Style Edit: How Richard Mille keeps pushing the limits in horology with its barrier-breaking watches, like the thinnest watch ever made RM UP-01 Ferrari and Rafael Nadal’s shock resistant RM 27-04

Oct 27 , 2023

Richard Mille has been pushing the limits of haute horology over the years. Photos: Richard Mille

Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille never stops innovating with its barrier-breaking timepieces such as the 1.75mm RM UP-01 Ferrari and RM 036, the first watch ever with its own mechanical g-force sensor

The brand also taps illustrious partners like tennis legend Rafael Nadal to create the RM 27-04, which has a shock resistance of 12,000Gs with a weight of just 30 grams

Richard Mille has developed an unrivalled reputation for pushing the world of haute horology into all sorts of novel places and directions.

Richard Mille RM UP-01 is the thinnest watch ever made

A trailblazer in the aesthetics of its timepieces, which look like nothing any other manufacture is capable of producing, the Swiss luxury watchmaker has likewise consistently tested the technical boundaries of watchmaking, coming up with everything from the RM UP-01 Ferrari, the thinnest watch ever made at just 1.75mm, to the RM 036, the first watch ever with its own mechanical g-force sensor.

Richard Mille RM 27-04 can withstand and resist shocks tremendously well

As that last achievement suggests, one of the key areas where Richard Mille constantly explores the limits of possibility is shock resistance. This is not surprising, given the brand’s pedigree: it works alongside stars of both the racetrack and a range of different sports fields to constantly test its timepieces in some of the most challenging conditions possible, refining them according to the requirements of people who put them through their paces in the heat of competition.

RM36-01 is the first watch ever with its own mechanical g-force sensor

In the cockpit of a high performance motor car, the ability not just of watches but of all objects to withstand shocks is tested to the max. Racing cars are capable of incredible feats of acceleration and braking, and that creates hugely powerful forces that can cause objects to deform.

In a Formula One car, for example, both acceleration and braking can create forces of up to 5Gs (g-force), while in a collision, that can rise to more than 20Gs. That makes them the ideal environment to test the shock resistance credentials of models like the RM 36-01 and RM UP-01 Ferrari, the latter a partnership with the most storied of motor racing teams.

Rafael Nadal sports the Richard Mille RM 27-04

Similarly, sports like tennis, golf and athletics involve a whole range of different rapid movements that calls for the highest level of shock resistance in watches. Richard Mille partners with top performers in each of those sports like Rafael Nadal, Nelly Korda and Yohan Blake, helping it to ensure the ruggedness and reliability of timepieces such as the RM 27-04.

Richard Mille’s first women’s sports watch RM 07-04

Named after Nadal, it combines a Richard Mille-record of 12,000Gs shock resistance with a weight of just 30 grams; and the RM 07-04, Richard Mille’s first women’s sports watch.