THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

Inspired by the tourbillon timepieces that tennis superstar Rafael Nadal wears on the court, the sporty RM 35-03 Automatic Rafael Nadal – the fourth in the ‘baby Nadal’ collection – introduces a patented innovation: the butterfly rotor. It took three years for Richard Mille’s R&D department to finally coax from its chrysalis this unique system, which consists of weight segments that create a radial displacement of the gravitational centre outward, converting the wearer’s every movement into the torque required to rewind the barrel. However, by pressing the push-piece at 7 o’clock, the rotor’s gears spread the two weights to a 180° angle, thus suspending the process (preventing overwinding). “It’s like a driver being able to adjust the transmission style from city use to racetrack by activating the sports mode,” explains Salvador Arbona, Technical Director for Movements. This magnificent movement can be admired from both sides, thanks to a skeletonized design and sapphire crystal casing, while the colour combos consist of blue quartz TPT (thin-ply technology) with a white quartz TPT caseband, or white quartz TPT and carbon TPT with a carbon TPT caseband.