Dear
Richard Mille passionates,
I thought it
could be interesting to have a little recap about the materials that Richard
Mille has been using in his watches.
Richard
Mille always had in mind to start from what he liked and wanted a watch to be
like before creating his models. The result is usually highly priced because he
decided from the beginning that he didn't want (and maybe didn't need) to make
compromises and to do things halfway.
In that
context, it seems also that Richard Mille finds a special pleasure in using new
materials for his watches. With curiosity, it is a matter of finding the way to
work on them, create and set the right tools, but also to answer the question
"does it bring something in terms of lightness and/or strength",
which, of course has an impact on the movement reliability and accuracy. Hard
Titanium or Alusic materials, for instance, prevent bridges and plates from
bending or breaking, but also resist wear and tear of the case, while
improving wearing comfort. The mechanisms can be shock
resistant because of very strong materials containing the
impact or softer materials absorbing it. Comfort becomes a very
important element when you've experienced one of Richard Mille's
watches.
THE CASE
Titanium Grade
5. Richard Mille began with this material.
It is a very hard and light metal
that resists corrosion well. The brushed finish of Richard Mille has a very
nice look on Titanium (my favorite in the watchmaking world) and is less
susceptible to scratches compared with Steel.
Silicon Nitride Si
3
N
4
It is a very rare material used in the RM011 and
don't know much about it. I think it has been made in a very few pieces and may
have been difficult (and expensive) to develop and use.
Silicon Nitride
(RM011)
Carbon nanofiber baseplate. It is a material we saw especially in the V2 specification of the first RMs e.g. RM002 and RM003. It offers the benefit of a very limited shape change when submitted to temperature variations which is very important to maintain the gap and hence, the pressure between wheels.
Titanium (grade 5). This well known metal is used for its high rigidity and high resistance to corrosion. It is often used for cases but is much rarer in movement's construction due to the difficulty to work on it using normal tools.
ARCAP. It is well known for its antimagnetic properties and density of 8.9g/cm3. It is almost completely insensitive to large temperature variation and corrosion. You easily can imagine the interest of such properties as dilatation has an impact on the pressure between wheels. Such properties help maintain a constant distance between components, thus improving accuracy and reliability. It is used in the RM002 and the RM031 high performance caliber.
Aluminum 2000. It is used in the RM035's case. It is a 90% Magnesium and 8.9% Aluminum alloy, very light and resistant, used in F1 engine piston production.
Magnesium WE54. This 89% Magnesium alloy (with 6% Yttrium) is used in the RM038 Bubba Watson Tourbillon case. As always, lightness helps lowering inertia, thus decreasing consequence of shocks.
Carbon fiber flange. Used to craft the flange in most of RM's watches.
Sapphire. Used for the 1800 Vickers glass used in RM watches as well as replacing rubies in the movement (that's why they are white and not pink), except for the anchor pallets.
However, this material has also been used in the construction
of the RM056 line where the whole case (and baseplate and even a wheel
for the RM056-01 and RM056-02) are made of Sapphire. On the contrary to other
materials Richard Mille uses, although it is hard, I'm "not sure" it
is as shock resistant as other references. Nevertheless, it is the most
impressive material, visually speaking, I was very impressed by its beauty as
I'm preparing a review of the RM056-01.
Semi-precious stones. This is not per se a material made to enhance performance but more to add in a more unusual way stones decoration to the movement. When knowing what is at stake in such wheels in terms of inertia it is far from being an easy task to perform (needed 3 years of development). The RM018 Tourbillon "Hommage to Boucheron" is a unique piece. The mainplate was already made of a transparent Sapphire glass, before the RM056. The stone material is made of a mix of Tiger's Eye, Jasp, black Onyx and Diamond. (Thank you Colton for the reminder!)
THE
STRAP
Aside from the usual crocodile leather straps, more exotic stuff is also available.
Polyurethane. Hypoallergenic rubber material
Kevlar
fiber. It is the kind of fiber straps we saw first in Raphael Nadal's
models and that became available for other models too afterwards.
CONCLUSION
We have
seen many very interesting materials that had a significant
impact on the reliability or the accuracy of a watch.
The
harder the material is for the wheels, the less wear you usually
have.
The lighter it is, the less inertia there is; with
less consequence of movements and shocks.
At the
same time, the material has to be able to absorb or resist
shocks.
We don't always realize how hard it is to work on
these materials and the research needed to imagine how we can use them in
watchmaking.
They may not always be absolutely necessary but
it feels so good when they are used.
Thanks to this brand
for going this path not many explore.
Cheers,
Mark
_______________________