Unique Urban Aesthetic

The resolutely contemporary watch transcends traditional gender boundaries, appealing to both men and women with its extraflat and compact case size. — Photos: Richard Mille

Richard Mille reveals the RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat, which features a pared-back aesthetic with clean lines and a focus on the authenticity of its materials.

Drawing inspiration from Brutalist architecture, the watch boldly reinterprets the brand's well-established aesthetic codes, its rectangular shape, simple and precise, embodying the harmony of geometry and the legacy of Richard Mille.

With interlaced forms making up a maze and akin to the passages of a labyrinth, the design plays on optical illusions, conjuring the allegory of a single, structured path.

The Calibre CRMA9, the 15th and latest addition to the in-house family of movements, is an engine specially imagined for the RM 16-02.

Richard Mille's movement engineers designed this tangle of titanium to maximise the entrance of light thanks to the cutaways of its openworked elements.

The RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat, which features a pared-back aesthetic with clean lines and a focus on the authenticity of its materials.Its skeletonised baseplate in microblasted grade 5 titanium with a grey electroplasma coating covers the entire visible surface of the watch, with only the minutes bridge standing out, distinguished by its black PVD coating.

The extreme skeletonisation of the CRMA9 Calibre is impressive, calling as it does for infinite precision in the milling and finishing of its 67 openings of varying sizes, with chamfered edges finishing each cut.

This meticulous process required almost 23 hours of milling per plate and dozens of separate manual operations.

The baseplate is a triumph of engineering, further enhancing the contemporary feel of the watch while simultaneously revealing the technical complexity at the heart of the creation.

On the back, like the baseplate, bridges have undergone rigorous 10-year ageing and shock-resistance tests to ensure they withstand the demands of daily life, lending its silhouette a rich complexity.

An entirely new colourway, the RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat Terracotta Quartz TPT is the result of an innovative process.Against the background of the movement, whose full volume is accessible to the eye, emerges the entirely new silhouette for the oscillating weight, fashioned in platinum and fitted with two grade 5 titanium inertia blocks.

The bidirectional rotor is mounted on ceramic ball bearings for efficient winding of the 50-hour power reserve.

On the dial, the hour markers are based around a thread-like decal that appears as it runs through the skeletonised maze of the movement, bringing the hours to life.

Carefully designed indices play with perception, sketching an enigmatic motif inviting the observer to decipher them to establish a subtle relationship between watch and wearer.

The appeal of the RM 16-02 includes its sculptural rectangular shape and 30-metre water resistance, its extra-flat case standing out for its ergonomics.Beyond its technicity, the appeal of the RM 16-02 includes its sculptural rectangular shape and 30-metre water resistance, its extra-flat case standing out for its ergonomics, which have been subtly optimised compared to the original RM 016.

At 36 x 45.65mm, it is 10% smaller than its predecessor, perfectly espousing the wristwhile enhancing the brand's characteristic lines. 

Two interpretations are available for the case of this watch – one is clad in full grade 5 Titanium with microblasted, satin finishing and polished bevels.

The other version is in Terracotta Quartz TPT, an entirely new colourway, is the result of an innovative process.

It involves silica threads just 45 microns in diameter being impregnated with a coloured matrix, then stacked with a 45° angled between layers and heated to 120°C at 6 bars of pressure. The raw composite milled for the case is set atop a caseband made of Creamy White Quartz TPT.