Richard Millie: A superfluous concept in RM 001 Tourbillon

Richard Millie is a Swiss luxury watch manufacturer founded in 2001 by Dominique Guenat and Richard Mille.

After years of prototypes, a manually-wound RM 001 Tourbillon, at the 2001 watch and jewellery exhibition Baselworld in Basel, Switzerland.

The new watch featured an exhibition caseback and visible parts.

The RM 001 Tourbillon is often referred to as the watch that changed the world as it holds the world record for the lightest mechanical watch ever made.

Richard Mille watches represent never-before-achieved levels of shock-resistance and ergonomic comfort in a timepiece.

I have seen this stunning timepiece once at a car drifting event which took place at the Spar centre in Life-camp, Abuja.

As I saw technical credibility and rigorous engineering, I became both stunned and numb that I quickly fell in love with this exceptional piece. The timepiece’s hyper-modern tonneau shape is achingly beautiful and lushing.

Evidently, Richard Millie pays strict attention to detail and comfort. Inside the watch was another revolution as it was the first timepiece that laid its engine completely bare.

With all these juxtapositions, I had to quickly do a research on this watch and I discovered that today, the RM 001, Richard Mille’s success is a product of three crucial elements: the best of cutting edge innovative technology, a strong artistic and architectural dimension, and watches designed to be robust and easy to use, yet also highly sophisticated.

According to Richard Millie, The inspiration for the RM 001 can be found in concepts and materials associated with Formula 1 racing car design and development. Just as this inspiration continues to serve as a founding principle of the brand’s philosophy today, so a holistic approach to the wristwatch is the keystone of Richard Mille’s methodology.

“I wanted to design utterly innovative products that would break with the prevailing classicism and adhere to a single principle: nothing is too good for the result.” Richard Millie said.

I also realized that each screw of this timepiece requires more than 20 operations to manufacture.

The conviction behind this concept remains superfluous.

Obviously, with the RM 001 Tourbillon, the terms futuristic and high-tech are publicly visual emanating culture, skills and traditions of fine watchmaking.