By Jovan Krstevski
For all you rum lovers out there, say aye captain, it’s 11 o’clock, gimme me my rum ration. Well forgive my childish blurb but you see the new Peter Speake-Marin’s Rum Watch speaks most of what I just said, well sort of. Now even if you are not a rum lover I would be surprised if you have not tasted at least one variety of such an alcoholic beverage. Rum is good to look at when it sits undisturbed on a nice glass while driving your conversation with your good friends. What if you can bring this phenomenon with you without ever taking a sip of that playful rum or worrying about the cops that might flag you down on your way home? Well with Speake-Marin’s Rum Watch, this might just be possible.
Okay so before everything else, Peter Speake-Marin’s Rum Watch is based on the Veshelda, a gothic single handed wrist watch. It sports only the hour hand which tells time approximately to the nearest five minutes. If you know the Veshelda then you know what to expect with Peter Speake-Marin’s Rum Watch. The 42 mm Piccadilly type case is good for casual or for dressy occasions that is if you don’t mind being not so sharp on the dot considering the way the Rum watch is telling the time. However with the choice of between titanium or 18k red gold, I don’t see any reason why you should not smile. The case design is very refined and very stylish, to say the least.
The dial is obviously playful particularly the rum droplet at 11 o’clock. The design is very neat with the combination of Roman Numerals hour markers and indices. There is also the railroad tracks but without the minutes or seconds hands, I don’t see its real function, though. The placement of the rum droplet at 11 o’clock pays tribute to an abolished old practice of the Royal Navy where sailors received their rum ration at the said hour. The “Stand fast the Holy Ghost” engraving at the back also embodies the call of the rum distribution which is kind of cool.
Now going back to the rum, we are talking about the bottles of the two-century old rum that were sold at Christie’s spirits auction, with the most expensive lot comprising of two bottles selling for over US$27,000, making it the most expensive rum ever sold. It was discovered 5 years ago at the cellars of Harewood House which is a vast country home near Leeds in England where Harewood Rum was originally distilled in 1780. Well now you know where that rum came from. Too good to be gulped at once so good guy Peter Speake-Marin certainly knows where to put them.
Going back to the rum watch, its refined but small calibre 3002 movement is produced by Vaucher, a specialist movement maker. This self-winding movement is very respectable and part of it is visible through the exhibition caseback. Note that the pouring of the rum will be done next month after Wealth Solutions opens the 1780 Harewood Rum bottle. Also, there are only 100 pieces of these watches to be made selling for $17,600 for the titanium and $35,200 for the gold and only via Wealth Solutions. For more info, please visit speake-marin.com
