SILK ISSUE • n° 34 • 2023
B ody L anguage
by Diego Tamone
[ T he WATCH ] 168
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the sign of the horns, reproduced for the occasion as an artistic flourish above and below the calibre RM66, mechanical hand-wound movement with a flying tourbillon in the centre of the latest dazzling creation by Richard Mille
Above, clockwise: polishing the red gold bones; the calibre seen through the sapphire caseback; a detail of its frontal section; the caseband with design recalling punk belts; an assembly phase; the Goth-style spidershaped crown clasping a ruby. Opposite page, the RM 66 Flying Tourbillon
An unambiguous symbol combining culture and tradition, belief and superstition. Born in the depths of time, in the 1960s and 70s it became a universal brand on the social, cultural and music scene, an unofficial symbol of defiance, revolution and rebellion, but also a sign of belonging, especially in the world of rock. From the Beatles (John Lennon can be seen making it on the cover of Yellow Submarine) to Black Sabbath, a band that made it even more famous on the art scene through its front man Ronnie James Dio. Two outstretched digits, the index and little fingers, and two clenched, the middle and ring fingers, locked in place by the thumb. This challenge thrown out to the establishment has now become part of an equally anti-conformist watch – the RM 66 Flying Tourbillon. With mechanics developed in Richard Mille’s Swiss workshops, the aesthetics of brand’s latest creative folly were conceived by creative and development director Cécile Guenat, and it was produced by master watchmakers in collaboration with Olivier Vaucher, a Geneva-based engraver who created the red gold skeleton that is the watch’s aesthetic and functional star.
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This unprecedented technical and architectural challenge demanded almost 1,500 hours of research and development. Not forgetting, of course, the time needed for its production, assembly, calibration and the creation and finishing of the precious gold alloy bones, the unholy element in an openworked mechanical hand-wound movement with grade 5 titanium plate and bridges, equipped with a flying tourbillon at 12 o’clock. This high-impact watch is produced in a limited run of only fifty examples.
www. richardmille.com
170 [ T he WATCH ]
Front and back of the Richard Mille RM 66 Flying Tourbillon. The 42.7x49.94 mm case has a carbon TPT bezel and back as well as central section in grade 5 titanium with red gold hobnail-pattern inserts