The Rum Watch is a special watch combining the world of Swiss precision with the spirit of Caribbean seas and seafaring adventures. It is the world’s second watch equipped with an alcohol capsule and the first one with rum inside. It is not a usual alcoholic beverage, but the 1780 Harewood Rum, the oldest rum in the world. The Rum Watch is a real windfall for the enthusiasts of both unique mechanical watches and rare exclusive alcohols.
The history of this watch began one day in 2011, when Mark Lascelles, the brother of the 8th Harwood Earl, along with some employees of the Harewood estate in central England, went down to the palace cellars. They were supposed to take stock of items and alcoholic beverages stored in the cellars. Looking through old mouldy bottles, they stumbled upon a real treasure – rum from 1780. It was placed in the palace collection at the beginning of the 19th century, when Barbados was a British colony. Totally forgotten, the rum was waiting in silence and growing older.
Shortly after it had been discovered, the 1780 Harewood Rum bottle was moved to the Wealth Solutions company collection. Wealth Solution is an expert in building collections of rare alcoholic beverages, works of art, and watches. It is also the originator of the Spirit Watches line made up of mechanical watches with rare and old alcoholic beverages inside. Today, the company shares this special trophy with the enthusiasts of special watches and rare spirits. Almost 250 years from its distillation, the alcoholic beverage is launched in the market in a new form – as part of the exquisite Rum Watch project.
The creation of this exquisite watch was possible thanks to the cooperation of Wealth Solution company and Speake-Marin, a Swiss watch manufacture making exclusive watches, which will well and truly stand the test of time in terms of construction and in terms of aesthetics. The watch with a 50 hours power reserve is available in titanium or in 18k red gold Piccadilly case – characteristic of the Speake-Marin manufacture. The crown is set with a cabochon made of aquamarine for the titanium watch or rubellite for the 18k gold case. The watch has a single hand (to indicate the time), just like a traditional sea compass and hand-engraved captions “One out of 100” on the case, and “Stand fast the holy ghost” on the side of the case.
The 1780 Harewood Rum capsule has been placed on the watch dial exactly at eleven o’clock. Of course, it is no coincidence, but a reference to the old sea tradition. In the Royal Navy, it was the hour at which the crew would receive its regular portion of rum. That moment was called “Up Spirits” – every seaman was allowed to drink one eighth of the imperial pint, i.e. approx. 70 ml of the beverage. Phrase “Stand fast the Holy Ghost”, which was engraved on the case back, was an exclamation calling sailors for the distribution of rum. In turn, the person distributing the portions of rum was referred to as the Holy Ghost.
The Rum Watch with this unusual capsule will be produced in a limited edition of 59 pieces only, exclusively for Wealth Solutions.
