Richard Mille Shows A Different Side With Its RM 72-01 Lifestyle In-House Chronograph
The brand’s first-ever in-house caliber was two-and-a-half years in the making
Richard Mille is not a brand that does things by halves and has gained a reputation for hardy watches that are firmly associated with the worlds of automobile racing, aviation and sports. But for its latest creation, the brand has taken a decidedly different approach, all the more to highlight the watch’s singular nature: The RM 72-01 is equipped with the CRMC1, an automatic skeletonised Flyback Chronograph with patented oscillating pinions, entirely developed in-house at the brand’s facilities in Les Breuleux, Switzerland. In other words, the watch features the brand’s first-ever in-house caliber that took two-and-a-half years in the making.
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To mark the momentous creation, Richard Mille turned to Friends of the Brand, choreographer Benjamin Millepied and composer Thomas Roussel for a campaign video, entitled Within, featuring two dancers filmed under the clear skies of California’s Joshua Tree National Park. While the artistic work did well to show a different facet to the adrenaline-ridden brand, it did even better to show how good the watch looks on both male and female wrists—an intentional move for a watch that boasts a sporty nature under a thoroughly elegant guise.
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The RM 72-01 campaign video, Within, was choreographed by Benjamin Millepied, with music by Thomas Roussel
Richard Mille RM 72-01 campaign film, Within
The RM 72-01 bears all the hallmarks of a Richard Mille timepiece—its signature tonneau-shaped case and prominent five-prong bezel screws are instantly identifiable with an admiring nod of the head—but with dimensions that are sleeker than its flyback chronograph brethren (it measures in at 38.40 x 47.34 x 11.68mm). Plus, its myriad of functions (for example hours, minutes, small seconds, date, flyback chronograph, function indicator and stop seconds) are all self-contained within a relatively clean and sophisticated dial. Did we mention the patented oscillating pinions that allows the watch to offer a power reserve of about 50 hours, regardless of how often the chronograph is activated?
Richard Mille may have made the world wait two decades before releasing its first in-house caliber. But now that it has, its intent on making it well worth the wait. After all, didn’t we say at the start that this is not a brand that does things by halves? Case in point.
Watch the campaign video, Within, here:
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