Visit with Independent Watchmaker Stephen McGonigle

One of a series - Stories of visits with independent watchmakers. A big part of a watch from an independent watchmaker is the watchmaker. These are the stories not of the watches and their technical marvel, but of my visits with the watchmakers themselves. Stephen McGonigle - July 2018 Form with Fun

One of a series - Stories of visits with independent watchmakers.

A big part of a watch from an independent watchmaker is the watchmaker. These are the stories not of the watches and their technical marvel, but of my visits with the watchmakers themselves.

Stephen McGonigle - July 2018

Form with Function.

It can be argued that form is the ingredient that makes something a desire rather than a need. The added beauty, lines, composition, seduction that makes something more than just it’s function or, in the case of art, becomes its function. When form is added, cars become exotic transport; homes become inspirations; and watches become pieces of art. It’s not the price and/or exclusiveness, it’s the emotional connection.

Yet form as function is rare. We’ve all seen Frankensteins that result from trying to turn a functional element into a beautiful form. It is the perfect blending of form and function that is the magic.

I settled on the word “blending” because it is much more than just “balance” or “addition” or “and”. It is the loss of distinction between the two - were at any moment it is form with function.

Yet this blending is found throughout Stephen McGonigle’s world.

When I arrived, I noticed a large sun dial on the side of the house. How appropriate I thought, a house that also serves as a time telling device. A simple rod and unique graphic work functionally together to tell time is a unique form.

Stepping inside there’s no way to avoid the impact of the view - a 180-degree panoramic exposure that takes your breath away, refreshes your soul, connects you with the larger world, and makes you feel small all in a second.

A bicycle leans against the wall.

It’s just inside the door, where one leaves a bike upon returning from a ride, upsetting your house mates. But in Stephen’s space it’s more like perfected placed art. Made of carbon for lightness with elliptical tubes for wind reduction, it lacked the visually unpleasant chrome parts of a daily rider. It looked as if it belongs in the MOMA or on a Mars bound rocket. Yet Stephen and his brother just spent a day riding thought the Swiss mountain side. What would NASA or MOMA think if they knew how he was treating their treasure?

Stephen himself blended the functional watchmaker with the spirit of an artist. Not the frenzied artist in a state of explosive brilliance, but the calm, and calming, artist who is just that much more atoned to the world (and its functional form). Who believes (I imagine) that we all suffer when we have only functional items; that our souls are fed when we achieve a balance with form.

Again, I struggle to find the right word (bad thing for a writer I admit). I’m not sure “artist” is the right word. Artists live in the work of form, where form can lead function but comes first. Stephen lives in the work of blended form and function, where neither are allowed to dominate or lead, where each are loved and nurtured equally when together.

I couldn’t tell if Stephen’s casualness and seeming immunity to what others would marvel over (the bike, the view, the house that tells time) comes from familiarity, expectation, or something deeper, but it changed the way I looked at his watches.

What Stephen creates (working with his brother John and sister Frances as designer) are among the most blended form/function watches I’ve seen. The Tuscar and Tourbillon present stunning high contrast dials on one portion of the face and a peek into the function of the watch on the other. The signature escape arm creates a sense of tension proving the impact form can have.

The engraving connects the piece to an entire culture and community adding a human element and telling a story not often found in watches. Both form and function are found at their zenith, blended, and without either trying too hard. And is it just me, or does the design, colors, and engraving magically entrap the (functional) gears into an artistic form in a deceptively easy way?

I expect to find the McGonigles deep in the Irish woods, gathered around a smoking cauldron laughing joyfully at the magic they make. 

Stephen will need to answer the question of which came first – did form drive function or function drive form? Did his lifestyle of blended form/function result in such watches, or did the designing of the watches drive his lifestyle?

I’m not sure it matters.

Some links of interest:

https://www.mcgonigle.ch/

https://www.escapementmagazine.com/articles/mcgonigle-tuscar-banu.html/

https://www.salonqp.com/updates/watch-news/mcgonigles-new-minute-repeater-is-a-celtic-masterpiece/