RICHARD MILLE’S STUNNING TOURBILLON SAPPHIRE _

$1.65 MILLION WATCH

When it was unveiled at the 2012 SIHH, the RM 056 split-seconds competition chronograph sapphire, a limited edition of 5 timepieces, caused a shock-wave in the watchmaking world with its pared down purity, its movement with exemplary finishing and its case made entirely of sapphire crystal. This watchmaking revolution has elevated the Richard Mille brand to an unrivalled level of design and innovation.

Following this technical feat and determined to continue challenging the very limits of fine watchmaking, Richard Mille has created another exceptional piece for 2013: the RM 56-01 Sapphire Crystal. The brand used its immense experience of skeletonisation and of making components in sapphire crystal for the creation of the RM 56-01, characterised by its extraordinary transparent movement.

By using a sapphire crystal baseplate – which supports the entire manually wound tourbillon movement – Richard Mille allows as much light as possible to penetrate into the caliber RM56-01, which displays the hours and minutes, with power-reserve and torque, at 11 and 2 o’clock respectively, and a function selector indicator at 4 o’clock. This quest for extreme transparency at the heart of a titanium movement also led the engineers to use sapphire crystal for the central bridge and third wheel. The caliber RM5601, made from sapphire crystal and titanium, is immune to temperature variations and wear, ensures excellent stability and offers exemplary chronometric performance.

Its three-part case is machined and ground from a solid block of sapphire crystal. Machining operations lasting for over 40 days, 24 hours a day, are required to produce one case. In order to machine it, a specialist CNC machine had to be purchased, and all the components made from sapphire crystal were machined by the world specialists in this material, Stettler, located in Lyss, Switzerland. The case is water-resistant to 30 metres, thanks to two O-ring seals in transparent Nitril, and is fixed using 24 grade 5 titanium spline screws.

Its strap carries the concept of transparency to its apogee. Collaboration between Biwi SA and Richard Mille has made it possible to develop a material, Aerospace nano®, that employs nanotechnology to obtain unequalled transparency and strength. The nano-reinforcements in this material, which has never been used in watchmaking before, are generated in situ during the manufacture of Aerospace nano®. Its elastic and waterproof properties make it silky to the touch and superbly comfortable. The strap of the RM 56-01 alone inaugurates a new class of materials in watchmaking.

The RM 56-01 Sapphire Crystal symbolises all the expertise Richard Mille has accrued in showcasing a caliber through its sheer transparency. Because the machining of sapphire crystal is an extremely difficult process, the RM 56-01 is only available in a very limited edition of 5 timepieces.