Modern Beauties
Richard Mille presents a line of beautifully complex women’s watches for today’s discerning ladies
Askeletonised automatic movement, a pink sapphire case, a flying tourbillon with twin winding barrels, and a diamond-dazzled case: these are all the feminine reinterpretations of the unisex racing machine on the wrist—quite contrary to the brand’s label as very masculine. Swirling in affinities between women and watches, or time itself, Richard Mille answers the recent demand for a fine balance in synthesising a beautiful exterior and a powerful interior. “I enjoy the fact that our ladies’ watches are very technical in spirit on the inside, regardless of how many diamonds or the beautiful lines they may possess,” Richard said.
Enter the RM 07-01 Ladies watch with a ceramic case, which has been extensively experimented on by experienced engineers at Richard Mille. The results are two scratchresistant, coloured composites made from ATZ white ceramic and TZP brown ceramic, each banded with a red-gold caseband, which have been brushed and polished to a matte finish. Two more options are made with 18ct red or white gold following the sensual lines of a tonneau shape sized at 45mm by 31mm with an 11.85mm thickness.
Underneath a gemstone-set centre field dotted by droplet-shaped indexes lies a skeletonised automatic movement, the inhouse-designed calibre CRMA2. Standing ideally between performance and capability, its variable inertia balance gives long-term performance up to 50 hours of power reserve. A patented, stronger crown that is not connected directly to the movement is another innovation in the CRMA2.
Richard Mille then accomplished an even more daring mechanical feat by crafting different sections of a pink sapphire block into the RM 07-02 Automatic Pink Lady Sapphire. With no room for a single error, the case required 40 days of machining and finishing before many tests took place to ensure the highest standard of resistance and comfort.
Beating inside is the new in-house CRMA5 calibre around a skeletonised plate in microblasted 5N gold set with diamonds, which is always precise thanks to a variable inertia balance, and a variable geometry rotor in 18carat 5N red gold set with diamonds that winds the watch to the wearer’s movements. Finished with an onyx and diamonds on the central dial plus a red-gold crown and alligator strap, the RM 07-02 Automatic Pink Lady Sapphire is both highly sensual yet also technical.
More technical ingenuity is beautifully shown on the RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur, which also serves as a bridge to the age-old Swiss tradition and artistry of mimicking the natural world. The ancient magnolia is the perfect symbol delicately blooming its hand-crafted 18ct petals on the bottom left of the watch. Opening up automatically every five minutes or manually with a pusher on the ninth hour, the magnolia’s delicate kinetic ballet continues on to the most minute and precise manner.
When the magnolia is fully opened, the entire flying tourbillion and its gem-set centre will move 1mm upwards to copy the flower’s stamen during a pollination phase. A lever under each petal for opening and a long pinion for raising the flower are powered by a second winding barrel—all hidden behind the leaves and the dial encased in an ergonomic curvy tonneau-shaped case. Comfortable yet time consuming, it took one year to research, to shape, and to decorate the bezel with diamonds.
The RM 51-02 Diamond Twister is also diamond-decked and inspired by nature as seen from the twisting spiral, an organic form that alludes to the word “tourbillon”, which translates to “whirlwind” in English. Radiating from the escapement located on the sixth hour, 14 rays set with single rows of diamonds stand in tune with more white diamonds and black sapphires on the case, plus three more rows on the crown.
Inside, RM 51-02’s manual winding tourbillon is based on onyx and has a free sprung balance and skeletonised bridges treated with various hand-finishing techniques. A torque-limiting crown adds security to the whole package to prevent accidental over-winding that could damage the winding stem or the mainspring barrel.
To such complex, precise and authentic timepieces both on the inside and on the outside, just like the ladies who carry the brand, Richard Mille now welcomes actress Margot Robbie in its family of female partners, which also includes golfer Cristie Kerr and actress Michelle Yeoh. Together with Margot, the watchmaker will create a collection from which the proceeds go to Youngcare, an Australian-based charity for high-care children—a true symbol of how Richard Mille empowers women to give back to their own communities.