MARS BOUND

THE RM TOURBILLON CELEBRATES PHARRELL’S LOVE FOR SPACE AND FASCINATION WITH THE COSMOS

AWARD-WINNING SINGER, songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams is a huge fan of Richard Mille and after over a decade of supporting the brand, it comes as no surprise that he finally received his official signature watch – the RM 52-05 Tourbillon Pharrell Williams. The timepiece, according to Pharrell, would provide “an opportunity to go where no one else has ever gone before”. And for the Star Trek fan and a lover of all things cosmological, that place is Mars – Pharrell says the design of the RM 52- 05 was inspired by his memory of the Mariner 9 space probe that in 1971 became the first spacecraft to orbit the Red Planet. “We need things to ‘pop’ in this world,” says Pharrell, referring to the timepiece’s dial, which shows the surface of Mars reflected in an astronaut’s helmet, flipping the viewer’s perspective 180 degrees in an echo of the troubadour’s own “subversive” musical style. In typical Richard Mille fashion, the RM 52-05 comes in a tonneau-shaped case and features a skeletonised dial. It’s made of precious and highly advanced materials such as red gold, cermet (a combination of ceramic and metal) and titanium. A tourbillon sits at the bottom of the dial. What’s fascinating about this watch is the dramatic rendering of a galactic adventure on its dial. The face of an astronaut takes centre stage, with a closer inspection revealing the reflection in the visor of his helmet. This is where Richard Mille’s masterful interplay of mechanics and artistry – engraving, enamelling and painting – come to the fore. The reflection depicts Mars’ russet rugged surface and beyond its horizon, blue planet Earth. It’s the moment we realise, staring at the watch’s face, that what we’re peering at through the vastness of space is...ourselves. To create this scene, the astronaut’s helmet is sculpted in grade 5 titanium and meticulously hand painted. The visor is a curved 5N gold piece that’s hand engraved, grand-feu-enamelled and then hand painted as well. The rich and colourful hues of the planets and the galaxy – orange to red and blue to black – are achieved by superimposing layers of coloured pigments, while exquisite engraving captures the rugged rock face of the red planet. Finally, dazzling blue aventurine glass is inserted to give the appearance of stars shining in the dark abyss of space. Other innovations complete this “cosmic” timepiece. The hands and bridges on the back of the RM 52 -05 have been skeletonised to evoke rocket launch pads. The crown is based on the design of a rocket capsule, mimicking the distinctive profile of a Mars-rover tyre. Powered by a manual winding in-house movement, the RM 52-05 features a fastrotating barrel, a tourbillon, 5 bars of water resistance and 42 hours of power reserve. To allow the artwork on the dial to be admired without distractions, functionality is kept minimal with only an hour and minutes display. Only 30 examples of the RM 52-05 are being produced.