RGM does not usually make this kind of watch. The company Roland G. Murphy started in Pennsylvania in 1992 has built its name on the parts of watchmaking that take the longest to learn: engine turning, hand-finished movements, and its own calibres, at a rate of around 400 watches a year. A licensed cartoon dog is a long way from that. The new Model 151 Snoopy Flying Ace closes the distance the way RGM tends to, by leading with the craft. Monochrome covered it as an Introducing piece on 20 July.
The dial that carries the story
The version that matters is the white one. Its dial is two-level grand feu enamel, built up from several layers of glaze and fired at high temperature, and RGM believes it is the first time Snoopy's Flying Ace has appeared on a true grand feu enamel dial. The scene is the familiar one: Snoopy in flying goggles and a scarf, sitting on top of his red doghouse, a few clouds around him. Large printed Arabic numerals and luminous sword hands hold the legibility, so the illustration reads as a dial rather than a sticker. It is a real piece of enamel work in the service of a joke, which is a harder thing to pull off than it sounds.
The case, made in the US
The Model 151 is a clean pilot design, a thin bezel around a wide dial. In steel or CP2 titanium it measures 38.5mm across, and either 9.9mm thick with the painted dial or 10.6mm with the enamel, which stands slightly higher. RGM makes the case in the United States, near its Mount Joy workshop, and finishes it in-house. A sapphire crystal covers the dial, and water resistance is 50 metres, enough for a watch that is not pretending to be a diver. The caseback is engraved with a walking Flying Ace, the Peanuts copyright line, and the words Case made in USA.
A movement to match the price
Both dials run the same engine, the Sellita SW300-1, the automatic that stands in for the ETA 2892-A2. It beats at 28,800 vibrations per hour and holds 52 to 56 hours of reserve. Here it is dressed rather than left plain, with rhodium plating, Côtes de Genève and perlage. It is a sensible, well-understood movement, which is the right call under a dial this expensive to produce.
Two dials, four prices
For anyone who wants the look without the enamel, RGM offers the same Snoopy artwork on a matte light-blue metal dial. It loses the depth and the hand-work but keeps the character, and it costs a good deal less. The watch comes on a Hirsch Performance strap, leather over a rubber lining, on 20mm lugs. Prices run from USD 3,950 for the steel model with the blue metal dial, USD 4,950 for the same in titanium, USD 8,950 for steel with the grand feu enamel dial, and USD 9,950 for the titanium enamel version. Full details are at rgmwatches.com.
It is an odd watch for RGM on paper and an obvious one in the metal. The subject is light; the execution is not.
