big daddy
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RGM: My Visit to RGW Watches in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, Part One
First, let me summarize a brief history of the American watch industry to preface this report. In the late 1800's, the American watch industry was formidible and their industry developed a way to mass produce precision components while at the same time Swiss craftsmen assembled timepieces one by one. This ability posed a significant threat to Swiss horologic dominance and in the early 1900's the American watch industry became "king" for a time. In the end, the Swiss adopted similar manufacturing methods and eventually overtook their competitors. The Swiss began making thinner, less expensive, and more accurate timepieces. Thus from the 1930's until 1969 when Hamilton Watch closed it's last movement factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania USA, the American watch watch industry declined and vanished.
That is, until 1992 when Swiss trained watchmaker, Roland G. Murphy (hence the name RGM) produced his first timepiece in Mount Joy, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania USA!
I had the distinct privilege of spending an entire afternoon with Roland in late February having him show my daughter and I his atelier and his answering my curious and numerous questions.
Roland spent his early years in Pennsylvania in the carpentry and cabinetmaking profession taking that expertise to a grandfather clock manufacturer in the state of Maryland. There he began his tinkering with clocks that has lead him to where he is today. He began looking in horological school and he finished the clockmaking course at Bowman Technical School in Pennsylvania (since closed). That was quickly followed by school in Neufchatel where he completed the Swiss WOSTEP program. After graduation, he worked in the Swiss watch industry but his dream was to begin his own watch company and it was important for him to return to the USA and in particular, Pennsylvania, to build watches "his way". That was 17 years ago.
My initial interest in RGM was triggered by an article in one the many watch magazines and the sheer beauty of the guilloche dials RGM was creating. I kept following the company and when they introduced the first American caliber in many years I was intrigued! So, the remainder of this report will focus on my interest, the caliber 801, but keep in mind RGM still offers other watches which feature Swiss movements for those of you that would prefer this route.
Caliber 801 took Roland 6 to 7 years to develope, test, and finally meet his expectations of what he wanted to offer the watch world. This movement is a 16 ligne, classical, manual wind, American movement with lever escapement, screw balance, and 19 jewels. It is not a modified American or Swiss movement but Roland's own design. Roland has assured me it is of very high quality, built to last, and is the best he knows how to make. It is also a watch that 50 years from now a skilled watchmaker will be able to service and/or repair. Cost was not a factor in either it's developement or it's finishing. Swiss firms currently supply the hairspring, balance escapement, jewels, and mainspring for that capability does not currently exist in the USA. RGM retains the base plate, main plate, manufacturing, and complete hand finishing and assembly of each movement and watch.
Inspiration for the movement, which is named after the firm's address of 801 West Main Street, came from the designs once made by Hamilton, Illinois Watch Company, and Howard Watch, in particular Howard's top line E. Howard Watch of the early 1900's. To illustrate, the caliber 801 features a highly polished deep grove in the winding wheel as did Hamilton's 923 movement. The style of the curved bridges were inspired by the E. Howard Watch. The click reminds one of the vintage timespieces of both the Illinois watches and the E. Howard. The click design features an arm that extends from the side of the bridge instead of the typical round click of today. As examples of improvements of the prototypes RGM introduced, Roland jeweled the mainspring barrel, he put the aforementioned finish on the winding wheel, and used traditional screws to secure the dial to the movement. I should also mention this is the first high grade mechanical movement made in series in America since the 1960's. Truly, it is beautiful.
