Oileán is John’s expression of love which encompasses and embodies his passions for watchmaking and the land he calls home.

Oileán is Gaelic for “island”, and in a single word, symbolises a land, a culture, a philosophy and an ancestral code of working in harmony with the elements to exist and to create the arts, crafts, words and music which define an island people.

Oileán is a very special timepiece, which in its nuances and detail captures that elusive essence of spirit and identity that makes Ireland unique, while within beats a legendary mechanical heart which is a twentieth century Swiss classic, which has been dismantled to its individual component form, and then hand finished by the master watchmaker to refine and make even more beautiful and personal.

The Watchmaker

John studied watchmaking at the Irish Swiss Institute of Horology in Dublin, before spending two years repairing watches and clocks in Ireland & the UK. After studying at the international watchmaking school, WOSTEP in Neuchatel, Switzerland, John worked as a service manager and watchmaker in Bermuda.

On his return to Switzerland, he worked for five years with Audemars Piguet in Le Brassus. This was to be a pivotal period in his career as he gained considerable experience and skills in traditional ‘haut de gamme’ watchmaking.

After a rewarding period absorbing and learning as much as he could at Audemars Piguet, in 1997 John seized an opportunity to develop prototypes for Christophe Claret. There he developed Grande Complications, Tourbillons, Automates, and Minute Repeaters with Westminster Chimes.

But John is an Irishman, and a proud one at that, and like many before him, who have left her shores, there’s no place in the world which can compare to his home country’s rugged beauty.

He returned to Athlone in Ireland in 1999, to establish his own watchmaking workshop where he continued to make complications for Swiss watch houses.

In 2007 John joined forces with his brother Stephen to create their own brand, McGonigle Watches.

John has since set off on his own to work on other projects.

He now has his own brand of hand-crafted watches, Oileán Watches.