How time flies!
It’s hard for me to believe I have been making RGM watches for 25 years, it seems just a few years ago that I started.
First RGM Model 101M
When I first started I did not know where it was going, it's like talking a walk not sure where you would end up. I just concentrated on the projects at hand and did not worry about 10, 20, or even 25 years later. Well here we are and it has been a wonderful ride.
When I first started I just wanted to make a living doing what I loved, so I will say I was successful at that. The goal was never to make a lot of money or be rich. I always put much more back into the watches and the construction so I could be proud of the things we make, and that they would last.
At my former job, I was mostly working on plated quartz watches, I was not satisfied with designing those kinds of watches. So, the backlash was the first 5 years of RGM we only made solid gold and platinum watches, and of course everything had to have a mechanical movement. Not only that all the watches had a real hand cut Engine-Turned dial and blued steel hands.
I had more and more request for stainless steel watches so I designed the model 107, it was our first stainless steel watch and it is the oldest in our lineup being still available today.
Caliber 801
Being a watchmaker I wanted my own movement, this was a burning desire, so around 2000 I started on that quest which took a long time of prototyping, testing, and spending a lot of money! It was around 2007 that we had the first working Caliber 801 movement that we could finally offer in an RGM model.
Over the next 5 years we added two other movements, our Tourbillon and the Caliber 20. We have a couple of other movement designs on the drawing table now.
Bespoke "Custom" RGM
Another quest I had was bringing Engine-Turning in-house, this took years to develop but we did it and have been making our own Engine-Turned dials for several years now. We own 6 machines, and this equipment is getting harder and harder to find.
I also wanted to keep expanding what we could offer on the bespoke or custom made side of the business, this has grown every year as we offer a service almost no one else does. Designing a custom watch with an individual is one of the best parts of my job, and the satisfaction of building something special for the owner is very gratifying.
Repair and restoration of watches is another area we have always concentrated on, it helps us stay informed on what others are doing and we also learn from what has been done in the past. I also feel an obligation to bring old watches back to life, it’s a way of keeping history alive.
I hope you enjoyed this little walk done memory lane with me.
Roland Murphy
PS. Since this is our 25th anniversary year keep watching as we introduce new and special things throughout the year.