Richard Mille launches the RM 27-04 tourbillon Rafael Nadal

Lightweight watches have a lot of numbers.

The RM 27-04 tourbillon Rafael Nadal is a concept for the tenth anniversary of the collaboration between Richard Mille and Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal. It is a super light, super exotic and super Expensive mechanical watches.

The RM 27-04 is equipped with a manual winding movement, suspended on a dense steel cable in the case, and has the greatest impact resistance of any Richard Mille watch, about 12,000 g. Its shell is made of carbon fiber composite material, coupled with the hollow movement, means that its weight may be as high as a few sheets of paper.

Although the recent RM 72-01 chronograph and Richard Mille (Richard Mille) are often in different directions-and equipped with a new internal movement and unusual double balance pinion structure-RM 27-04 Very in line with the brand spirit.

RM 27-04 is a more extreme version of Richard Mille (Richard Mille), which has more cables, more skeletons and more advanced composite materials. This is also $1 million (gift or acceptance). From the perspective of brand functions, RM 27-04 is a successful product both in concept and execution.

But in a broader sense, Richard Mille (Richard Mille) has been engaged in the research of such luxury watches for many years, so RM 27-04 is not exciting or interesting.

String like a racket
The RM 27-04 weighs only 30 grams (including the belt), which is equivalent to about six sheets of A4 paper-following the principle of movement of the cable suspension used for the first time in the RM 27-01, and then goes further.

Just like a tennis racket, the RM 27-04 movement is fixed by an interwoven wire mesh with a diameter of only 0.27 mm. The wire is first fixed by a rose gold turnbuckle at five o’clock, then moved crosswise, going in and out of the bezel 38 times, and finally fixed with another gold turnbuckle at 10 o’clock-finished by the watchmaker.

Then, the movement is fixed to the wire mesh with five titanium hooks, which are screwed to the underside of the base plate.

Five gold-coated titanium hooks and turnbuckles on the edge of the movement

According to Richard Mille (Richard Mille), the wire suspension structure gives the movement an excellent impact resistance of over 12,000 g. In contrast, the navigation circuit of the 155mm howitzer inside the shell can withstand 15,500 grams (.

In the traditional Richard Mille style, the case is a carbon composite material-carbon fibers suspended in a polymer. This time it is a new type of composite material called TitaCarb, which is characterized by a high carbon fiber content, accounting for 38.5% of its volume. The case is integrated. After the movement is installed, the two crystals are directly attached to the case.

Richard Mille RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal

Diameter: 38.40 mm by 47.25 mm
Thickness: 11.40 mm
Material: TitaCarb (carbon fiber composite material)
Crystal: Sapphire
Water resistance: 50 m

Movement: RM27-04
Functions: hours, minutes and tourbillon regulator
Winding: hand wound
Frequency: 21,600 beats per hour (3 Hz)
Power reserve: 38 hours

Strap: Velcro closure fabric