Gino Macaluso and Roland Murphy 2005/2006
This picture of Gino Macaluso and me (Roland Murphy) was taken back around 2005 or 2006 at a GP Dinner in New York, RGM did the service for Girard-Perregaux for 10 years before the majority of the company was sold after the untimely death of its Chairman and CEO, Gino Macaluso in 2010.
Hans Scholl former VP at Hamilton Watch Co.
I first met Gino back in the late 1980s when I was the technical manager in product development at Hamilton Watch company in Lancaster, PA. He would come over once a year and meet with my boss Hans Scholl who was the VP of product development, Hans came to Hamilton from Omega a few years earlier. Gino was at the time the distributor in Italy for Hamilton, Girard-Perregaux, and a few other brands. Hans and I would work on watch design projects with him developing Hamilton watches for the Italian market.
By the mid-1990s Gino had bought the majority of GP and was now in full control of a major brand. He had a good eye for watch design and brought the brand back into view by developing many new movements and watches, he was also able to get the Ferrari contract established making many models with them.
Of course, in 1992 I had left Hamilton and was working on my own small brand RGM, now that was 30 years ago, how time flies.
Ron Jackson
I did not meet Gino again until about 2003 when we started to do the GP service here in North America. Ron Jackson who was the US President for GP at the time contracted RGM to take on the GP Service. I knew Ron from our Hamiton days as we both worked there at the same time. So once again I was working with Gino. The watch industry can be a very small world indeed.
Gino had become a very important figure in the Swiss watch industry since buying the controlling shares of GP in the mid-1990s. As RGM was growing the service center alliances with brands like GP helped our company grow and gave us a good foundation of work as we developed our own watches. Even today we still do work for several smaller brands, as well as vintage and antique repair and restoration work. As of the writing of this blog here in 2022 we are busier than ever.
Phil Hill Back in the Day
If you look in the background of the picture with Gino and me at the top of this page, you will see a famous race car driver, American Phil Hill former F1 champion. He was one of only two American drivers to ever win the F1 championship, he passed away in 2008. Gino had a successful career in racing also, see below.
Stefan Johannson
In the early 1990s, Gino also made watches for Stefan Johannson former Formula 1 driver, Indycar, and Sports car racing legend. I also made watches for Stefan from the mid-1990s up to about 2009. Cars and watches seem to go hand and hand.
Gino with one of his many cars
I hope you found this little watch history interesting.
Regards,
Roland Murphy
RGM
From Wikipedia
Gino from his Racing Days
Luigi Macaluso, also known as Gino - 9 June 1948 – 27 October 2010, was an Italian rally navigator and manager. Together with Raffaele Pinto, he won the European Rally Championship in 1972 and the Italian Rally Championship with Maurizio Verini in 1974.
He was the chairman and CEO of the Sowind Group comprising Girard-Perregaux, GP Manufacture, and JeanRichard