Richard Mille: Watches with technical precision and feminine allure

Richard Mille considers more than good looks when creating its timepieces for women

While timepieces for men are typically mechanical and feature professional designs, those for women tend to focus more on embellishment and a sense of elegance. At Richard Mille, however, ladies watches are created not only to look exquisite but also to rank high on technicity and reliability.

Take the RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur, the brand’s first flying tourbillon and a triumph of watchmaking artistry. Inspired by the age-old Swiss tradition regarding the creation of mimetic mechanical objects of art that imitate nature, this horological masterpiece features a magnolia flower opening and closing with rhythmic regularity in a delicate kinetic ballet.

And the magnolia does not just open – the entire flying tourbillon with its stone-set stamen actually moves upwards 1mm when fully opened, exactly copying the natural motion of the flower’s arching upwards of its stamen to increase its chances of pollination.

To make this possible, a complex mechanism comprising five levers surrounds the underside of the petals, and yet another system combined with a long pinion is used to raise the flying tourbillon and stamen upwards within the flower’s circumference – all using energy supplied by a separate, second winding barrel. As an added attention to the tiniest details, it’s even possible to adjust the opening and closing cycle.

As the RM 19 -02 Tourbillon Fleur demonstrates, Richard Mille is constantly seeking new challenges and pushing the boundaries of horological engineering. Unencumbered by budget limitations or technical constraints for research and development, the brand even decided in 2012 to create its own in-house movements for the very limited quantities of timepieces it produces each year.

To date, it has created 14 in-house designs including the automatic, automatic flyback chronograph and automatic tourbillon. The first automatic movement was featured in the RM 037 Unisex Automatic while the first automatic tourbillon was made for women and used in the RM 71-01 Talisman.

Besides their technical innovations, Richard Mille’s ladies watches make use of the same groundbreaking materials that are characteristic of its men’s collections. This includes the RM 74-02 – Gold Carbon TPT, whose case material is an exclusive combination of carbon and gold leaf that took years to develop.

A watchmaking constitutive whose resistance is matched only by its lightness, Gold Carbon TPT kindles a striking contrast between the matte black of carbon and the aura of gold. The case material for the RM 74-01 – Grey Cermet and another material exclusive to the brand, Cermet combines the lightness of titanium with the hardness of a ceramic. It consists of a metallic zirconium matrix associated with high-performance ceramic, and offers remarkable resistance to corrosion and scratches.

Of course, a little embellishment never hurts and there are times when craftsmanship, aesthetics and technicality come together to create a watch that is truly out of this world. In terms of the Richard Mille ladies collection, that watch is the RM 07-01 Intergalactic.

The four new interpretations around the in-house CRMA2 calibre are both mysterious and captivating, set with diamonds and red gold prongs that create an explosion of light. The radiance of the diamonds is accentuated by Carbon TPT – a light and strong technical material with a velvety matte appearance – ensuring the Richard Mille constellation will continue to shine brightly for men and women alike.

Also see: Carson Chan’s watch collection