Speake-Marin’s new Openworked Tourbillon Purple Hour is a purple power play
Tom Austin- The ever-eclectic Speake-Marin unveiled its latest creation at Geneva Watch Days 2025: the incredibly bold and vivid One & Two Openworked Tourbillon Purple Hour.
- The brand has taken its successful and highly revered One & Two Openworked Tourbillon and drenched its dial in an intense purple PVD coating, paired with a denim-style purple leather strap.
- Available in limited numbers, the new purple model is available in either 38mm or 42mm sizes, and features the incredible in-house SMA05 automatic calibre with a flying tourbillon.
Speake-Marin, as a brand, is now 23 years old and has undergone significant growth since its early days. The brand was initially founded in Geneva by the then-husband-and-wife team Peter Speake and Daniela Marin, and its direction back then was far more traditional than it is today. The first watch to bear the Speake-Marin name was a hand-crafted tourbillon pocket watch, and while gorgeous and horologically fantastic, you could be forgiven for thinking it was created a couple of hundred years prior. A decade after that, the brand was acquired by entrepreneur Christelle Rosnoblet, and then things took a very different turn. Speake-Marin steadily began to blend stunning movement architecture with a more contemporary aesthetic, and the watch they’ve released for Geneva Watch Days 2025 is the embodiment of this bold progression.
The One & Two Openworked Tourbillon collection has been with us since 2020, and since then, we’ve seen several interpretations of the watch, but none have been quite as visually impactful as this one. The Purple Hour is the result of the brand’s focus on evoking emotion, and if the previous One & Twos weren’t enough of a conversation starter for you, you can be sure that this new model is so vivid that unwitting bystanders will have no choice but to notice.
As with several of Speake-Marin’s creations, the case design is based around its “Picadilly” case, available in both 38mm and 42mm guises. You wouldn’t think it, but the almost classically designed case is crafted from grade 5 titanium, keeping everything light and airy on the wrist. Both variations of the case are 12.35mm thick, which, given the complexity of the movement inside, is a perfectly reasonable and wearable size. Everything is beautifully finished, naturally, along with the engraved, flared crown and screw-down caseback. The case is sandwiched between two anti-reflective coated sapphire crystals front and back, which offer the watch a modest 30-meter water resistance.
The Picadilly case strikes the perfect balance between traditional style and modern touches, such as the material used. It skillfully avoids drawing attention away from the watch’s true attractions, like the dial and movement. It’s functional, wearable and comfortable, and that’s all that’s required of it; it doesn’t look out-of-this-world, it just maintains the Speake-Marin tradition of keeping things classic with a contemporary twist. Interestingly, while the cases across the two size offerings are different, they both use the same dial and movement.
Purple has been a bit of a growing trend in watches over the last year or so, with brands such as Atelier Wen and TAG Heuer all going full Barney the Dinosaur on us with their watches. Perhaps you’re a Lakers fan, or you like Cadbury’s chocolate (who doesn’t?), but I hasten to say, I think you have really got to love the colour purple to pull off the Purple Hour. The dial has been micro-bead blasted and coated with a vivid purple PVD coating to give it a particular hue that changes slightly with the light as it moves over the dial plate. There’s a metallic finish to it that just looks stunning, and it contrasts the rhodium-plated hands and movement components beautifully.
While the dial is openworked, as the name suggests, it’s surprisingly legible thanks to the large hands and Super-LumiNova-filled hour markers around the dial’s outer flange. The exposed components don’t clutter things up, which is refreshing to see, and the dial is surprisingly balanced with some elements of symmetry going on. The rotor and mainspring barrel are positioned with two exposed, wing-like bridges up front, which effectively contrast and break up the dial. As a result, despite the dial’s vivid purple appearance, it’s well-balanced with the brighter components.
The components you see on the dial, of course, make up the in-house manufactured SMA05 automatic calibre that powers the watch. There’s a fully integrated micro-rotor at 5 o’clock, with a fully transparent aperture, which is cool. The movement is made up of 290 components, 63 of which are combined to create the flying tourbillon that unusually sits at the top-right of the dial. While the tourbillon helps to improve the overall accuracy of the movement, it also acts as a visual seconds dial, rotating once every sixty seconds. The micro-rotor powers the large barrel sitting at the top right of the dial, charging the watch to a 72-hour power reserve when fully wound.
Flipping the watch over gives a clearer view of the gear train, which is surrounded by bridges finished with côtes de Genève striping and gorgeously bevelled edges, and a central mainplate, which is micro-bead blasted and finished with a black rhodium plating. Finishing touches, such as the engravings being plated with 5N yellow gold, are great to look at too, completing the stunning fit and finish of the movement that we’re used to seeing from Speake-Marin.
Finishing off the purple look, the watch comes complete with a bold purple calf leather strap, which has an embossed denim pattern. This is a neat touch, because if the watch arrived on something like a purple alligator strap, it would have probably been a bit too much. The strap features a quick-release system for changing straps if the purple is a bit too, well, purple for you, and it comes complete with a titanium folding clasp for security, which is engraved with the Speake-Marin logo.
If The Joker wore a watch, it would probably be the Purple Hour; the striking colourway is certainly a head-turner, and combined with the stunning tourbillon movement, it makes for a bold and unique direction for the One & Two.
Speake-Marin One & Two Openworked Tourbillon Purple Hour pricing and availability
The Speake-Marin One & Two Openworked Tourbillon Purple Hour is available in limited numbers directly from Speake-Marin. Price: CHF 69,400 (38mm), CHF 69,900 (42mm)
| Brand | Speake-Marin |
| Model | One & Two Openworked Tourbillon Purple Hour |
| Reference | 913811570 – 38mm 914211570 – 42 mm |
| Case Dimensions | 38mm or 42mm (D) x 12.35mm (T) |
| Case Material | Grade 5 titanium |
| Water Resistance | 30 meters |
| Crystal(s) | Sapphire front and back |
| Dial | Purple PVD-coated, openworked |
| Strap | Purple calf leather with denim-motif, titanium folding clasp |
| Movement | SMA05, in-house, micro-rotor automatic |
| Power Reserve | 72 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, seconds, tourbillon, power reserve |
| Availability | Limited production |
| Price | CHF 69,400 (38mm) CHF 69,900 (42mm) |