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RM 006: Richard Mille's first wrist car

If Richard Mille articulated his early innovative and avant-garde watchmaking philosophy with the RM001 and RM002, it was with the RM006 that he fleshed out his watchmaking vision in the language of high-performance racing. Not a single gram of precious metal was used; instead, Mille relied on cutting-edge technology and new materials to achieve a minimalist movement, titanium case and carbon nanofiber baseplate. This is the Formula 1 philosophy and technology of Haute Horlogerie.high quality replica watches

By the time the RM006 was introduced in 2004, carbon fiber had already been used in the manufacture of Formula 1 cars. Using this material, engineers can achieve extremely light weight and structural strength at the same time, increasing speed while reducing fuel consumption. A modern Formula 1 car is a racing car in its purest form - its sculptural form and performance serve only one purpose, that of racing - and it is a purity of form and function that has been elevated to the realm of art, as seen See the Ferrari F1 car on display at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mille firmly believes that this lightness and structural integrity will bring a new form of Haute Horlogerie to the watch. The value of a watch is not determined by the precious metal or jewelry contained in the watch, but by the materials and the inner workings of the watch's manufacturing process. His first attempt at this interpretation of Haute Horlogerie was the RM006. Richard's limited-edition tourbillon (only 25 pieces were made) is not only made of any material other than precious metals, but this watch will be truly tested in the most convincing conditions. The watch was worn by Felipe Massa, a young Brazilian Formula 1 driver who was just beginning to make a name for himself in the sport. In a new approach to watch brand ambassadors, the requirement is for Massa to wear the watch while racing.

The idea was to see how the watch behaves and reacts when subjected to G-forces from the racing car and shocks from the surfaces inside the cockpit of the car. Felipe Massa challenged Mille to make a watch so lightweight that he wouldn't feel it on his wrist while driving. In the extreme driving of a Formula 1 car, Massa can feel every imbalance in the car: including the watch on his wrist. That's why he asked Miller for a watch that wouldn't go unnoticed, and with it on, his left and right hands felt exactly the same on the steering wheel.

The watch and driver outperformed expectations as a testament to Miller's confidence in both. Not only did the watch perform brilliantly, but it survived (luckily, with the driver) a horrific crash (during practice sessions at the Canadian Grand Prix) and endured G-forces beyond the usual testing conditions than one would think tolerance range. Mechanical watch. In short, Miller created a watch with a number of firsts: the first watch not only assigned to racers, but also worn under racing conditions. Made with metals and materials at the cutting edge of science, this watch is particularly relevant to the engineering and construction of Formula 1 racing.replica Carl F. Bucherer Watches

The watch was released in limited quantities and the price was just the cost of bringing the watch to market: research and development, manufacturing costs and return on capital. Mille then uses the same marketing techniques most high-end car manufacturers do and offers the watch (first) to existing owners of Richard Mille watches. Mille has created the first sports watch of its kind: a watch made of the same materials, using similar technology, that can be worn during intense competition and survive in all conditions. This is a model of the extreme performance sports or tourbillon watch he will produce in the coming years.


Torch Conference
The RM006 caused a stir when it was released, and even to this day. How can such a watch (made of non-precious materials) be priced so high? Missed it then, and maybe missed it now (not just the RM006, but all Richard Mille high-end tourbillon watches) is a cutting edge aspect of the watch that may be used by other watchmakers over time. Every aspect of the watch adopts the same material. What is often overlooked with Richard Mille watches is that being number one requires not only the thinking and realization of an idea, but also a significant investment. This was especially true for small companies like Richard Mille SA (especially in the early 2000s). The level of investment is so great that in fact, even a project has not been realized.

Using a metal that has been around for over 200 years, named after the Titan in Greek mythology, Mille chose a grade of titanium that gives the case shape a certain malleability. Where this watch has gained widespread recognition (and now legendary status), however, is the use of a material well-known to the automotive and space technology worlds, but in a new form of craftsmanship: carbon. Mille's carbon baseplates will shape many developments in the world of haute horology over the next decade, with carbon becoming synonymous with almost everything advanced in watchmaking.

The RM006 is the first time a watch is equipped with a carbon nanofiber baseplate. While the use of carbon may have become more common since then, Richard Mille is still the only manufacturer to use a carbon fiber soleplate. The technology needed to make carbon nanofiber baseplates that meet the required standards belongs to the same company that makes the space shuttle brakes.Richard Mille RM 11-04 Automatic Flyback Roberto Mancini

Metal from the Gods: Titanium
While many watch manufacturers now use titanium in some form or form in their cases or moving parts, Mille was the first to really consider titanium grades and used it as the baseplate for the latter RM001 and earlier RM002.

Two of titanium's most useful properties are its corrosion resistance and the highest strength-to-weight ratio of any metal. In its unalloyed state, titanium is as strong as some steels but 45% lighter. However, titanium in elemental form is brittle and unsuitable for industrial use. To be usable, titanium needs to be alloyed to improve other properties, such as stiffness.

In fact, there are currently 38 grades of titanium. Grading depends on the type of titanium alloy created and the intended end use of the alloy. Therefore, there is no overall grading system where one scale determines the rigidity or toughness or toughness of titanium. Every time a new titanium needs to be created, a new grade is created.

Grade 9 titanium and grade 38 tend to be the commercially used variants. While both have a similar mixture of aluminum and vanadium in the alloy, grade 38 contains iron, which improves cold working of the metal (such as machine cutting). Some grades of titanium are now redundant as they have been replaced by other grades. Mille chose a grade of 5N, not only for the case, but also for other elements in the watch and movement, such as screws and bridges.

5N grade titanium is much stronger than commercially pure titanium while maintaining the same stiffness and thermal properties. Among its many advantages, Grade 5N is heat treatable and offers an excellent combination of strength, corrosion resistance, weldability, and the ability of CNC machines to cut metal into complex shapes. Because of these properties, it was widely used in aerospace and automotive frames, engine components, but also in the marine, offshore and power generation industries (because of the strength of the material) until Mille came along and started using it for watch cases (which required three a separate but precision machined part). replica watch Review

Miracle Material: Carbon
Given Mille's goals, carbon fiber was a natural choice to incorporate into a performance watch. He appreciates the material's isomorphic properties: carbon is heat-resistant, cold-resistant and doesn't warp. So this is ideal - if a process can be found to make carbon substrates that meet the necessary standards.

The process of making carbon nanofibers is a known one: it involves taking carbon chains and compressing the carbon into a solid form at a certain temperature. This material has been used in transportation for some time (not only in cars, but also in planes and trains). Carbon nanofibers were previously used in space shuttle brake pads (among other applications), and Frederic Garinaud, a young aeronautical engineer who later trained in watchmaking, discovered a way to make carbon nanofiber baseplates. company. Even today, ten years later, only one company (based in California, USA) produces carbon nanofibers that meet the required standards. Garinaud's knowledge of esoteric space age material (not just on RM006,

Even when Richard Mille, Dominique Guernat and Fabrice Deschanel were developing the first RM001, Mille wanted to use carbon for the baseplate and perhaps other components of the watch. The first problem that Mille, Deschanel and Giulio Papi had to solve was the dust problem! Drilling and machining non-metallic hardened materials can have unknown effects when used in new environments such as watchmaking. That wouldn't be a problem if the carbon nanofibers produced dust when they helped the space shuttle slow down as part of its braking system. But dust inside the case can have disastrous effects. The main concern is, when processed to the desired state, will the resulting compressed carbon still produce dust like concrete? Carbon fiber, as the name suggests, is a fibrous material in its original state, and fibrous materials such as asbestos cloth will generate dust (if it is asbestos, it is toxic). The second issue that must be overcome is duration: what are the long-term properties of the material? Jacob & Co. Astronomia Casino AT160.40.AB.AB.B

For the first problem, after a lot of testing it turns out that dust is not a problem. In fact, the compressed carbon fibers are so dense and strong that the CNC machines used to drill and machine the "blanks" of carbon nanofibers into the desired shape are not up to the task. A 1998 NASA report on molecular nanotechnology applications stated that carbon nanofibers are one of "...lightweight materials...100 times stronger than steel." Therefore, when it comes to drilling and machining, the usual drilling and machining bits are not strong enough and wear out even before the task is completed. The problem isn't the dust. This is the extreme structural strength and rigidity that Miller wanted in a watch.

That leaves a second question: the durability of the material over a long period of time. What if, after ten years, the material has deteriorated and the movement is no longer fixed inside the watch? While the longevity of brass (which is a common material for watch baseplates) is well known, no one knows how carbon nanofibers persist over time. What will the material look like in a hundred or two hundred years? It was the need to ensure that the material did not degrade over time, which ultimately led to the choice of carbon nanofiber manufacturers. The demands and forces of space shuttle braking are enormous: extreme temperature changes and friction. But carbon nanofiber brake pads only need to last a relatively short period of time before they wear out, whereas watch bottom plates need to be stable for a long time. Giulio Papi told me they solved this problem using a company in the US that uses ultrasound to simulate the passage and decay of time.

What ultrasound does is turn months into seconds and years into minutes. Ultrasound is often used in industrial processes to find defects in materials as it heats and stresses at weak points. If the nanofibrous carbon is structurally incomplete, ultrasound will soon find this out. In tests, ultrasound turned one of various carbon nanofiber sheets from different manufacturing companies into a black puddle. At that time only one supplier could produce carbon nanofibers to the required standard; to this day, the same manufacturer continues to supply Richard Mille SA. replica Harry Winston Ocean watches

Movement design
To further reduce weight, the structure of the tourbillon movement has been redesigned. Gone is the reliance on the plates that supported the movement's drivetrain. Instead, the movement is built on a carbon nanofiber baseplate using various “pillars” that hold the winding barrel, transmission and tourbillon escapement. The part that holds the movement to the base plate is screwed into a special sleeve that has been glued to the carbon nanofiber base plate. Because of the way carbon works with metals, gluing is a necessity. Despite the stiffness of carbon nanofibers, when the screw is attached to the material, it acts like sand: the screw cannot hold in the base plate. Therefore, glue is applied to the sleeves and installed in the base plate. The screws can be attached to the sleeves inside the carbon nanofibers. Again, the technology was borrowed from the space shuttle. The glue that holds the heat-resistant tiles to the space shuttle also holds the metal sleeves to the RM006 base plate. The same glue is used in the manufacture of modern Formula 1 cars. The weight of the watch is only 42 grams.

future classic
The RM006 has become rare and may prove to be the rarest of the Richard Mille tourbillons on the used market. Now accepted as an (almost) common material in high-end watches from other manufacturers, it was rare at the time when the RM006 debuted. None of the 25 RM006s were sold at auction, and they rarely end up on collectors' wrists. In a watch designed for Sports Ambassadors, the idea, the concept and the execution of the idea are very new. While the RM006 will be further developed into the RM009, the concept is already present in early watches. As with any experimental race car that introduces a new technology or material, the future tends to see them as avant-garde. In this regard, the RM006 is undoubtedly a future classic. Replica U-Boat Watches