RICHARD MILLE RM 007
For several years now, women have been taking up a new stance in watchmaking. While they continue to endorse gem-set watches, they are also increasingly fascinated by the complexity and technicality of watchmaking. Always eager to please this demanding clientele, Richard Mille has created the new RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire especially for them: an automatic calibre protected by a pink sapphire case. The 1930s was an innovative period, when the famous Pink Lady drink for women was introduced. This balanced cocktail designed for female members of high society encapsulated a desire to modernize the rather chauvinist customs of clubs and their gentlemen clientele. In the same spirit that sparked the creation of this ladies’ cocktail, the RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire brings a feminine approach to technique, cloaking it in the pink tones of this renowned drink. Crafted from sections of pink sapphire taken from a single block, the case of the RM 07-02 is extremely difficult to machine. Observing the manufacturing process of a pink sapphire case highlights the challenge its creation entails, from both an engineering and technical standpoint. There is no room for even a single cutting error. The case requires almost forty days of machining and finishing to meet the uncompromising specifications laid out by Richard Mille. Numerous tests then follow to verify that the brand’s resistance and comfort requirements have been met. Beneath its pink exterior, this original and ergonomic tripartite case reveals a unique automatic movement beating at its heart. The new in-house CRMA5 calibre is assembled around a skeletonized plate in microblasted 5N gold set with diamonds. The same 5N gold is used for the flange and the bridges, whose hand-chamfered and hand-drawn angles and edges capture even more light at the heart of the caliber. Like the RM collection, the RM 07-02 features exceptional technical characteristics such as hand-decorated and gem-set gold bridges, a variable inertia balance wheel designed to ensure optimum performance in the long term, and a variable geometry rotor in 18K 5N red gold set with diamonds, which adapts the winding of the watch to the movements of the wearer. The central dial in onyx and diamonds, the crown in 5N red gold and the strap in white alligator skin add the perfect finishing touches to this exceptional creation. With the RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire —a caliber boasting an extremely technical design as well as a highly sensual appearance—Richard Mille is opening his sapphire collection to women. Women of today want it all, and who could blame them’ After all, a woman’s life in the 21st century is one of the most demanding imaginable, far different from that of earlier times, with today’s high expectations on contemporary femininity to constantly combine the practical with the elegant under every conceivable condition of work, life and leisure. And of course, Richard Mille intimately understands these demands on women, leading to his creation of a new ladies’ timepiece, the RM 07-01 Ladies. It represents the perfect mechanical synthesis between Haute Horlogerie elegance and the ‘tough love’ provided by new materials in the creation of a sophisticated 21st century companion for the most demanding of women. The heart of this new timepiece centers on the novel, in house designed caliber CRMA2, a highly skeletonised automatic movement developed specifically for the RM 07-01. With baseplate and bridges machined from grade 5 titanium, the CRMA2 also includes a variable-inertia balance in order to maintain exacting long-term performance, and a rotor in 5N 18K red gold with variable geometry in order be able to adapt the rotational speed of the rotor according to the owner activity, thus optimizing the winding of the barrel’s high rotation. Its new, RM patented crown construction replaces the traditional system; now no longer connected to the interior of the movement directly, it is thus impossible to dislodge or break, providing extra protection for the rigors of daily life. This timekeeping architecture allows for an ideal ratio between performance and capability, giving the RM 07-01 a power reserve of about 50 hours, a significant accomplishment for a ladies’ movement. The beauty of the technical mastery within the RM 07-01 can be seen perfectly throughout the skeletonised movement with its balance placed at 6 o’clock, highlighting the care given to the high grade finishing of the movement with its drawn, chamfered and polished surfaces combined with a dramatic, deep black PVD treatment of the plate and bridges.Read More