Style Edit: Richard Mille’s partnership with Rafael Nadal – how the Swiss luxury watchmaker and tennis great pushed horological boundaries, culminating in 2024’s RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon

Nov 21 , 2024

Richard Mille’s horological collaborations with tennis great Rafael Nadal began in 2008. Photo: Handout

The series of groundbreaking timepieces has broken records with each iteration, from the lightest tourbillon to the most resilient, and the use of new materials

Richard Mille partners with a host of exemplary individuals from across the worlds of the arts, culture and sport to create its utterly distinctive timepieces.

But perhaps no partnership better represents the spectacularly innovative Swiss luxury watchmaker than its prolific collaboration with another trailblazer: one of the all time legends of tennis, Rafael Nadal. Beginning in 2008, the partnership has yielded a series of timepieces that has consistently pushed back technical boundaries, setting first after first and breaking record after record.

The Richard Mille-Rafael Nadal partnership has yielded a number of distinctive timepieces. Photo: Handout

The initial fruits of the collaboration, the RM 027 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, saw the light of day in 2010. Its carbon composite case weighed in at less than 20 grams, including the strap, making it one of the world’s lightest watches at the time of its release.

The Richard Mille RM 027 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal model was released in 2010. Photo: Handout

It was followed up in equally impressive fashion in 2013 with the RM 27-01 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal. A carbon nanotube case and a slimmed down movement allowed the brand to reduce it to a featherweight 18.83 grams, including the strap, making it the lightest tourbillon watch in the world at the time.

Richard Mille used a carbon nanotube case and slimmer movement for the RM 27-01 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal. Photo: Handout

Next, came a dramatic one-piece skeletonised movement baseplate, integrating the caseband, on 2015’s RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal. It also broke new ground as the first in the collection to use the ultra-high-tech Quartz TPT and Carbon TPT materials on its case.

The Richard Mille RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal featured a one-piece skeletonised movement baseplate with an integrated caseband. Photo: Handout

The attention of Richard Mille’s innovators then turned to shockproofing on the RM 27-03 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, from 2017. Its ultra-robust case, in a cheerful yellow colour scheme with red accents, and again made from Quartz TPT and Carbon TPT, can withstand impacts of up to 10,000G.