Evosam
233
Just got my RM005 back after 3 months (pictures inside)
Those of you that have been around this board know some of my woes with my RM005. I finally sent it into the US distributor and got it back after a full movement replacement and a strap and buckle replacement (which was a very nice gesture and touch). They also re-brushed the case and it looks almost like a new watch!
The first immediate thing I noticed was that the new movement has the white stones instead of the rubies that i had in my previous movement. This is apparent in the front and the back. I can't find the thread that dicussed this, but I know I read about this here.
When did the red get swapped out exactly?
Also, what is the white stone?...just clear sapphire or a diamond or ?
I don't know how many movements or watches have been produced but from my very basic sample data, my old movement was 44x, and my new movement is 238x , so at least 2000 movements have been produced.
The new deployment clasp.
I know some people took some good pictures of this in earlier, so I just took this one picture. This new design is pretty slick. It uses a titanium base and I think a titanium spring to snap open and close the deployment without the use of a push button. When it's closed the design looks like the tang.
I also noticed that RM moved to the new generic Richard Mille text rather then the RMxx for each of the individual models - my tang had the RM005 on it before.
The new kevlar strap is better IMO. I know that RM provides more variants of staps now, from the "original rubberized leather, to this Kevlar composite, to the Croc staps. I'll have to see how it wears, but the rubber coated leather strap was never my favorite and in some ways the kevlar strap represents more of the high-tech nature of the watch. I ranted time and time again on how poorly it was contructed and how easily it wore out. I just couldn't see why RM can't source a good rubber strap like on Hublots (a watch costing 10s of thousands less). I look forward to seeing what this new rubber strap will look and wear like.
* If Richard wants a few guinea pigs to test out the new rubber strap - I'll volunteer! 
*
I also noticed that the new strap has a metal attachment rather then the older plastic ones that seem to bend and pry loose from the leather quite easily.
I'm hoping that the watch fares better with it's new "engine" in place. I've always loved this watch, the design and the feel, but the reliability was in question ever since I got it. I'm hoping for much more wrist time with this for the foreseeable future.
Finally, I just wanted to thank the the RM USA service folks down in LA for a great overall experience. It took a lot longer then I anticipated, but patience is a virtue and things did work out in the end.
Now I should figure out if I can get another 2 yrs warranty on this since it is essentially a new movement and watch 
-Sam