From now, we expect to see Rafael Nadal wearing a new Richard Mille the Tourbillon RM 27-01 on his wrist during all of his matches. Not only is the look is vastly different but so is the engineering, but the main feature of the timepiece is its lightness (just 19 grams including velcro strap) and its priceless value ($690,000).
Richard Mille RM 27-01 Rafael Nadal Limited Edition Watch
Made of titanium (for the baseplate and tourbillon carriage) and a aluminium-lithium alloy (for the barrel bridges and gear-train), this watch has an ultra-light movement which weighs just 3.5 grammes. Rafael Nadal timepiece has a baseplate attached to the case by four braided steel cables just 0.35 mm in diameter to protect the movement and to allow it to withstand accelerations of more than 5,000G.
This isn’t the first watch Richard Mille has produced for Nadal. But Spanish tennis player, one of the very few who wears a watch while playing, managed to ruin some of them while doing so. The first model, named the RM 27 had a chequered past, with the tennis player once leaving it behing in a locker room and once having it stolen from his hotel while he was sleeping. We’ll see whether he will have more luck with this new watch.
The RM 27-01, is currently available in a limited edition of 50 timepieces via official Richard Mille stockists
RM 27-01 Rafael Nadal
Richard Mille RM 27-01 Rafael Nadal Limited Edition Watch
The deal, which is the first of its kind for City, will see the exclusive Swiss watch manufacturer become the Club’s Official Timing Partner.
Richard Mille’s values of passion without compromise, belief in excellence, leadership and generation of talent is reflected in the brand’s previous partnerships with the world’s sporting elite, which include Rafael Nadal, Pablo Mac Donough, Bubba Watson, Felipe Massa, Jules Bianchi, Romain Dumas, Charles Leclerc, Adrien Tambay, Martin Brundle and his son Alex.
Commenting on the announcement, John Macbeath, Interim CEO of Manchester City, said: “We are extremely proud to form this relationship with Richard Mille, who shares our will to innovate and to push the boundaries in achieving our collective aims. This new partnership provides many exciting opportunities for collaboration through selected VIP events and a bespoke match-day box experience.”
Peter Harrison, CEO of Richard Mille Europe-Middle East-Africa said: “We are proud to announce our partnership with Manchester City whilst the Premier League Champions are celebrating such a significant moment in the history of the club. Manchester City’s commitment to excellence and innovation perfectly matches Richard Mille’s desire to create unique timepieces with a strong and inspiring identity. We look forward to long a successful partnership with Manchester City Football Club.”
As part of the brand’s commitment to local communities, Richard Mille has also offered to donate a unique timepiece to auction on behalf of the club’s charitable association ‘City in the Community’. The money raised will go towards improving the lives of local children, helping them to achieve their goals and exceed their potential through sport and education.
Roberto Mancini wears the Richard Mille RM 010 Automatic (credit: Sharon Latham, Manchester City Football Club)
Rafael Nadal’s Richard Mille RM027 Watch
The watch that Rafael Nadal wore while winning his seventh Monte Carlo Championship, the Richard Mille RM027 will be put up at the 2011 Only Watch charity auction. While most watch brands involved with the Only Watch auction have gone ahead and created piece uniques by virtue of design or technical prowess, Richard Mille has decided provenance is the ultimate luxury, and instead of spending time and money developing a one-off, has simply decided to give the world access to a champion’s watch.
The RM 027 Tourbillon is one of the world’s lightest mechanical tourbillon wristwatches, weighing just 20 grams. Several years of research and development went into creating this model, of which only 50 limited edition pieces were made. It is especially designed for Rafa to allow him total freedom of movement on the tennis court. The watch itself is actually a pre-production prototype model, one that was used for extensive testing before the run of limited edition pieces began. A couple of months ago, the company presented their new model RM 035, also known as the Rafael Nadal Chronofiable watch.
Richard Mille RM 035 Rafael Nadal Watch
After the RM 027, Richard Mille has now developed the RM 035, with a movement weighing just 4,3 grams. The RM 035 is the first Richard Mille watch Chronofiable certified, which represents a new milestone in the conquest for long lasting performance in extreme conditions.
The RM 035 case is made of an extremely rugged and light alloy called magnesium-aluminium. This alloy is composed of 90% magnesium and 8.9% aluminium. Magnesium has a density of 1,74 g/cm3, which means it is one of the lightest metals used for construction. It is water-resistant to 50 meters, ensured by two Nitril O-ring seals. Inside is a relatively simple manually wound movement with a lovely skeletonized design, caliber RMUL 1. The skeletonization process of the RM 035 movement took one year to finalize, as there could be no compromise in the movement’s strength or ability to withstand shocks under the rigors of Chronofiable certification.