The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
The world of collabs can be suspect at best, which is why this story about a new Richard Mille watch — the new RM 43-01 Ferrari Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph — needs to start with a conversation about cars. Not just any cars mind you, the ultimate sports car, the most storied, lauded, fawned over, coveted and, at times, over-hyped cars ever: Ferraris.
If there’s one thing you need to know about Ferrari is that it only exists because Enzo Ferrari wanted to go racing and he needed money to do it, so he built and sold cars. The second thing you need to know about Ferrari is that, despite now being a luxury lifestyle brand, they are still the only car company that can legitimately lay claim to transferring F1-developed technologies to road car. Yes, I know there are other’s that claim this, but Ferrari has done it thoroughly for decades and from the Manetino drive mode selector, to the first automated-manual, to Side Slip Control (drifting), to aero and materials and hybrids there’s no car manufacturer that has both developed so many racing innovations and adapted them to their road cars. None.
So, what does this have to do with watches? And how does a 25-year-old watch brand find itself aligned with a nearly 90-year-old automotive, technology and design legend like Ferrari. Shared values, that’s how. Both brands take a no-sacred-cows approach to design and engineering. They’ve both eschewed the binds of their legacy (in the case of the Ferrari) and the expectations of their industry (RM). They both pursue the best or nothing. They both have pissed plenty of people off over the years, but those are people who don’t share their most exalted value, that or pursuing the new, the future and doing so without compromise.
At an exclusive preview in Paris, Richard Mille took us through a detailed, immersive, and convincing presentation and display of the partnership and the deep exchange of ideas that took place between this renegade watch brand and the world’s most revered car maker. Perhaps most remarkable is that this wasn’t a one-way street but a true collaboration between partners that consider each other equals. It wasn’t a licensing deal but a meeting of the minds, and that’s not how most collabs work.
In fact, in speaking with the Ferrari engineers on hand they were very interested in the abilities of RM. The incredible precision, micro manufacturing and finishing that a fine Swiss watchmaker is capable of, and how these learnings might be applied to future Ferraris. Let that sink in for a second, think of the level of respect and open-mindedness for Ferrari to not only admit to learning something from a small relatively new brand but to welcome and encourage this ongoing exchange of ideas. Rather incredible.
It’s fair to say that this respect is well-earned. Though a much younger company, Richard Mille set the bar early with its bold and boundary-pushing feats of engineering. Richard (the man) had a vision of watchmaking that drew vision and ethos from motorsport and aerospace, and he found a partner in long-time friend Dominique Guenat, who had been running his family-owned company specializing in manufacturing luxury watch components. Through connections with renowned high complication manufacturers Renaud & Papi, the brand Immediately caught the attention of the watch collecting community at large.
And what of the Richard Mille 43-01 Ferrari Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph? Presumably, if you’re at all interested in this type of timepiece you know what those words mean and what an impressive complication this is. Of course, this is a manufacture movement and unique to RM and the fascinating complexity of its presentation, bridgework and skeletonization is unique in the industry. Three years of development resulted in this intricate and delicate movement having a robust 70 hours of power reserve despite its complications thanks to efficient power management, another interesting industry cross-over. Though nobody present suggested it, to our eyes the structure of the RM resembles the thin tubular structures of Enzo’s race cars from so many years ago.
The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
The RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari: A Collaboration Unlike Any Other
Like modern Ferrari’s, however, there is the option to go heavy on the carbon. In this case it’s a choice between one of 75 micro-blasted titanium examples, or one of 75 in Carbon TPT. The latter was a rather daunting material technology and engineering challenge but, in the end, result is undeniably beautiful in its technicality and audaciousness. It’s also so incredibly light and wearable that you’d easily forget it’s on your wrist. This is the brand after all that built a watch wearable and tough enough for Nadal to play tennis in.
This combination of hyper-light materials and movement skeletonization can often give the impression of inherent delicacy, yet that couldn’t be further from the truth. A watch being able to survive on a tennis court is good, but real-world scenarios (for better or worse) have proven how truly robust Richard Mille’s watches can be. Former F1 driver Romain Grosjean had the misfortune of putting his RM 011 Red Quartz TPT to the test during the opening lap of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix, where a fiery crash subjected the driver (and his watch) to a peak force of 67 Gs, and left Grosjean engulfed in flames for 27 seconds. He managed to walk away with only minor injuries, and is RM 011 also survived needing little more than a cleaning. All of the brands are built with the same broad principles of durability in mind, thus the new 43-01 would also show the same resilience. We just hope, for everyone’s sake, that it never has to prove it.
Back to the watch at hand, the aesthetic drama of the 43-01 Ferrari is inspired by the angular exterior details of cars like the 488 Challenge EVO, the Daytona SP3 and the SF90 Stradale, which inform elements of the case styling, pushers and indices. As with the tachometer that dominates a modern Ferrari dashboard, the skeletonized 30-minute totalizer stands out in the dial as the dramatic, three-dimensional lynchpin of the chassis layout.
Also, like Ferrari, these RMs are sought after by serious collectors with deep resources. The titanium RM 43-01 Ferrari is available for $1.3m USD and the carbon version for $1.535m USD and, again like famed Italian prancing horses, that’s if you can get one.
