The story goes that when Richard Mille first approached Rafael Nadal in 2008 about collaborating on a timepiece, the athlete was initially dismissive. As someone who did not have the habit of wearing anything on his wrist, a watch seemed extraneous. A friend, thankfully, convinced Nadal to revisit the thought and a partnership was soon born.
The RM 27 Flying Tourbillon—the first timepiece to bear the tennis player’s name—was a marvel when it debuted on the 2010 competitive circuit. At just under 20 grams including the strap, it was the lightest watch in the world at the time. As for Nadal, that season is remembered as one of the greatest. The Mallorcan won seven titles and became the first male player in history to win Grand Slams on clay, grass and hard court surfaces.
The RM 27 represented a sea change watchmaking at Richard Mille. Never had the Swiss brand been pushed to its technical limits like this. Nadal had a simple stipulation, which was a lightweight design that would feel like nothing on the wrist. Behind the scenes, though, the brand had to conceptualise and develop a watch—typically full of delicate, tiny parts—that could withstand the superhuman accelerations and speeds of Nadal’s aggressive style of play.
The idea for the first-generation RM 27 was audacious: to suspend the calibre on steel cables at four points, almost as if it were a cable-stayed bridge, for a resistance of up to 5,000g of acceleration. For the second generation, the brand introduced Carbon TPT and Quartz TPT materials, which shaved off weight. In the third, mastery over its materials yielded a case in the red and yellow colours of Spain. In the fourth generation, another daring suspension idea: braided steel cables strung like a tennis racket that act as a baseplate.
Now, the brand is releasing the RM 27-05, the fifth and final model in this Rafael Nadal series. Think of it as a culmination of over a decade’s advances at Richard Mille. The case uses a new material, Carbon TPT B.4, that is denser, stiffer and stronger than any previous version. The calibre and its construction have also been rethought, incorporating breakthroughs in ultra-thin watchmaking at the brand. Instead of suspending or screwing the movement down, it is secured purely by the pressure of the flange, bezel and crystal pressing on it.
The concluding career high figures: a weight of just 11.5 grams without the strap; a calibre with a flying tourbillon complication weighing just 3.79 grams; a slender 7.2mm thickness; 55 hours of power reserve; 4,000 hours of development time; and a resistance to G-forces of a whopping 14,000. Now that’s a winner.
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