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Although the two RM 74 timepieces are both visual feasts, with a riot of intersecting, open-worked lines sitting atop the tourbillon carriage on their dials, they are dramatically different thanks to the different materials used to create them.
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As with so many of Richard Mille’s watches, the materials are unique to the watchmaker. In the case of the RM 74-01, that material is grey Cermet, the material and its colour the result of many years of development by Richard Mille and microtechnology specialist, the IMI Group. Combining ceramic and metal, as its name suggests, Cermet adds high-performance ceramic inserts to a metallic zirconium matrix, meaning it’s as light as titanium but as hard as ceramic – the perfect combination for a hard wearing but wearable watch.
The case of the 74-02 is made from another material that combines the desirable characteristics of two others, one that also represents a formidable technological achievement. Anyone who’s familiar with Richard Mille’s watches will know of the company’s development and extensive use of the remarkable Carbon TPT, a material found in the chassis of Formula One cars that’s made from thin filaments of carbon, and that combines extreme strength and unparalleled lightness with a beautiful, wood-grain visual effect.Style Edit: What makes the impressive Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari tick?
Now, after a development process that’s taken several years, it has been combined with 24k yellow gold leaf to create the Gold Carbon TPT that adorns the RM 74-02’s case, caseband, baseplate and crown, presenting a dramatic interplay of black and gold elements.
The two watches take their power from variations on the same in-house movement: the CRMT6 for the RM 74-01 and the CRMT5 for the RM 74-02. The difference between the calibres lies in the materials used to make the baseplate and bridges: PVD and electroplasma-treated grade 5 titanium for the RM 74-01, and yellow and red gold for the RM 74-02.
Both movements come with power reserves of 50 hours and feature free sprung balances with variable inertia, alongside fast rotating barrels. Both calibres also display their tourbillon carriages to maximum effect, sitting proudly on the dial at 6 o’clock, highlighted by the watches’ slimline profiles and the vertical lines that cut across their dials.
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Tourbillons are perhaps the most emblematic and highly regarded of all watchmaking complications. They were introduced as long ago as 1801, originally designed to improve the accuracy of wristwatches by compensating for the wearer’s movements. As watchmaking accuracy improved over the decades, the tourbillon ceased to be a functional aid to accuracy and instead became a prized complication, one that was typically extremely rare until recently, and that dramatically increases the complexity of the watchmaking process.
Attracted to this complexity, the endlessly inventive Richard Mille has integrated tourbillons into its coveted timepieces since the very start. The RM 001, the first watch introduced after the company was founded by Richard Mille himself and his partner Dominique Guenat, back in 2001, was a tourbillon.
And no ordinary tourbillon, either: designed for extreme shock resistance, it revolutionised our understanding of the complication, making such watches tough enough to be worn on all occasions.
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The RM 001 paved the way for the other tourbillon watches that Richard Mille produced in its early days, such as the RM 002 and RM 003; and set the tone for the series of spectacular tourbillon watches that have lit up the Richard Mille collection since.
Some of the more notable models include the RM 19-02 Tourbillon Fleur, on which the flying tourbillon escapement is encased by the petals of a magnolia flower that open up to reveal it; the RM 47 Tourbillon, which honours the Bushido spirit with its depiction of a samurai warrior and of a heraldic kamon on the tourbillon; and the RM 88 Automatic Tourbillon Smiley, which places the complication amid a riot of pop culture imagery, including the universal symbol of positivity from which is takes its name.
Now, with the RM 74-01 and RM 74-02, Richard Mille has continued this tradition, updating it with a dramatic new design that features groundbreaking materials and an eye-catching, slimline aesthetic.
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