The New Richard Mille RM 11-03 Automatic Flyback Chronograph

Richard Mille 'broke out' with the original RM011. This now-legendary timepiece was the brand's first completely ' Richard Mille ' luxury watch—and by that I mean it was the one that first showcased what the enfant terrible of the luxury sports watch world could really do. Before RM011, Richard Mille was an interesting (and slightly crazy) creator of interesting (and slightly crazy) watches. After the 2007 release of the RM011 Flyback Chronograph Felipe Massa, he was a megastar.
The original RM011 had a 12-hour flyback chronograph, a big date indicator, an annual calendar, and a 60-minute countdown register. It housed Richard Mille's variable geometry rotor, which enables the wearer to adjust the position of the rotor 'wings' to account for lifestyle—thereby creating an automatic luxury watch movement that could be tailored to the activity of the wearer. And it has been released in dozens of limited-edition incarnations over the years.
Richard Mille could probably have gone on releasing limited-edition RM-011 models forever, and reaping a fresh bounty of profit with every one. Like all Richard Mille models , the RM011 was never cheap: 2015's titanium bracelet edition, the first ever Richard Mille luxury watch to feature a metal bracelet, cost £138k. £49,800 of that was the price of the bracelet.
But Richard Mille is an inventor first, and a businessman second. He values the freshness of design. The constant evolution of form. And so, in September 2016, the Les Breuleux manufacture announced the arrival of a brand-new incarnation of its most legendary luxury watch: the RM011-03.
First impressions first: it's a stunner. It's as though Richard Mille has designed a tribute to itself, the ultimate in ultra-luxury sports watches. Every refinement is both slight and obvious, a moving-on from the original design codes of the brand without ever breaking its cardinal rules. You still get the dizzying depth of the 3D movement. You still get that tonneau-shaped case and wickedly-curved sapphire crystal. Only now the bezel is circumnavigated by slight protrusions of metal in a kind of postmodern take on knurling. And the movement, more skeletonised than ever, is light and layered: revealing even more intricacy and delivering an even greater feeling of space.
RM011-03 is powered by a brand-new movement: Calibre RMAC3. It has a power reserve of 55 hours. The big date window, still under 12 o'clock, has now been rounded and smoothed to reflect the updated aesthetic of the watch. Think of it as a modern F1 car: sleeker, slicker, and more attractive than its blocky forebears, but just as powerful under the hood.
The F1 analogy (unsurprisingly, for a luxury watch that was first crafted in honour of Felipe Massa) is a good one. Titanium, a commonly-used material in F1 cars, abounds in the slimmed-down, high-performance chassis of the RMAC3 calibre: it's in the baseplates and bridges, and, of course, those visible screws are still in Grade 5 titanium too. The geometry of the rotor is intended to recall the front wings of F1 machines. And you'll find NTPT carbon in evidence, too. On an F1 car, NTPT carbon is moulded into the chassis. On the RM011-03, it's wrapped around the chrono pushers.
The stripped-down aesthetic of the RM011-03 could have made for a luxury watch that feels somehow less complex, or less powerful, than the original. It doesn't. By stripping the fat from the movement, Richard Mille has left us with a timepiece that has the leanness and smoothness of a big cat (or a Red Bull RB12). Its simplified geometry makes it easier to comprehend the engineering power that goes into the creation of the piece. Its more sophisticated case draws attention to, rather than taking it away from, the smooth interdependency of all those gears and counterweights. In other words: this is a next-generation Richard Mille. If the original RM011 was a machine of raw power, all big blocky lines and wild internal workings, then the RM011-03 is the natural successor in its evolutionary line. Perhaps it would be fairer to say that this is no longer a luxury watch that reminds you of a racing car, but one that's road-legal and ready for a suit.
Richard Mille has done something few luxury watch manufacturers can claim to have achieved: created a legacy in less than 20 years. RM011-03 is the mark of that legacy, the first incarnation in an all-new generation of the brand's most iconic family of timepieces. 2007 was the beginning: 2016, the start of an exciting new chapter. And 'exciting' really is the right word. In my opinion, this may be the first Richard Mille to look as good as its component parts deserve. 'Subtle' isn't usually a word you associate with these luxury watches, but this time, the brand has dialled it down a little and really delivered the goods. If you want one, I suspect you'll have to get in line.
You can view our latest Richard Mille watches as well as the newest additions to our collection of luxury watches currently in stock here .
Images Credit – Richardmille.com vedere di piu orologi replica e Chopard Ice Cube