NEW LIGHTNESS RECORD
With this fifth opus, the brand brings a fascinating saga begun in 2010 to an incredible close, hand-in-hand with the Majorcan tennis player, 14 times winner of the French Roland-Garros.
14.64 grams, rubber and textile strap included, 11.5 grams without. To create the lightest tourbillon watch possible and achieve this result beyond belief, Richard Mille built on its know-how and focused on daring state-of-the-art options. In the RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, every gram and every millimeter has been taken into account thanks to finite element calculations and a host of simulations.
The structure of the RM27-05 manual-winding movement benefits from 4,000 hours of R&D. The barrel that’s less than 1 mm high was taken from one of the brand’s finest creations, the RM UP-01 Ultraflat Ferrari. Here, it was turned into a flying one for this piece. Richard Mille watchmakers also borrowed the one-piece skeletonized mainplate from this model yet made savvy changes to it. These choices mean this device is remarkably compact, just 2.12 mm thick, weighing in at 3.79 grams.
Reducing the volume of the case meant going for a slimmer case middle and monobloc back. The use of Carbon TPT® B.4 was perfect for finalizing the project. This material also boosted the rigidity of all the components. Moreover, it also breathed life into never-seen-before architecture with an unscrewed caliber. Compared to Carbon TPT®, this material is 4% more dense, the fiber 15% stiffer and the resin 30% more resistant. As such, the watch has beaten yet another record. This 80-piece limited series is insensitive to shocks of up to 14,000 g!
