Independents

theCROWNprince
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American Tourbillons

RGM should be applauded for their work producing such a wonderful project. The tourbillon and 801 appear to be using largely 6497 components but i believe I had read Roland was planning to cut his own gears later. Not that this matters for performance of the piece, I rather like the 6497 but I also like transparency. Love the Howard bridge designs in a modern watch, really speaks to American watchmaking!

The overall aesthetic of the watch is great but as a watchmaker I am bothered by the "Wolf's Teeth" addition. The new crown wheel in the tourbillon and 801 seems to be just stacked upon the old crown wheel. I understand the need to do so for maintaining the original winding pinion arrangement but I would have liked to see something a little more refined for this price point. I'm sure future projects from RGM will only get better and more interesting as this young American brand helps to revive American watchmaking.

RGM Pennsylvania Tourbillon

RGM 801

As for previous American tourbillons:




Keith Hazelton, 1972 jumping hour, tourbillon conversion

George Thomas, series of 4 conversions on display at NAWCC

1983 - Waltham 83 ebauche with Omega 450 escapement

1983 - Jules Jurgensen ebauche

This is a  Benz and Thomas  #1/10  (a Swiss collaboration with George Thomas) from 1985 - Waltham ebauche

1987 - 18s Carousel

Robert Doris

There also was the infamous Gene Clark


Gene Clark #4 (made1987-1991) Petro Cross detent, Geneva stopworks, and constant force escapement





The earliest American tourbillon, I am aware of, was attributed to A.H. Potter. Yes Albert H. Potter made tourbillons (of which an exact number is not known) but one is incorrectly attributed to him. I do not know if Albert H. Potter made his tourbillons in America but I would imagine these were made in Switzerland like most of his later pieces. A lesser known watchmaker of possible distant relation made an earlier tourbillon that is often attributed to Albert H. Potter.

Andrew H. Potter circa 1857?

Inclined tourbillon using George Reed's patented barrel with maintaining power, strainght line lever escapement with curved lever, Geneva stopworks

Wonder if Richard Daners or Grubel Forsey were aware of this old inclined tourbillon when developing their wonderful creations?

I’m sure you will see more American watchmaking in the coming years as there are several interesting projects across the country. Keaton Myrick in Sisters Oregon in working on something very cool and  a self taught gentleman named Jere Mihalov (hope I spelled that correctly) is also attempting to reproduce a George Daniels tourbillon design from scratch.

I look forward to further developments from RGM as well as the continued growth of watchmaking in America.

TCP