Richard Mille’s watch expertise is that these watches bridge the gap between seemingly disparate areas, from the obvious to the weird. On the surface, the latest version of the brand largely adheres to the spirit of the past (ie, specific complications for specific lifestyles), although this year, it is also accompanied by technologies that may have a broader impact on the entire industry ( Assuming collectors are willing to accept). Yes.
The controversial work is RM 72-01 “Lifestyle”, (according to Richard Miller) inspired by the sublime intersection between music, dance and complex watchmaking.
Leaving aside the artistic pedigree of the watch (more on that later), the RM 72-01 also marks the production of Richard Mille’s first fully internal flyback chronograph. The iteration of the six-column wheel began a few years ago and was supervised by a dedicated team composed of Les Breuleux brand watchmakers. There are good reasons why this complication requires 30 months to develop and apply for a patent. Unlike most chronographs on the market (which use a vertical clutch transmission), the RM 72-01 introduces a novel variant called a dual oscillating pinion.
Mille’s watchmakers developed this technology to deal with the known shortcomings of vertical clutches. The most important of these is the huge size of the movement structure and the serious inefficiency caused by the power reserve. Salvador Arbona (Technical Director of the Movement) said, “This kind of pinion that can be meshed or retracted from the gear teeth has been paired.” Effectively, the addition of pinions makes the timer minutes and hours. The function is activated regardless of the second wheel of the watch. In turn, the power reserve can be increased to 50 hours-no matter how many stopwatches are used. In addition, Mille’s watchmakers have been able to thin the movement to a thickness of 6.05mm, which is another advantage of using double swing pinions.
At the same time, the layout of the dial is inspired by music theory. The chronographs are arranged at three o’clock, eight o’clock and eleven o’clock respectively, representing three beats in the traditional musical rhythm. In any case, their placement is absolutely unconventional (historically, most chronographs in the 20th century have preferred the 3-6-9 layout), and for easier use, they are color-coded as specific time scales. (Orange means minutes, green means hours, blue means seconds).
Although the best copy watch will initially be available in four variants-red gold, titanium and black or white ceramic-each dial has the same eccentric layout, which is the most complicated Richard Mille watch ever.
Given that the watch is mainly inspired by music, dance and movement celebrations, Miller chose to be assisted by the choreographer Benjamin Millepied (most readers will start with the Oscar starring Natalie Portman) Learn about this in the award-winning TV series “Black Swan”) and the Parisian composer Thomas Roussel. The mission of the duo was to “fully [express] the huge ambitions of the project in a technical and artistic sense” and thus produced the short film “Within”. This work made Millepied walk behind the camera for the first time in his career, leading the dancer to the arid mineral landscape of Joshua Tree National Park in California.
This savage and breathtaking environment in which Millepied dancers are thinking about the origin of humanity also laid the foundation for the score of this short film. Roussel further explored the idea of origin by adding an accidental sound layer (including a sample of the new swiss watch‘s chronograph function), weaving the soundtrack very precisely, but full of human energy. The final score was recorded with musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra at St. Luke’s Church. You can enjoy the entire movie at the top of this article.