Exclusive model: The RM 43-01’s technical and aesthetic elements draw from Ferrari’s legacy.
PARIS: Swiss luxury watchmaker Richard Mille has unveiled its second collaborative watch with Italian automaker Ferrari, the RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari.
The limited edition watch was launched at an event at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris last week.
On hand at the event to celebrate the new release were prominent Formula 1 figures like Felipe Massa, Richard Mille’s first and longstanding brand partner and racing legend Alain Prost.
The product of over two years of creative exchange between the two marques, the RM 43-01 features a dynamic composition of technical and aesthetic elements inspired by Ferrari’s legacy.
The exclusive model is limited to 150 pieces, with 75 available in Carbon TPT, a composite material used exclusively for Richard Mille, and 75 in microblasted and polished grade five titanium with a Carbon TPT caseband.
The co-creation is the second to come out of the partnership between the two brands, following the debut of 2022’s RM UP-01 Ultraflat Ferrari, a mechanical watch which stunned the industry with its record-breaking thickness of 1.75 mm.
“With the new RM 43-01, there’s been a lot more interaction between both companies - a lot of ideas, meetings, and challenging each other on a regular basis over two and a half years to get to what we have today, and we feel the result is fantastic,” said Tim Malachard, marketing director of Richard Mille, at the launch.
Key elements from the watch drew inspiration from Ferrari’s Centro Stile design centre in Maranello.
For instance, its crown, hands, and strap feature the pattern of the Ferrari Purosangue seats, while the titanium plate engraved with the Prancing Horse logo takes after the rear wing of the Ferrari 499P.
The timepiece’s angular structures with raised ridges, contrasting tonalities, X-shaped supports, and golden hexagonal socket-head screws are a tribute to details found on Ferrari engine blocks and crankcases.
“A collaboration like this is as much predicated on similarities in values as it is on the visual similarities between a Ferrari engine or a component and the elements used in a watch,” said Flavio Manzoni, Ferrari’s chief design officer.
“In terms of performance, anything that has a technical purpose can also be beautiful. The concept of functional beauty is something that we really love.”
The tourbillon split-second chronograph, considered Richard Mille’s most complex high-complication format, served as an essential foundation for the new timepiece.
Developed in partnership with Audemars Piguet Le Locle, the RM43-01 calibre is built with a highly skeletonised grade five titanium baseplate and bridges made from both titanium and Carbon TPT. It also features 70 hours of power reserve, indicated at two o’clock on the 5N PVD titanium dial.
Multiple refinements have been made to the split-second’s mechanism for more optimised operations. A new generation of components have been engineered for more efficient power consumption and more consistent torque levels throughout the power reserve.
“Our work as movement manufacturers is becoming increasingly scientific which is helping us create components that are even more durable whilst delivering even better performance,’ said Salvador Arbona, Richard Mille’s movement technical director.
Prices for the RM 43-01 are set at RM5.98mil for the titanium version and RM7.02mil for the carbon.
Malachard also revealed that Richard Mille and Ferrari have already begun development on a third collaborative timepiece, which is expected to be completed within the next few years.
