It’s here, the McGonigle Tuscar

23/03/2011 | By Frank Geelen | 2 min read |

Last year McGonigle released it’s new Tuscar in a remarkable way, by posting a sketch on Facebook. The Tuscar 1 of 10 launch series sold out in a bliss, even before one piece was made. Now the Tuscar is ready for delivery and a new Tuscar in rose gold is ready to be shown in all it’s glory.

John and Stephen McGonigle already have a gorgeous Tourbillon and wanted to create a time-only watch with a focus on excellent timekeeping. As if we would expect anything else from them 😉

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The focus for their new watch would be (in their own words) excellent timekeeping, a substantial power reserve, solid reliability and superb finishing and decoration. John McGonigle says “The design had to have a clean coherent style and we wanted the principle mechanical elements visible on the dial side. To achieve all of that we had to develop our own movement from the ground up.”

This sketch and a description was posted on Facebook and watch enthusiasts from all over the world immediately got exited, started spreading the word and the launch of the Tuscar was a fact.

The Tuscar features the distinctive design elements we already know from the McGonigle Tourbillon. The case, crown and many details look familiar to those who already know the Tourbillon.

To be able to get their desired result, John and Stephen had to create and build a new movement. This is not something they could do on a Saturday afternoon, while enjoying a cup of tea. Nope… a new movement is one of the biggest challenges imaginable in the watch industry. Especially if a small independent brand like McGonigle is doing this, it means an enormous task. They don’t have the resources big brands have, but they do have the watchmaking skills and knowledge. So they teamed up with the legendary Alberto Papi, one of Switzerland’s finest designer constructors, who helped refine the movement design and specifications.

After the 1 in 10 launch series, which was in white gold and sold out rather fast, the Tuscar is now available in a red gold case in a limited edition of 20 pieces. The new Tuscar features a 42.5mm large red gold case with a transparent sapphire dial revealing all of the subtleties of the stunningly finished movement beneath.

Calibre McG01 manual-wind mechanical movement