A Family Affair: McGonigle Watches By SANDRA JORDANNOV. 1, 2016
John McGonigle at work. He and his brother, Stephen, have made 40 watches in the 10 years since establishing their company. Credit Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times John and Stephen McGonigle’s house was full of clocks when they were growing up in rural Ireland. Their father, a compositor at the Irish Times, had a gift for fixing timepieces and word spread. “Every flat surface had a clock on it,” John recalled. “And instead of pictures, we had other people’s clocks on the walls.” When John finished school in 1986, the McGonigles’ father recommended that he enter the IrishSwiss Institute of Horology in Dublin, a school partly supported by the Swiss in an effort to create a European network of watchmakers (it closed in 2004). Most of the graduates became jewelers; some entered industries like microchip manufacturing, where dexterity was paramount.
But Mr. McGonigle wanted his son to make airplane instrument dials for Aer Lingus — what he called a “good” job, his son recalled. “Instead,” John continued with a laugh, “I got bitten by the watch bug.” In 1994 Stephen also went to the institute: “It was a very good grounding.” And after they both had graduated, the brothers moved to Switzerland and spent about seven years working for prestigious houses including Breguet, Ulysse Nardin, Girard-Perregaux and Christophe Claret. Ten years ago they established McGonigle Watches, with John, 48, based in Ireland and Stephen, 42, staying in Switzerland. Since then, they have made 40 watches: technically complicated mechanical timepieces that the brothers say represent fewer than one percent of the watches made worldwide. Photo
The McGonigle tourbillon, the brothers’ first watch design. Credit Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times The McGonigles’ first watch was a tourbillon, made of German silver, sapphire crystal and gold, which International Watch Magazine called “absolutely sublime.” The second was the 10-piece Tuscar, the Irish name for the Tuskar rocks east of Ireland that can be a sailor’s first view of the
country. That limited edition sold out. A further series, Tuscar Banu, Irish for dawn, followed, offered in white or rose gold. In addition to their names, the watches’ decoration, inside and out, was inspired by Celtic influences. “The engraving is designed by our sister, Frances McGonigle, an artist,” Stephen said. “It’s not O.T.T. stuff — shamrocks and leprechauns, but if you picked up one of our watches you could tell we were from Ireland.”
Their newest watch, the Ceol Minute Repeater, uses the Gaelic word for music. Two watches in the six-piece collection have sold, each for more than 200,000 euros, or $220,000. “A minute repeater,” Stephen explained, “tells the time without you having to look at the hands. Pull the slide along the side of the case and it will ring out, in different pitches, two different tones, the hour, the quarter and the minute.” Such watches initially were designed so wealthy customers could tell time at night without having to light a candle. The Ceol’s relief engraving incorporates animal motifs from the Book of Kells, the ornately decorated volume created around 800 A.D. and now displayed in Dublin, and takes a week to complete. One of Switzerland’s most accomplished engravers, Michele Rothen Rebetez, does the work. Photo
Stephen McGonigle. Credit Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times “We spend a lot of time making each piece look good,” John said, “even though most will never be seen by the customer.” His brother added: “A spring will work without decoration but we decorate it anyway. Every screw is mirror polished. We want the watch to be perfect.” The Ceol was commissioned by a client, an American, who helped finance its creation. The design — the watch’s aesthetics and the initial 3-D drawings — took 18 months to develop and another six months to prepare parts and build the first model. Modern watchmaking is a marriage of old and new, the brothers maintained. “Some parts were sourced from Switzerland,” Stephen said, “others designed by us then produced by computer numeric control, as this is the most accurate and efficient way of making parts.” Each watch is customized. One client “always asks for a white gold finish because it looks like steel,” Stephen said. “Although he ruins the modesty thing when he steps out of his Rolls.” Photo
Frances McGonigle creates the Celtic designs that embellish her brothers’ watches. Credit Paulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times What McGonigles’ clients have in common — apart from wealth — is a fascination with things mechanical. “One is a rocket engineer, another a nuclear scientist,” John said. A few are Irish; most come from other countries and many of them enjoy traveling to Ireland to discuss watches in the workshop and over a few pints in the local pub. The McGonigles often deliver finished watches in person. “Some clients slap it on their wrist immediately; others will put it in a safe,” Stephen said. “Most don’t buy the watch for show but for love of the work.” The brothers say they are too busy making watches to do much marketing. “Collectors are fantastic researchers; they seek us out,” says John. “They’ve heard our craftsmanship is the best.” And have watches made them rich? The brothers burst out laughing. Like many independents, McGonigles Watches has yet to make a profit. And until two years ago, the brothers were moonlighting for some big Swiss watchmakers to pay the bills. “If the passion wasn’t there,” Stephen said, “it wouldn’t be worth it. But it’s a privilege to make a watch.” As for the future, the McGonigles would like to hire a few skilled watchmakers for future projects. “We’ve found our design language,” John said. “It was a very long and difficult gestation, but the ideas are coming thick and fast now. We’ve found our way; we know where we’re going.” The brothers rarely wear watches themselves. “It’s the most tragic thing, neither John or I will ever be able to afford one of our own watches,” Stephen lamented. “But the greatest pleasure is actually making them.”