DRIVING INNOVATION
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FELIPE MASSA
Since 2004 and until his retirement last year, Richard Mille’s most longstanding ambassador put several of the brand’s watches through their paces on the F1 racetracks, helping to shape its horological identity in those early days. Says Malachard: “From the beginning, he wanted to wear a watch in the cockpit during races, and he challenged Richard (Mille) to create a very light and resistant watch for that purpose. The watch had to feel weightless, even under conditions where vibrations and high g-forces were at play. This is when the theme of lightness first entered the brand’s identity, with the use of carbon nanofibre for the watch’s baseplate.” The most dramatic demonstration of the toughness of those timepieces, of course, occurred at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009, when the Brazilian driver had a near-fatal crash – and the RM 006 tourbillon watch on his wrist emerged from the accident still keeping good time.
JEAN TODT
Road safety isn’t the sexiest topic in the blazing world of motor sports, but it is definitely one of the most important. So, it’s little surprise that when Richard Mille partnered Jean Todt, FIA (International Automobile Association) president and UN Special Envoy for Road Safety, the first timepiece that came about was centred on the trope. In typical Richard Mille style, of course: Released in 2012, the RM 36 Tourbillon G-Sensor Jean Todt’s most interesting mechanism is a sensor that displays the force (in the number of g’s) accumulated by the watch’s wearer during rapid decelerations. Obviously, it might not serve much practical purpose for the average driver (and if you actually experience such g-forces on our roads, you would probably be in a lot more trouble than a watch can help with), but, hey, it’s still a neat – and meaningful – idea.
SEBASTIEN LOEB
Showing how many things really boil down to a matter of perspective, the G-Sensor in the RM 36 goes from being a road-safety symbol to one designed for the kind of extreme speed reached by French rally driver Sebastien Loeb. Again probably of limited use to folks tootling along at an average speed of 80kmh, the RM36-01 Tourbillon G-Sensor Sebastien Loeb is one of the brand’s few round watches – and is distinguished by a rotary g-sensor placed right at its centre. Resembling a wheel, the sensor shows the number of g’s accumulated by the driver as he rapidly accelerates or decelerates. A button at the centre of the sapphire glass quickly resets the reading to zero.