Watchmaker and RGM founder Roland Murphy will headline the November Horological Society of New York (HSNY) lecture at the organization’s New York headquarters on Nov. 6. with his discussion “Inside the James Arthur Collection: A Patek Philippe Grand Complication.”
The Pennsylvania-based Murphy was asked in the mid-1990s by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) Museum to repair a Patek Philippe Grand Complication — an important timepiece in the James Arthur collection. The Association at the time was making a video and needed the repeater mechanism inside the watch to function. Additionally, photographs were taken during the repair and restoration process to give a glimpse inside the extremely rare and complicated watch.
Roland G. Murphy
Earlier this year, the 35mm negatives were shared for the first time, and during his lecture Murphy will share the scans and his experience of repairing one of the most important watches in horological history.
The lecture is free of charge (RSVP required) and takes place at the HSNY headquarters at the General Society Library, 20 West 44th Street in New York City. Click here for details and to RSVP.
Doors open at 6 p,m. with the lecture set to begin at 7 p.m.
At the end of the year, it’s time to note our favorite 2022 debut watches. Starting today, and through the end of the week, we’ll re-acquaint you with our top timekeepers of the year.
Today, we re-post entries about our favorite 2022 debuts, in no particular order.We’ll have additional entries throughout the week.
The TAG Heuer Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronograph.
TAG Heuer: 60th Anniversary Autavia Flyback Chronograph
TAG Heuer in early 2022 fit a Caliber Heuer 02 COSC Flyback movement into two new Autavia 60th Anniversary Flyback Chronographs.
One of the two new flyback chronographs features a ‘panda’ style silver dial framed by a polished stainless-steel case. The second Autavia flyback model features an all black dial and black DLC-coated case. As a reminder, theflybackfunctionmakesitpossibletoresetthechronographhandand immediately restart a newtiming event.
Prices: $6,300 (silver dial flyback chronograph), $6,950 (black dial, black case flyback chronograph) and $4,200 (GMT).
Delma: Blue Shark III Black Edition
Independent Swiss watchmaker Delma continues to swim with the sharks with a new dive watch made to venture far deeper than most of its similarly priced competitors.
The new Delma Blue Shark III Black Edition, water resistant to an incredible 4,000 meters, retains this collection’s very sporty technical features, including professional-level helium escape valve and crown protection, but now offers added protection of a scratch resistant black DLC coating on its 47mm steel case.
Built as a limited edition of 300 pieces, the new watch is hyper-visible on a diver’s wrist with large luminous hands and indexes and luminous markers along its broad bezel.
Delma is making 300 examples of the new Blue Shark III Black Edition in each of three dial colors: black, blue or orange dial. All three versions come with an additional black genuine rubber strap and a black DLC-coated buckle with tools for interchanging the bracelets.
Price: $2,750.
RGM: Fat Arrow
American watchmaker Roland G. Murphy, whose eponymous Pennsylvania-based RGM Watches pioneered independent watchmaking in the United States, teamed with renowned watch photographer and artist Atom Moore to create a terrific limited edition series of ‘Fat Arrow’ military style watches.
The series, the Equation of Time Fat Arrow, reprises a late 2021 prototype developed by Moore and Murphy’s Equation of Time division, which specializes in watches designed with input from collectors.
Moore’s original dial art piece “Fat Arrow” is based on the name given to the World War II-era watches with the larger dial arrows, which were used to signify British military equipment.Starting with Moore’s Fat Arrow dial design, Murphy devised a complementary steel-cased 36mm military style watch.
Visible through the caseback is a manual-wind Sellita SW210-1 finished with Geneva stripes and radially brushed gears. Price: $2,995 (limited edition of 99).
Franck Muller: USA Limited Edition Bill Auberlen Vanguard Racing
The seconds indicator on the new Franck Muller USA limited edition Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen starts with double zero at the bottom of the dial, not at the top. This layout, while rare on a watch dial, allows seconds to be read from both ends of the seconds hand and echoes the dashboard Auberlen would see while piloting his racecar.
The dial layout is just one of many racer-friendly details that Franck Muller built into the sporty automatic watch. The watch is the latest Franck Muller model built with Auberlen’s direct. One of America’s most successful racecar drivers, Auberlen has won sixty-three races.
Another example can be found in Franck Muller’s choice of case materials for the tonneau-shaped 44m by 53.7mm Vanguard watch. One version of the watch is built with carbon, the same ultra-light, high-performance material racecar makers utilize. Another version features an unusual blue-tinged high-tech composite called Technologie Bleu, which the watchmaker says is created by mixing ‘high purity metals and other exotic elements.’
Franck Muller offers its Vanguard Racing Skeleton Bill Auberlen in three case materials:rose gold ($34,000), carbon ($27,400) and Macro molecular Technologie Bleu ($26,200).
Frederique Constant celebrated the tenth anniversary of its Classics Worldtimer Manufacture with a pair of attractive blue-and-grey-dialed limited edition references.
In keeping with this Geneva brand’s ‘affordable luxury’ tenet, the Classics Worldtimer has been among the highest-value Swiss-made examples of it type, particularly as it’s supplied with an in-house worldtimer caliber (visible through the sapphire caseback).
We’ve seen Frederique Constant release the Classics Worldtimer Manufacture in a variety of hues and metals during the past decade. This new offering, in a choice of a rose gold or steel case, combines the most classic combination that represents the earth’s blue oceans surrounded by white clouds.
The worldtimer dial allows the time to be read in twenty-four time zones with clear daytime or nighttime indication. Frederique Constant applies luminescent indexes (and on the hands in the steel model) to the fairly traditional globe décor world time display. This all frames a handsome sunray guilloché date hand display at the 6 o’clock position.
Prices: $4,695 (steel) and $21,995 (pink gold).
G-Shock: GMWB5000RD-4
Casio in 2022 added an eye-catching, all-new watch to the G-SHOCK Full Metal Series, the brand’s premium line.
This GMWB5000RD-4 carries on the look and feel of the original G-Shock DW-5000C with its classic square case shape and digital display. To that, G-Shock adds a hard-to-miss red stainless-steel case with screw-on back. And while it looks fashionable, the bracelet is as tough as the case, according to G-Shock, as it is made of solid stainless steel, here finished with a red IP color and diamond-like carbon finish that matches the case.
G-Shock lets the wearer rest assured that the Full Metal watch’s fashionable good looks are accompanied with G-Shock technical features, including Bluetooth Connectivity via the G-Shock Connected app, and Multi-Band 6 Atomic Timekeeping for self-adjusting hour and date display virtually anywhere on earth.
Additional technical specifications include: shock resistance, 200-meters of water resistance, Super Illuminator LED light, world time in 39 cities, stopwatch, daily alarms, countdown timer, 12/24 Hr. formats and a full automatic calendar.
Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania-based independent watchmaker RGM commemorates the 150th anniversary of Yellowstone National Park by launching a new watch with a hand-made cloisonné enamel dial that depicts a scene from the park.
The new RGM Yellowstone Model 25.
The new RGM Yellowstone Model 25 is an automatic model from the watchmaker’s Model 25 series that RGM builds using American-made 40mm steel cases with distinctive ribbed sides, a contoured bezel and curved lugs.
Its large dial opening depicts a mountain view fronted by a buffalo, an image inspired by a Work Projects Administration (WPA) poster from the 1940s.
The WPA posters, now in the Library of Congress, were designed to publicize exhibits, community activities, theatrical productions, and health and educational programs in seventeen states and the District of Columbia.
RGM explains that cloisonné (‘to partition’ in French) is an enameling technique in which the outline of the design is formed by first adding compartments to the dial using wire. The wires remain visible in the finished piece. The artisan then adds the ‘cloisonné’, which is made with enamel powder made into a paste and kiln-fired.
The RGM Yellowstone Model 25 is a three-piece limited edition and the fourth watch RGM has released in celebration of its own thirtieth anniversary in 2022. Price: $13,900.
Specifications: RGM Yellowstone Model 25
Movement: Swiss-made automatic RGM-modified Caliber 1120 withRGM-made solid gold winding rotor, 28,800 vph, rhodium finish, Cote de Geneve and perlage finishes. Power Reserve of 42 hours.
Case: 40mm by 10.4mm American-made316L stainless steel, sapphire crystal front and back, water-resistant to 50 meters, steel crown with Keystone insignia.
Dial: Cloisonné center with Breguet line guilloche on chapter ring. Rhodium hands are matte-finished.
American watchmaker Roland G. Murphy, whose eponymous Pennsylvania-based RGM Watches pioneered independent watchmaking in the United States, has teamed with renowned watch photographer and artist Atom Moore to create a terrific limited edition series of ‘Fat Arrow’ military style watches.
The Equation of Time Fat Arrow.
The series, the Equation of Time Fat Arrow, reprises a late 2021 prototype developed by Moore and Murphy’s Equation of Time division, which specializes in watches designed with input from collectors. Moore’s original dial art piece “Fat Arrow” is based on the name given to the World War II-era watches with the larger dial arrows, which were used to signify British military equipment.
Starting with Moore’s Fat Arrow dial design, Murphy devised a complementary steel-cased 36mm military style watch.
As a result, the new Equation of Time Fat Arrow features a matte black dial, large crown, sword style hands and a ‘railroad’ minute track set with luminous dots and markers. Luminous material is also found on all the larger arrows on the dial.
As with many of RGM and Equation of Time offerings, customers can customize certain aspects of the Fat Arrow, including the finishing style on the case, crown and hands.
Visible through the caseback is a manual-wind Sellita SW210-1 finished with Geneva stripes and radially brushed gears. Price: $2,995 (limited edition of 99).
I think it was just after the 2008 crash that the calls started coming in.
Complete strangers were calling our offices and inquiring about watches as potential instruments for investment. From their perspective it seemed to make sense. Fine timepieces have perpetual and intrinsic value, are liquid and easy to convert to cash and small enough to secret away in a bank deposit box or home safe. Some will even appreciate over time.
Bernhard Lederer’s stunning Central Impulse Chronometer.
To these speculators and investors, the watch was simply a widget and could be anything (think NFTs), a device in which to insert capital and to be added to the other elements of a portfolio.
This cold, calculating valuation of wristwatches has gained momentum over the last decade-plus and is fueling rampant and runaway pricing on several preferred models. Some of which have seen values soar to ten, fifteen or even twenty times the original retail price.
The Jacob & Co. Jean Bugatti in a rose gold case.
This explosive surge has been brought on by a kind of perfect storm. First-off it could not happen without the internet. In the pre-internet era values would still climb on preferred pieces, but the forces pushing the growth were operating at a statelier pace. Watches would see price growth at auction, or via secondary sales at retail shops. The growth was not as immediately visible and volatile as the current state of viral information pathways.
The RGM Model 222-RR is a modern wristwatch with a vintage heart, featuring a Hamilton pocket watch movement and a ‘grand feu’ enamel dial.
Another factor is the fear of missing out. Buyers (note I did not say collectors) want to hop on board before the train leaves the station and are fueling the fires of desire and driving costs through the roof.
Forgive me if I feel that buying a watch purely as an investment is a sterile event without any real enthusiasm for the product, or any chance that the “investment” watches will ever see the light of day. Chances are the commoditized timepieces will sit in the dark until the next transaction, never to be enjoyed, shared, or shown-off except to confirm authenticity.
The Chopard Alpine Eagle Cadence 8 HF.
I’m a watch guy and have been for a long time. I appreciate the look, feel, sounds, and even smells (that vanilla scent on a nice rubber strap) that evoke pride of ownership and real enjoyment. Whether an affordable field watch with great lume, or a repeater softly chiming the time, watches are meant to be worn just like cars are meant to be driven.
I have a friend that has had amazing financial success in life. He recently invited me to his home and knowing I’m a car enthusiast was happy to show me some of the exceptional cars he had acquired over the years. One of which was the famous 1955 Jaguar D-Type. Designed for racing at LeMans and other venues, the D Type also happens to be street legal.
The Arnold & Son Ultrathin Tourbillon, now in two new designs, feature a new type of dial with tinted gold and aluminum sparkles to match either a platinum or gold case.
So as my friend sees me gaping at his exquisite machine, he tells me to look under the wheel well. I bend over, careful not to touch the coachworks, and look underneath. What I see is a spattering of mud on the wheel well liner. Not only does he drive this seven-million-dollar car, he drives it around town and even drives it to the track on vintage race days!
Moore’s original dial art piece “Fat Arrow” is based on the name given to the World War II-era watches with the larger dial arrows, which were used to signify British military equipment.
Visible through the caseback is a manual-wind Sellita SW210-1 finished with Geneva stripes and radially brushed gears. 
