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Intricacy at its best: The Dong Son Tourbillon

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December 2015


The new Speake-Marin tourbillon features an 18K red gold dial that is intricately etched with a motif inspired by ancient Dong Son bronze drums. From the art to its mechanics, this timepieces is Speake-Marin through and through.

The new Dong Son Tourbillon is quintessentially Speake-Marin, from the movement on the inside to the design and decorations on the dial.

Intricacy at its best: The Dong Son Tourbillon

The tourbillon has played an important role in the story of Speake-Marin, going back to the first timepiece to bear the Speake-Marin name, the Foundation Watch, a hand-made pocket watch. According to Peter Speake-Marin himself:

“The tourbillon is one of the things that I love most about watchmaking because of the animation it gives to the dial. It shows time moving in a way that a minute-repeater or grande sonnerie can’t offer. For me, it is something profound.”

Intricacy at its best: The Dong Son Tourbillon

The hand-finished tourbillon rotating at 6 o’clock is framed by its steel guard, featuring a polished bridge made from Durnico steel, chosen for its superior strength.

The watch also features a red gold dial with a specially etched centre of a motif inspired by the prehistoric bronze drums of the ancient Dong Son people of Vietnam. An outer ring of egrets is complemented by an inner ring featuring warriors holding their weapons between the 12 points of a starburst, which double as the indices.

Intricacy at its best: The Dong Son Tourbillon

The meticulously detailed dial is complemented by the drum-like Piccadilly case in 18k red gold and blued steel hands, which are are also designed in the same style as the hands of the Foundation Watch.

Turning the watch over revels the hand-finishing through the display back. There we find the platinum micro-rotor, rhodium-finished German silver bridges, and movement plates with polished screw heads and countersinks.

Intricacy at its best: The Dong Son Tourbillon

The Dong Son people were highly skilled bronze casters. Their drums featured intricate geometric patterns, an artistry that very few cultures of the time could match. Speake-Marin might just be the Dong Son of the watch world, with their equally impressive and complex design feats that few manufactures can pull off.