In the world of watches, what makes an icon? In our eyes, familiarity.
The Speedmaster, Tank and Rolex Submariner – all are easily discernible from across the room regardless of identifying the brand name or logo. It’s their distinct features and recognizable silhouettes that give the watch away instantaneously. Another brand following the same trajectory and known for its own discernible features – Richard Mille.
In 1999, a nearly 50-year-old watchmaker with decades of experience struck out on his own. His creations would soon change the face of horology forever. Richard Mille’s timepieces have since garnered fame, stirred controversy, and been seen on the wrists of actors, athletes, musicians, and other celebrities around the world. Technologically advanced, highly sophisticated, super limited, and priced like luxury automobiles, these watches are the new face of a revolution that has followed in the brand’s wake. Indeed, the global success of the ‘high-end independents’ can, in part, be directly attributed to the embrace that RM has received over the past two decades by collectors, connoisseurs, and watch lovers around the world.
The company’s first product, the RM001, was a revelation in contemporary watchmaking. Conceptually, this semi-prototype sought to bridge the automotive and horological worlds by incorporating lightweight materials, innovative complications, and a design that spoke as much to the influence of hypercars as it did the history of the Vallée de Joux. Since the resounding success of their inaugural piece, has continued to break the mold and challenge the norm of how a wrist watch should look and more importantly feel on the wrist – we stress the latter because experiencing a RM’s paper-weight profile in the metal is a completely unique experience unto itself.
Five years after the RM001 was released, Richard Mille debuted the very piece we have here, an RM 67-01 ‘Extra Flat’. Housed in their signature tonneau case furnished out of a microblasted Grade 5 titanium, the 38mm x 45mm x 7.75mm case proportions are an amalgamation of the RM010, the reference that solidified the RM’s barrel-shaped case and the RM016, the brand’s original thin model, making it the easiest wearing watch in their fleet. Incredible detailing is represented through the polished beveling along the case’s edges, supporting columns nestled into the case walls and RM’s proprietary 5-pronged screws equally positioned along the case face. The RM 67-01 additionally features a curved sapphire crystal, sapphire caseback, screw down crown and a white rubber strap with a signed titanium deployment clasp.
The skeletonized dial depth is a feast for the eyes. Firstly, a tonneau-shaped ring sits around the dial periphery and houses a set of stark white, automotive-inspired, luminous Arabic indices. At 2 o’clock resides a crown function display and at 5 o’clock a vertically stacked date window. Looking past this initial layer offers a window into the Richard Mille Calibre CRM46 automatic movement along with its ultra modern aesthetic, incorporating titanium bridges, a combination of “plasma cut” components, and a solid platinum rotor on the underside visible by way of the exhibition caseback.
If there was ever the perfect, everyday wearable Richard Mille for the experienced collector, this would be the one.
