Showing posts with label ciocc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ciocc. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 25, 2022

The MODEL 500-GMT-RS

From RGM -
Courtesy of RGM
Regular readers will know that I am a cycling fan and practitioner. However, I am not a follower of the new school - carbon fiber, electronic shifters and the like. I like steel. The frame of my bike was made slowly, by one guy in Bergamo, Italy -

The key materials - Columbus SL tubing. Not the latest and lightest, but rather the same tubing that has been utilized for decades -

Times have changed, but not unlike Vinyl LPs, there are devotees out there (this guy included) who prefer riding steel to carbon fiber. I'm not saying this is a debate of right or wrong (although I know I am right). I don't have any misplaced fantasies about returning to 1984 and finally winning the Ohio/West Virginia USCF Intermediate road race and going to the Nationals (I still can't believe that group that went with the Senior Cat 2 breakaway didn't get DQ'd!). I am 53, I have a more-than-full-time job running an adult education center along with a pretty hectic evening weekend gig as a brand consultant and sometimes writer. During the winter months I head to the gym for spin sessions. But when the weather breaks and I have the time, I take to the road. It is not an issue of simply getting exercise - I have the gym for that. For me, time with my bike is precious and something to be savored. I realize that I am a romantic, and perhaps a bit of a dinosaur, but there you go.

If there is a poet laureate of hand made bicycles, it would be Richard Sachs.


And it is for these reasons that I find the latest collaboration between Richard Sachs and RGM so cool!
Courtesy of RGM
The MODEL 500-GMT-RS is based on the Model 500-GMT, but with the added flourish of the Richard Sachs logo enhancing the GMT hand.

To be fair, there are a lot of young aspirants entering the fray, and trying to find their way as watch brands in the US. But just as Richard Sachs has set (at an outrageously high level) the standard for any frame builders to follow, Roland Murphy and the team at RGM continue to set the standard for those that hope to follow here in the US.

So if like me, you crave a bit of romance in your life, you can strap some Richard Sachs / RGM magic to your wrist.  Limited to 50 pieces, and priced at an accessible $4,750.

 Here are the pertinents -

The Model 500-GMT is the first RGM with a bi-directional-turning GMT bezel. The watch is designed as a sport watch that is also ideal for travel when using the 24-hour GMT hand and bezel. To help ensure durability, the watch has two case-back gaskets, a 2mm thick sapphire crystal, and a high-quality screw-down crown. The bezel is deep engraved, and the numbers are ceramic-filled. We have also designed ribbing on the case side creating a beautiful aesthetic for this versatile sport watch. The dial and hands have X1 SuperLumaNova for low light visibility.

Movement Caliber: RGM-ETA 2893-2 - Swiss-made automatic, 21 jewels, 28,800 vph. Rhodium  finish - Cote de Geneve lines and perlage

Functions: Hour / Minute / Second / GMT/ Date

Case: 316L Stainless Steel, 41mm x 11.3mm at bezel, 22mm lug width, 51mm lug end to lug end. Sapphire crystal and water-resistant to 10-ATM. Case length from lug end to lug end 51mm.

Bracelet: 316L Stainless Steel, coming soon

Weight:  3.4oz. in stainless steel

Thursday, October 6, 2016

A Bicycle for Tempus Fugit

As I may have let slip once or twice before, I am passionate about cycling.  And I am one of those odd fellows that lies somewhere between the old guard and the new school.


My heroes, clearly, are from a different time.  Bicycles were made of steel, and the gears and drive train came from a certain city in Italy known as Vicenza.  There were, of course, other companies out there in France, as well as Spain.  But as Patek Philippe sets the standard for watches of a certain calibre, the men and women of Italy still set the standard for bicycles of a certain quality.

So this will be the basis of the Tempus Fugit steed to accompany me on grand fondos in 2017 -

Courtesy of Ciocc

The basis is a frame set from the good people at Ciocc The materials are from the good people of Columbus.  I will be bringing  you the step by step process as this bicycle is built - from the ground up.

This bicycle will be Italian in basis, but I will be, of course, keeping an open mind for what will complete it.

Stay tuned!