Rare Richard Mille RM 52-01 ‘Tourbillon Skull’ featuring a skeleton skull dial

Boxer Canelo is wearing a very rare Richard Mille RM 52-01 ‘Tourbillon Skull’ featuring a 45mm titanium, ceramic, and 18k rose gold with a skeleton skull dial.

The timepiece, which is made exclusively for the Asian market, is limited to 10 pieces worldwide.

Overall Review 

The human skull has appeared in iconic conceptions over history in various disciplines. Some come as purely aesthetic representations and others as a way to express multiple viewpoints and philosophies.

These ideas are visualized in the Richard Mille RM 52-01 Skull, which was unveiled in 2012. This new caliber epitomizes the brand’s concept in that it is the greatest embodiment of freedom and nonconformity. The RM 052 Skull embodies Haute Horlogerie with its extreme expertise, excellent performance, and the most significant level of aesthetics, and hand-polished.

Richard Mille RM 52-01 is the second item in the Skull line. It features the skull design that embodies the Richard Mille brand: an approach opposed to conformity that prioritizes innovation and advancement. 

The RM052 manual winding tourbillon, encased in a grade 5 titanium baseplate with PVD treatment, drives the 43mm RM 52-01 Tourbillon Skull. Before being approved, the PVD-treated titanium underwent a number of assessments. It possesses remarkable rigidity and highly smooth surfaces. In addition, the skull and its back have become hand-beveled and made of 5N red gold.

The case was likewise made by Richard Mille utilizing a brand-new composite material known as the nano-ceramic. In addition, the watch’s waterproofing goes up to 50 meters or 165 feet.

The Jura-based creator has introduced sophisticated ceramics expertise. This is a result of the studies on the bezels of RM 055 as well as RM 011 Silicon Nitride watches. He has also established excellent abilities in the creation of complex forms. But perhaps most notably, he has been able to produce ceramics of unparalleled quality by lowering the porosity of the materials.

TZP is used to create the piece’s case back as well as the bezel. This low-density (6 g.cm3) substance has a low coefficient of warmth conductivities and is exceptionally resistant to scratch. TZP is constructed of 95 percent yttrium-stabilized zirconium and has a pronounced grain that provides the best polishing. Thus, the sides can be hand-polished, whereas the bezel and case back could be micro-blasted.

For the middle casing, Richard Mille used carbon nanotubes. This is due to their well-known capacity to shield shocks from the tourbillon movement in the center. The watch thus can be made lighter by using a carbon nanotube case center that is joined to a black polymer.

The three-part case is totally black and incredibly light. The appropriate finishing touch is provided by the torque-limiting crown featuring DLC coating. An average of 20 grade 5 titanium spline screws are used in its construction.

Overall, a limited series of just 30 pieces, including the RM 52-01 Tourbillon Skull Nano-Ceramic, was presented by Richard Mille. This unusual wristwatch undoubtedly demonstrates Richard Mille’s commitment to manufacturing innovation and design and the excitement of producing something remarkable and one-of-a-kind. 

Price tag: $2,500,000.00 USD

Photo: Canelo Álvarez