Richard Mille RM 35-03 “Rafael Nadal”, equipped with the first user-adjustable rotor

Lighter, lighter, lightest-and technology first.

Richard Mille fake watches are often characterized by technological advancements, sometimes overshadowed by the brand’s big narrative and the huge price points they occupy, but they are still true technological achievements. A tourbillon watch that is light enough to float and strong enough to be worn on the wrist by Rafael Nadal does not appear every day.

The new RM 35-03 is an extension of the original RM 035 watch product line, equipped with an ultra-light movement weighing only 4.3 grams. The watch will be launched in two versions, blue quartz TPT with white quartz TPT case, white quartz TPT and carbon fiber TPT with carbon TPT case. TPT stands for Thin Ply Technology, which is a manufacturing technology used to make ultra-thin (the word “super” often appears when you talk about Richard Mille) laminates composed of unidirectional fibers. You can use carbon fiber, but you can also use quartz fiber, which is obtained by softening high-purity quartz rods at high temperature and spinning fine filaments. The strength of filaments is incredible—the tensile strength of a single fiber can reach 800 kilo pounds per square inch. This is expensive to produce and while carbon fiber watch cases have become very common, I don’t know any other company that uses quartz TPT watch cases.

Although from a technical and material science point of view, this case is very interesting (composites look cool too; different layers of laminated materials produce very eye-catching visual effects) the biggest update is the adjustable geometric rotor. The idea behind the adjustable geometry rotor is that you can change the effective inertia of the rotor by changing the position of the two wing-like elements connected to the rotor, allowing you to adjust the watch to a more active or sedentary lifestyle.

This is the RM 35-02 launched by Richard Mille in 2016 but the only obstacle is that the rotor cannot be adjusted by the user-you have to take it to the RM service center. In RM 35-03, the rotor geometry can be adjusted using the push rod at 7:00. Press the button, the watch enters the exercise mode, and the movement of the rotor is blocked during the “strength activity”. There is a switch indicator to let you know if the sport mode is active. When you press the push rod, the two adjustable wings will move to a position of 180º relative to the mass of the main winding. This moves the center of mass of the rotor to its center, thereby neutralizing the windings. The function indicator also shows “off”, which means that as long as you are riding a mountain bike or playing tennis or golf, the winding will be temporarily neutralized.

The shell size is 43.15 x 49.95 x 13.15 mm, blue and white TPT shell version.

Leaving aside the price issue-in any case, Richard Mille’s retail prices are changing with each passing day, becoming more and more like usual, for better or worse-you will certainly not see anyone else with anything like his watch. Without their immediately recognizable design features, they would certainly not succeed in the flex function that children say today, but you can say the same about any other immediately recognizable luxury watch design.

From a technical point of view, his watches usually remain at one of several frontiers-the RM combination of high-tech case materials, an unabashed celebration of the watch’s mechanics, and improvements in execution, as well as incredible In many RM watches, its durability and lightness provide you with a unique value proposition. Twenty years ago, when I saw Richard Mille watches for the first time, I was shocked-there was nothing more like them before-but in the following years, I really wanted to know whether the basic design language Will age. This is a matter of taste to some extent, but I think they seem to have, and apparently many brands have tried to eliminate his design language over the years (usually with little actual success). you can’

Interestingly, there are few modern watches that allow the wearer to directly affect the basic elements of watch performance, and the longer you think about it, the stranger it seems-after all, if you fall in love with a watch, part of the reason is its mechanical properties. Naturally, you would think that luxury watch brands will at least do more in this area. Instead, the fine watchmaking industry is largely focused on designing compromise values ​​and/or proposing mechanical solutions to keep users as far away from the loop as possible. For most watches, regardless of their complexity and complexity, almost all the way to directly affect the movement is to set the watch.

This is probably mostly a good thing-after all, the biggest danger for any mechanical watch is its owner (or worse, an incompetent watchmaker). But being able to adjust basic things like the performance of the winding rotor is a satisfying additional feature. Although it may not be absolutely necessary, it does let you get what you should get from the watch, which is very interesting.

Richard Mille RM 35-03 Rafael Nadal: case, 43.15 x 49.95 x 13.15 mm, white quartz TPT and carbon fiber TPT case, blue quartz TPT, white quartz TPT strap. Water resistant to 50 meters, front and rear sapphire anti-glare coatings; crown, grade 5 titanium.

Movement, 55-hour power reserve, with grade 5 titanium base plate and bridge. One-way, user-adjustable winding rotor with on/off motion mode. Double barrel, equipped with Glucydur free-spring balance wheel, rotating at 28,800 vph, inlaid with 38 gems. Surface treatment: wet sandblasted grade 5 titanium substrate, gray plasma treatment; hand polished grade 5 titanium bridge, wet sandblasted. Steel: Screw grooves and headers are chamfered and polished on other steel parts, and linear finishing is performed. watches at discount