meeting of 2018, noted watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin spoke at about his new project, The Naked Watchmaker. The Naked Watchmaker is a website devoted exclusively to pursuing horological education. In Speake-Marin’s own words, he intends to "bring to a new generation the magic and passion of watchmaking, and to increase the knowledge of those already bitten by the horological bug." As a veteran watchmaker, Speake-Marin has garnered extensive experience with the inner workings of the Swiss watchmaking industry. He spent several years in after-sale service, restoration, building complicated movements, product development, training, and developing companies. The Naked Watchmaker is a fulfillment of a lifelong goal for Speake-Marin.

The Naked Watchmaker covers information in six categories, offering insight on areas that collectors will experience in pursuing their passion. For example, many collectors start with the first category, pocket watches, but might find that they are tricky to service due to the age and obscurity of many of the parts. Collectors of vintage watches, the second category, might run into the same issues; moreover, due to the fact that certain features of vintage watches—that might be considered damage by watchmakers—can in fact be considered valuable. Even collectors of watches made by modern independent brands, the third category, run into their own unique challenges due to the fact that many watches created by independent brands can be one-of-a-kind pieces.

For the fourth category, "just movements", The Naked Watchmaker intends to bring insight to the unique and obscure features that many historical movements possess. The same holds true for modern calibres, the fifth category that The Naked Watchmaker covers, because many are only serviced by large brands. Finally, Speaks-Marin intends to offer horological art, the sixth category, on his platform. In the future Speake-Marin intends to continue to populate the site and make it a "Wikipedia for watches." Future sections include: modern machining techniques, how watches work, books (both paper and electronic), recommendations for museums and schools, and videos made in collaboration with Watches TV.

HSNY thanks Peter Speake-Marin for his fascinating lecture!