Richard Mille

Designing the Movement.

 

Life for the form of the movement begins on Richard Mille’s drawing pad! Each part and component is thought through, sketched out, and designation made on how it is finished.

The design for the rotor; note how the anglage is spelt out, the metal type, and the comment regarding the screws and line to attach the main arm of the rotor to the wheel: ‘c’est fantastique!’ (he was not joking!).

The centre of the rotor; which elements are left with a titanium look and which are PVD covered. The attention to detail is obvious as is the required execution of the design.





Finally, a drawing for one of the plates on the face of the watch. Keep this drawing in mind as we will see two forms for it later on; one for the RM005, and along with it, the skeleton version for the RM010.



From the drawings, CAD engineers enter the designs into the computer software and a virtual model is built of the movement. The movement remains in a computerized form where each and every part of the movement is worked out before the machining begins. Individual elements and parts can be separated out, examined, and dimensions taken before being re-fitted to the computer model.

The underside of the RM010 movement showing the gear train and balance wheel being fitted. Note the holes in the wheels, and their similarity to the RM 009 FM:



The top of the RM010 movement with the sapphire glass date ring being fitted:



The completed RM010 movement with the variable geometry rotor fastened: