The New Richard Mille RM 66 Rockstar Watch

Photo: Richard Mille

The new Richard Mille RM 66 Flying Tourbillon carries on the company´s heritage of making high-end watches in a fun and playful way, and I dare to say that the 50 pieces limited Rock´n Roll Richard Mille, definately is fun! It is indeed a heavy-hitter, and breathes Rock´n Roll with its “Never-Seen-Before” appereance.

Photo: Richard Mille

This was of coure the idea when originally designed but I dare to say that Richard Mille rarely  miss to connect their watches to the relevant theme. Maybe it is “the secret” to why they are market leaders in that perticular area.

Photo: Richard Mille

The case of the Rock´n Roll tribute timepiece features 42.7mm-wide by 49.94mm lug-to-lug, with an overall thickness of 16.15mm. It has abezel and caseback that are crafted from black Carbon TPT, and the  middle caseband is crafted from grade 5 titanium and has brushed pillars with polished bevels. The Carbon TPT is extremly scratch-resisant and very light.

Photo: Ablogtowatch

There are 5N red gold inserts set into the caseband , which have a “clous de Paris” pattern that is intended to remind of the studs on punk belts. Two Nitrile gaskets makes the watch water resistant to 50 meters.

The skeleton dial of the RM 66 Flying Tourbillon will surely appeal to musical fans of Richard Mille, and features hour markers which imitate the shape of guitar plectrums. The skeletal 5N red-gold hand, which appears to be holding the whole calibre in its grasp, is a nod to the mantra of living life to the fullest. The indices of the inner bezel is made from titanium and the rest of the bezel has been coated with black PVD coating.

Photo: Romain Lenancker

The procedure of the bevelling has also been used and due to its complexity, fine precision and lifelike settings, it is sure to please even the most hard-core watch enthusiasts.

Photo: Ablogtowatch

A fascinating part of the dial making is that it was burnt at high temperature until the enamel melted and the shade was set, then refined repeatedly. An expert culptor finally  meticulously carved the patterns on the face, which makes the creating process even more delicate.

Its movement  is the in-house RM 66 manual winding calibre. Under the red-golden palm of the hand, At 6 o’clock, the watch showcases the fast-winding barrel providing the 72-hour power reserve, and revolves every 6 – to every 7.5 – hours. Via the sapphire crystal caseback. the wearer can visually enjoy the mezmerising “watch dance”.

Photo: Richard Mille

The flying tourbillon sits at 12 o’clock instead of the “usual” 6 o’clock positions since the watch flips the movement by 180 degrees in order to offer pride of place to the tourbillon. The tourbillon cage lacks an upper bridge – why it is called ‘flying’ tourbillon, and this is something that visially definately accentuates the qualities of the skeletonised timepiece.

Photo: Swisswatches

Rather than using a traditional lever regulator, the balance fitted to the Richard Mille RM 66 Flying Tourbillon incorporates a variable inertia design, which offers outstanding resistance to shocks and better chronometric results over time.

Photo: Ablogtowatch

Final words:

It was quite expected that this watch would be rather expensive, as all the watches of the luxury brand are, so the retail price of$1,095,000 USD isn´t schocking at all. Sure, the Richard Mille RM 66 Flying Tourbillon is one of the more expensive models from the brand’s current collection,

Photo: Richard Mille

but still, it is priced below other recent releases, such as the RM 88 Smiley or the ultra-thin RM UP-01 Ferrari watch, and – it REALLY gives the wearer rock and roll “vibes”. Only that is worth a lot!