Richard Mille RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramic

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Get ready for summer to become an all-year state of mind with Richard Mille’s latest collection: the RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics. Refreshing like a glass of cool lemonade on a hot day, the RM 07-01 Coloured ceramics sail away from conventional watch design thanks to contrasting colours, shapes and materials that all make a serious statement about the idea of fun and lightheartedness.

A bold celebration of colour, inspired by summertime and Memphis Design – the rebellious ‘80s Italian art and architecture movement
Use of lightweight TZP ceramic cases and hand-crafted guillochage
Available in three pastel hues: blush pink, lavender and powder blue

Memphis design

At its core, it borrows inspiration from Italian 1980’s art and architecture movement Memphis Design, while being underpinned by fundamental Richard Mille trademarks of performance and innovation. The result is a highly technical timepiece collection crafted from cutting-edge materials that embodies the aura of a beach holiday and long, idle summer days and nights.

‘I find Memphis Design particularly fascinating in its diversity and freedom,’ says Cécile Guenat, Creative and Development Director at Richard Mille. ‘The creator’s goal at the time was to escape the strictures of Modernist aesthetics and they were pioneers in the use of all types of materials through their designs. At the heart of the design process for this collection was the idea of juxtaposing colours in materials. Then we enriched this work by weaving inside the ancient craft of guillochage. This creates a symbiosis of the ultra-modern and the traditional in watchmaking.’

Guillochage is a decorative technique that requires ancestral, hand-turned-engine crafting and an extreme dexterity of expert hands. This art consists of repeating individually applied lines. These lines combine and intersect, forming geometric patterns that impart texture to a plain surface, playing with shadow and light in subtle ways. The pressure applied on the white gold segment by the guillocheur during this process must be maintained constant, removing exactly the same depth of gold at each step to ensure the integrity of the final appearance.

A grey PVD-treated red gold dial serves to showcase the engraved Memphis motif, surrounded by other decorative detailing in coloured ceramic, laser-cut rubber appliques and diamond-set elements.

This collection is available in three summer-derived colours, blush pink, lavender and powder blue TZP ceramics. The Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal (TZP) ceramic used for the bezel and caseback is renowned for its lightness, strength and colour-retention properties. Even over long periods of time, the hue of this sophisticated material remains perfectly balanced and unfaded, looking fresh as the day it was produced.

Fixed on white gold, microblasted casebands with polished pillars, these bezels protect the in-house skeletonised automatic winding CRMA2 movement. As usual with Richard Mille, grade 5 titanium is in the spotlight and used for the bridges and the baseplate. All components are skeletonized to allow maximum light to pass through and fill the space. The skeletonization also highlights the care given to the high-grade finishing of the movement with its drawn, chamfered and polished surfaces combined with microblasted and electroplasma treatments. However, this metal lace is no less resistant, passing all the brand’s shock tests with success.

The CRMA2 sports a variable-inertia balance maintaining perfect long-term performance and a variable-geometry rotor in 5N 18K red gold that adapts the winding of the watch to the wearer’s activity. Combined with a full involute gear train, it allows for an ideal ratio between performance and accuracy, providing the RM 07-01 a power reserve of approximately 50 hours.

Creating hand guilloché dials is an art form that requires special, hand-guided machines, as well as the hands of expert craftspeople who have decades of experience. Richard Mille has incorporated this artisanal technique with a twist. Instead of adopting familiar patterns of traditional guillochage, the RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics uses these techniques in bold ways, sculpting a motif inspired at once by Memphis Design and the Richard Mille universe. This motif is engraved on a white gold segment, surrounded by decorative detailing in ceramic, colored rubber appliques and diamond-set element. A grey PVD-treated white gold serves as a display to all of these elements.

Thanks to their contrasting hues, shapes and materials that all make a serious statement about the idea of fun and light-heartedness, each of the three Richard Mille RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics variations are totally contemporary in every aspect of their approach. A real respect for watchmaking culture, an innovative approach to cutting-edge materials and pure technicity make this collection sailing definitively away from conventional watch designs.

Richard Mille RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramic Technical Specifications

Movement

Calibre CRMA2: Skeletonised automatic winding movement with hours, minutes and variable-geometry rotor.
Power reserve: Around 50 hours (± 10 %).
Baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium
- Microblasted grade 5 titanium with electroplasma treatment gives great rigidity to the baseplate, as well as precise surface flatness which is essential for the perfect functioning of the gear train. Bridges are also in grade 5 titanium, microblasted and electroplasma treated. The skeletonised baseplate and the bridges were subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to ensure optimal strength requirements.
Free-sprung balance with variable inertia
- This type of balance wheel represents the ultimate in innovation. It guarantees greater reliability when subjected to shocks and also during movement assembly and disassembly, hence better chronometric results over time.
- The regulator index is eliminated and a more accurate and repeatable adjustment is possible thanks to 4 small adjustable weights located directly on the balance.
Fast-rotating barrel (5 hours per revolution instead of 7.5 hours) This type of barrel provides the following advantages:
- The phenomenon of periodic internal mainspring adhesion is significantly diminished, thereby increasing performance, – Provision of an excellent mainspring delta curve with an ideal power reserve/performance and regularity ratio.
Variable-geometry rotor
- The RM 07-01 uses variable geometry to optimize the rotor’s winding motion.
- Rotor specifications:
  - Heavy external outside edge and heavy edge ring in 5N red gold
  - Weight segment in heavy metal
  - Ceramic ball bearings
  - Automatic winding system OneWay^® with ball bearings
  - Bidirectional winding system
- This rotor with variable inertia has been incorporated into the CRMA2 calibre as it allows the rotor to be set according to the owner’s activity level. The setting is modified by adjusting the 2 weights which can be moved into the correct position and fixed in place by spline screws.
Gear teeth profile
- The entire going train of the watch, the primary transmitter of power throughout the movement, utilises a pressure angle of 20˚ for the teeth of the wheel. This system equalises any discrepancies that might arise between the centre of each wheel, for instance during thermal changes and normal use, and promotes an excellent transmission of torque to the balance wheel, thus supporting excellent chronometric characteristics.
Spline screws in grade 5 titanium for the bridges and case
- This permits better control of the torque applied to the screws during assembly. These screws are therefore unaffected by physical manipulation during assembly or disassembly and age well.
Movement dimensions: 29.90 x 22.00 mm
Thickness: 4.92 mm
Jewels: 25
Balance: CuBe, 4 arms, 4 setting screws, moment of inertia 7.5 mg.cm², angle of lift 50°
Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
Balance spring: AK3
Shock protection: INCABLOC 908.22.211.100 (transparent)
Escapement wheel jewels: Rubifix (transparent)

Case & Dial

Case dimensions: 31.40 x 45.23 x 11.85 mm
Three coloured ceramics are used for these RM 07-01 bezels: Blush pink TZP ceramic for the RM 07-01 Pastel Pink, lavender pink TZP ceramic for the RM 07-01 Pastel Lavender and powder blue TZP ceramic for the RM 07-01 Pastel Blue.
TZP (Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal) is a biocompatible ceramic constituted of over 95% zirconia (ZrO₂). Its properties include remarkable corrosion resistance, a hardness providing scratch resistance (1,400 Vickers) and toughness superior to that of sapphire, associated with a desirably low density of around 6 g/cm³. The submicron grain size furthermore permits excellent surface finish for a stunning matt effect.
A long and difficult machining and grinding process using diamond tools is necessary to create the complex forms of the bezels. The casebands are made of microblasted white gold with hand-polished pillars.
The three-part case is water resistant to 50 metres ensured by 2 Nitrile O-ring seals. The case is assembled with 12 grade 5 titanium spline screws and abrasion-resistant washers in 316L stainless steel.
Dial: In 5N red gold with grey PVD treatment. The decorative elements are in ceramics, rubber, guilloché and set with diamonds. Thickness: 1.00 mm
Crystal
- Bezel side: In sapphire (1,800 Vickers) with anti-glare treatment (both sides)
- Thickness: 1.60 mm at the center
- Caseback: In sapphire with anti-glare treatment (both sides).
Thickness: 0.95 mm at the centre; outer edges 1.62 mm