Richard Mille is a brand renowned for its bold and technical approach to watchmaking, often using complex complications and hi-tech materials to create timepieces that grace the wrists of numerous sporting legends, from the likes of Formula One racers Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso to tennis legend Rafael Nadal.
Its ladies’ watches are no slouch either – recent years have seen it launch the RM 71-01, a ladies’ watch housing the brand’s first automatic tourbillon movement, as well as the Bonbon collection, a candy-inspired collection that was a veritable feast for the eyes.
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Its latest launch, the RM 07-01 Coloured Ceramics collection, continues down the same pastel-hued path trodden by the Bonbon collection, with brightly coloured cases constructed out of Richard Mille’s signature technically advanced ceramics. More significantly, however, this collection also marks Richard Mille’s first foray into a very traditional aspect of watchmaking – guilloche.
Fans of horology will be familiar with the art of guillochage, a form of traditional decoration consisting of intricate lines that repeat and run parallel with each other to form a regular graphic pattern that beautifully catches the light. It was first used in the 16th century. Guillocheurs, the artisans who practice the craft, cut each line by hand using a lathe, and must train for years – even decades – to master it.
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As a resolutely modern brand, however, Richard Mille has always taken pleasure in bucking tradition, which is why it has chosen to interpret guillochage in its own contemporary way. In the new RM 07-01 collection, the decoration on the centre of the dials has the intricate lines criss-crossing and intersecting each other in a striking pattern, rather than repeating at regular intervals.
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What’s more, the guilloche portion of the dials – created from rhodium-plated red gold – are truncated by other dial segments made from brightly coloured ceramic and rubber. The contrast between the sophisticated sheen of the guilloche and the solid colour of the other segments is delightfully irreverent, giving an overall sense of energy and contemporary aesthetics.
The Coloured Ceramics collection comprises three timepieces – the RM 07-01 Pastel Blue, RM 07-01 Pastel Pink and RM 07-01 Pastel Lavender – each paired with a rubber strap in a contrasting hue. The watch cases are made from TZP ceramic, which is light, hypoallergenic and virtually scratch-proof.
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Such bright-hued ceramics are extremely difficult to create without flaws, making Richard Mille’s irreverent new creations all the more technically impressive. Each watch houses the in-house calibre CRMA2, and is limited to just 50 pieces worldwide.
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