Richard Mille has prepared two new family members of jewellery watches. The RM 52-01 Skull and RM 26-01 Panda will debut at Baselworld 2013. Both of the watches confirm the brand’s creative freedom, one featuring a giant panda and second with skull theme.
RICHARD MILLE RM52-01 NANO-CERAMIC SKULL TOURBILLON is the second piece in the Skull collection launched in 2012, and features the skull design that has come to symbolise the Richard Mille brand: an anti-conformist approach focused on creativity and development, where each new timepiece embodies a call for a watchmaking revolution. It is equipped with the RM052 manual winding tourbillon caliber built on a baseplate in PVD-treated grade 5 titanium. The skull and back of the skull are sculpted from 5N red gold and are hand-bevelled. For the case, Richard Mille has used an unprecedented composite material known as nano-ceramic.
RM 52-01’s bezel and case back has been made by using TZP, low-density material (6 g.cm3) which is highly scratch-resistant and has a low thermal conductivity coefficient. Made from 95% yttrium-stabilised zirconium, TZP has a pronounced grain that provides the perfect finish. For the case middle, Richard Mille decided to use carbon nanotubes bonded to a black polymer, which helps to reduce the watch’s weight. The RM 52-01 is released as a limited edition of 30 nano-ceramic timepieces featuring an 18K redgold skull.
TOURBILLON RM 26-01 PANDA is likely to be successful successor of its predecessor Tourbillon RM 026, launched at the 2011 Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie. The new RM26-01 tourbillon featuring a symbol of peace – giant panda is equipped with a baseplate machined from black Onyx, a variety of chalcedony composed of silicon dioxide (SiO2) from the cryptocrystalline quartz group. Onyx varieties featuring rectilinear black and white parallel stripes are part of the agate family, whereas entirely black stones are commonly known as black Onyx, for which is considered to protect against negative thoughts and incarnate balance and inspiration.
Sculpted in 18K white gold and integrated into the tourbillon, the panda is set entirely with diamonds and black sapphires. It sits in its natural habitat, a bamboo forest, featuring leaves and bark handsculpted from yellow gold and painted by hand. The RM 26-01 tourbillon is a limited edition of 30 timepieces in 18K red gold and white gold.
