Yours for $1.7 million…
Richard Mille RM 56 Felipe Massa SAPPHIRE with manual-wind tourbillon movement — completely encased in sapphire crystal. Side note: Unless I am overlooking a precedent, I think big credit is due to Maximillian Busser @MB&F who I think was the first to do a 100% sapphire case on a watch (the HM-2 SV). This seems to have spawned big advances on machining/sculpting capability for sapphire crystal because this Mille piece must be an absolutely crazy nightmare to produce, let alone handle! Mille says it takes 1,000 hours to machine the case — another 430 hours to grind and 350 to finally finish!!!
Richard Mille RM 56 Felipe Massa SAPPHIRE
limited edition 5 pieces
by Kyle Stults on January 16, 2012
Polo
As I stated earlier, Richard Mille went ABSOLUTELY OVER THE TOP this year — in a good and exciting way. Some very amazing and far reaching designs, really good stuff. Here’s another to add to Mille’s stable of watches to be worn in sport by a high profile athlete (a la RM027 Rafa Nadal a la RM Bubba Watson)…This new RM053 features an eye-catching battleship-style case suitable for the hard striking game of Polo, for elite sportsman Pablo Mac Donough (Buenos Aires, Argentina).
Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 053 PABLO MAC DONOUGH
limited edition of 15 pieces and blasted titanium titanium carbide
I am looking through the 2012 Richard Mille releases and the only thing to say is that Richard Mille ABSOLUTELY OVER THE TOP this year — in a good and exciting way. Some very amazing and far reaching designs, really good stuff. Here’s the first, but believe me there is more and arguably better to come. I would add that most all of these pieces will be well into the six figures if not into the millions, price-wise. Where others may have been content to exploit the purely visual aspect of the skull, Richard Mille has taken the concept further by integrating it directly into the complete timepiece.
The baseplate and bridges take the form of a grade 5 titanium skull. Richard Mille has pushed the concept further by integrating this into the movement. The upper and lower jaws hold the ruby of the tourbillon cage. The back of the skull is actually the movement’s center bridge. The skeletonized baseplate and bridges were subjected to rigorous testing to insure their optimal strength. The entire movement is connected to the case by 4 bridges that are inspired by the crossed bones from flags on pirate ships. The new case design, with its opened flanks, continues this visual allegory to the human skeleton.
Richard Mille Tourbillon RM 052 Skull
Limited edition of 21 pieces, which includes 15 pieces in titanium and 6 unique set pieces in red or white gold
Hi all, hope you had a Merry Christmas. As for me, I am thankful tohave enjoyed a nice Christmas spent in the company of family, and I am likewise looking forward to ringing in the New Year. But for now, it’s time to get back to watches. I’ve got just a few more SIHH previews to share this week, starting with one from ultra-high end watchmaker Richard Mille.
For me, other than the ultra-lightweight RM027 for Rafael Nadal and the golf-course ready RM038 for Bubba Watson, I struggle to appreciate Richard Mille. I think that it is because Richard Mille presents its watches in a very technical and often esoteric manner. I often ask myself Mille’s myriad innovations are really something special, something that really adds to the value of the watch, or just fancy technical jargon intended to selll ultra-expensive watches ($50k+++). While I am sure there is merit in his attention to high tech materials, etc. I wish that Mille would translate their technical innovations into something a bit less arcane, i.e. more tangible and appreciable for laymen such as myself. How about you? If you have any thoughts on Richard Mille I’d love to hear them — drop a comment below.
Anway…here is is the new RM037, featuring Mille’s first in-house movement.
Richard Mille RM037
52mm x 34mm titanium case (red gold, white gold also available), automatic mechanical manufacture Calibre CRMA1 (skeletonized titanium, 50 hrs power reserve)
And for an example of what I referred to above, here is Mille’s description of its new in-house Calibre, the CRMA1:
…the crown has been separated from the watch case, the removal of a winding stem means that there is a minimum risk of damage if the crown receives an impact; the new barrel rotates faster improving performance and precision; new gear teeth on the wheels of the going train result in better transmission of power to the balance wheel; there is a new rotor and new re-worked screws for all the major components – to design a new calibre, the Master Watchmakers at Richard Mille don’t tweak and fiddle with what’s in their spare parts tray, they begin with a blank sheet. All the improvements made have a common goal – a more precise timepiece which is as close to indestructible as possible.
With the start of summer, Richard Mille announces a new limited edition piece in his RM 028 dive watch collection — the RM 028 Saint-Tropez. One of most expensive port marinas in the world, Saint-Tropez is a regular destination of the rich and famous. Like Hublot but on a much smaller scale, most of Richard Mille’s pieces are limited edition productions of 10-30 pieces. Given that a Richard Mille RM028 price is $75,000+, this level of production is perfectly rational. This particular RM 028 takes its color cues from the world of yachting — the titanium case comes on a white rubber strap and features navy-blue numbers and dial accents.
Richard Mille RM 028 Saint-Tropez
Limited Edition of 10
47mm titanium case (14.6mm thick), mechanical automatic movement, 300 meters water resistance
Blue jean overalls + Richard Mille watch = AWESOME!
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the new (and now “gone viral”) “Golf Boys” music video featuring PGA Tour golfers Ben Crane, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler, & Hunter Mahan. Aside from the solid entertainment value delivered by the production, wristwatch enthusiasts can further indulge in the video given that a now famous Richard Mille wristwatch — worn by Bubba Watson — makes a cameo appearance. I’ll break it all down for you, after the cut:
Golf Boys (Video)
Presented by Farmers Insurance. Directed by SAMM. Music by Con Bro Chill www.bencranegolf.com
Perpetuelle readers have long known about the infamous “Bubba Watson watch” because Perpetuelle was first to the story way back on January 19, 2011, see: Bubba Watson Gets the RM038! I followed the story up on Feburary 27, 2011 with this article: Bubba Watson’s Watch Sees Match Play. Much to my amazement, both stories got the attention of Bubba Waston himself — first Tweeted on Jan. 19 and then on Feb. 27. By the way, thanks Bubba! (the man is a power-Twitter user with ~145,000 Followers).
Eventually, golf bloggers like Tony Korologos caught up with the story, and finally when the broader media establishment (Ryan Balangee of NBC Sports and Shane Bacon of Devil Ball) got cued in everyone went crazy about Bubba Watson wearing such a cool watch and with such a cool sponsorship deal (forget the haters!).
Anyway, I grabbed few frames from “Golf Boys” in which Bubba Watson can be clearly seen wearing his Richard Mille RM38 watch. Looking good, Bubba, looking good! I am glad you wear this watch with such pride!
Golf Boys (Still Shots)
Note the “white watch” – a Richard Mille RM038 — on Bubba’s left wrist:
More looks at Bubba Watson’s watch:
Oh yea – thanks to my man @tstults for the sharp eyes and for tipping us to the story via Twitter!
Wear it with pride, Bubba!
When I first showed you Bubba Watson’s new wristwatch back in January – a high-tech, ultralight beauty from esteemed Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille – I knew that it was inevitable that golf fans and the broader media would eventually figure out that this was no ordinary timepiece. I also had a good sense (based on Rafael Nadal’s similar experience with his $525k Richard Mille RM07) that the majority of fans would be hatin’ on Bubba when they figured out he was wearing such an awesome and expensive watch. How right I was. During his valiant effort at this weekend’s Accenture Match Play Championship, Bubba gave us several good looks of his Richard Mille RM038 watch on his wrist – and many fans were also shell-shocked when they learned that Richard Mille does not make ordinary watches for ordinary men…
As I alluded to above, the watch is creating somewhat of a stir amongst golf fans. The $525,000 price tag is what seems to irk people the most — I’ve read snide comments on various websites, blogs and Twitter about Bubba and his watch — but most of them are uninformed. There is certainly no surprise here as I saw the exact same thing happen with Rafael Nadal and his $525,000 Richard Mille RM027. The reality is that Bubba Watson is wearing the watch as a result of his sponsorship by Richard Mille — that is, he did not pay $525k for the watch. But even if, the man makes nice coin and he can spend it on whatever he wants — so back off, haters!
*
Almost forgot — here’s the video of Bubba Watson wearing his Richard Mille. Yea, its brief and yea we don’t get much of a look, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. Particularly astute watch fans will also appreciate the partially visible “Richard Mille” logo on the left shoulder of Bubba’s sweater — I know I do:
(please pardon the advertisement – its NBC Video…)
(also, be sure to move your mouse-cursor off the video so that the control menu does not obscure the view)
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Did you expect Tiger Woods? Nah….Go Bubba!
I posted the new Richard Mille RM038 ultralight “golf” watch here on Monday, followed by some “who would get to wear it” musing on Twitter. Well, it turns out that Bubba Watson is the man. With a 32nd place finish on the 2010 PGA Tour, “Bubba who?” would be a fair question for you to ask. Indeed, if you are not a big golf fan you have likely never heard of Bubba Watson! Phil Mickleson, Lee Westwood, Jim Furyk, or yes perhaps even Tiger Woods might have come to your mind. But peel back the onion a bit and the rationale for such an alliance becomes a bit more clear. One of the few “lefty’s” on the tour, Bubba Watson is known for his crushingly long drives, thus providing Richard Mille with the a high technical/physical standard for which to design the watch to. And, well, that’s about all I can come up with. How these two guys got hooked up is a story I will love to hear! Give me a call Bubba! 872-222-8270.
Ultimately, my view on the new RM038/Bubba Watson partnership is that, like Mille’s groundbreaking partnership with Rafael Nadal which shocked the world of tennis, his partnership with Bubba Watson will have a similar impact on the professional golf world. Still, I do hope that Bubba Watston is “here to stay” otherwise this whole thing could fizzle fast. Even so, it is a really cool partnership and I like how Mille tends to align himself with seemingly normal, humble guys who don’t have huge egos despite being better than 99.9% of everyone else who plays the sport they do. So yes, I like the choice and props to Bubba Watson who will be rocking this watch out on the golf course, hopefully soon.
The case of the RM038 is made of an extremely rugged and light magnesium alloy classified as AZ91, composed of magnesium combined with aluminum and zinc plus additional trace metals. The resulting magnesium alloy is more than the sum of the parts, providing a light yet extremely strong material with a dendritic internal crystalline structure making it suitable for extreme applications in the aerospace, telecommunication and automotive industries.
After a long and delicate machining phase, the case is given an electro-plasma treatment named Titalyt II®, covering the surface with a layer of white, crystalline ceramic oxide containing a high ratio of resistant composites.
Photo: WatchProSite
Round and thin, with a platinum micro-rotor…
Richard Mille appears set to show several exemplary watches this month at SIHH 2011 in Geneva. You can see many of them already on Perpetuelle’s Official SIHH 2011 Richard Mille News Feed (RM017 extra flat tourbillon, RM029 big date, RM030 declutchable rotor). And don’t miss Hodinkee’s look at the new RM028 dive watch (for the Americas-only from earlier today.
Now, the particular watch I am showing you here is the new extra flat automatic RM033. Richard Mille’s “high-tech, high-performance” materials and design in combination with an “ultra-thin” form factor and Roman-numerals (usually reserved for conservatively-styled dress watches) makes for an interesting combination. In fact I’m not quite sure I like this combination, at least on-screen. I do appreciate the platinum micro-rotor, though – a new innovation for Mille. This is cool because by using a dense metal such as platinum, the micro-rotor can be decentrally positioned and still wind efficiently — and the extra flat skeletonized movement can be achieved. The skeletonization of the movement – best visible through the backside of the watch is also pretty cool looking.
Finally, keep in mind that while Richard Mille watches get a lot of talk for big watch guys like myself and other bloggers, don’t be seduced into thinking that they can be easily had — in fact these pieces are quite exclusive — by that I mean $50k – $500k+ prices and very limited production.
Richard Mille Extra Flat Automatic RM033
45.7mm (6.3mm thick) titanium case, monoblock platinum micro-rotor
If you want the full specs, just click through to be taken to the Richard Mille SIHH 2011 News Feed.
Right on the heels of the great looking Richard Mille RM 011 Titanium Brown that I blogged about earlier this month, high-tech watchmaker Richard Mille is set to introduce two new editions in his thinnest timepiece collection (8.25mm), the RM 016. The RM016 was first introduced in 2007 as the first rectangular timepiece in the RM lineup. These new models, exclusive for the Americas, feature either a yellow and orange outlined numerals and hands that contrast nicely with the watch’s black DLC titanium case. Presented for the first time on a rubber strap.
Richard Mille is quick to point out that the manufacture and assembly of the case’s three sections require 202 separate machining operations. I guess I am supposed to be impressed by this, but I have no sense of relativity here. Available at authorized Richard Mille retailers in North and South America, as well as the soo- to-be first Richard Mille Americas boutique (Beverly Hills opens in November) for the tidy sum of $65,000. Boo!
Richard Mille RM 016 DLC Titanium ORANGE and RM 016 DLC Titanium YELLOW
Limited Edition of 15 in each color
49.8mm x 38.0mm case, skeletonized automatic winding movement, rotor with variable geometry, water resistant to 30 meters – sapphire crystal and case back
