A FINE ART
A master watchmaker on the small things that make a big difference.
A master watchmaker on the small things that make a big difference.
The common perception of top watchmakers is of them toiling at their desks in the Swiss mountains, masterfully piecing together speck-like components to accurately record the passage of time. Marco Koskinen, master watchmaker at high-end brand SpeakeMarin, will have none of this.
“It’s not difficult to make a watch,” asserts the 52-year-old Helsinki-born watchmaking veteran, during the independent brand’s recent relaunch in Singapore. Now exclusively available at Sincere Fine Watches, the brand was founded by English watchmaker Peter Speake-Marin in 2002, and is known for quirky designs and elaborate tourbillon watches. The Speake-Marin founder officially left the brand in 2017.
Smiling at our disbelief that his work could be considered easy, Koskinen, who has been making watches for three decades, continues: “Many young watchmakers think they can’t make a complicated watch because it looks so complex. But, if you work methodically, you eventually realise it’s the same as working on a simpler watch. There are just more parts to put together.”
Here, the straight-talking watchmaker shares his professional experiences.
What has changed since Peter Speake-Marin left the brand?
There had already been changes over the past couple of years, independent of Peter leaving. We had started to use more in-house movements while he was still there. (Moving forward,) the biggest change is that we are going to use solely our own movements. But, otherwise, the team Peter started is still in place, and everything else is more or less the same.
What makes Speake-Marin different?
One of our strengths is making customised pieces. I recently assembled a minute repeater – the Crazy Skulls, which typically features a pair of skulls that move apart when the minuterepeater mechanism is activated – for a client but, instead of the skulls, we used a car automaton based on the customer’s own vehicle. The watch costs about $500,000; there is no extra fee for modifying the automaton. Even when it comes to (less pricey) watches, we try to make each of them a little different.
You’ve done movement assembly and restoration at many brands, including Omega, Christophe Claret and Ulysse Nardin. Are there huge differences between high-end and more accessible brands?
( With high-end brands,) it’s of course interesting to work with their watches if they are nice and everything is well-made. But cheaper watches can be good too. Today, with modern production methods, I think the quality of cheaper watches is higher, compared to that in the past. And the other way around too, which is unfortunate – some very highend products are less interesting than before, because there’s less handwork, and more components are done and finished with machines.
What’s the toughest part of watchmaking?
It’s not difficult to make a watch. What’s challenging is if components are not made to a good standard. Take a simple part like a screw. Even screws have changed so much over the years. Those in the 1960s were much better than they are now. The steel was better; more time was spent making the screws, so they were harder and looked nicer. That’s technically important when you have to tighten the parts in a movement.
So, as the head of SpeakeMarin’s watchmaking department, do you ensure there are no bad screws?
(Laughs.) They’re perfect.