Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based RGM, the only watch company to serially produce a high-end mechanical watch movement in the United States since the 1960s, is ushering in its 2018 production year with a new complication. The Model 350-TZBD, which combines a big date display with a second-time-zone indication, is this week’s Watch to Watch.
The big date display is front and center at 12 o’clock.
The RGM Model 350-TZBD (the model’s initials stand for “Time Zone Big Date;” for the uninitiated, the brand name “RGM” refers to its founder, American watchmaker Roland G. Murphy) has a 316L stainless steel case, 38.7 mm in diameter and 12 mm thick, with a curved sapphire crystal over the dial and an additional sapphire pane in the back offering a view of the movement. The grooved crown sets the time in both time zones.
The black dial sports big, legible Arabic numerals in a vintage-style font, paired with dot hour markers that are coated with Super-LumiNova. The date appears in a double window beneath the 12 o’clock position, and a subdial at 6 o’clock hosts a very intuitive second time zone display, with two hands pointing to the time on a 12-hour scale. Super-LumiNova also coats the sword-shaped, rhodium-treated hour and minute hands, as well as the small hands and numerals of the subdial, allowing for the times in both selected time zones to be read easily in the dark. All the watch’s functions, including a quick-change adj...