Style Edit: Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille shows its innovation with in-house movements, tourbillons and advanced chronographs that help keep the brand at the forefront of technical advances

Sep 27 , 2023

Richard Mille RM88 Smiley Tourbillon featuring the CRMT7 movement. Photos: Richard Mille

Richard Mille made its first in-house movement in 2012 with the CRMA1 in the RM 037 ladies’ automatic, while the newer lightweight CRMA7 and CRMA8 are used in sports watches

The RM 72-01 incorporates the CRMC1 flyback chronograph calibre while the CRMT5 and CRMT6 tourbillons feature in the RM 74-02 and RM 74-01 models

In a few short decades, Richard Mille has become known as the Swiss luxury watchmaker most likely to turn heads with its spectacular aesthetic achievements, consistently creating watches that display a daring commitment to innovation. But making timepieces that push back the boundaries of horological possibility also calls for unmatched technical expertise, and Richard Mille has equally become a master at the development of complicated in-house movements – which now power 60 per cent of the watches it makes.

Richard Mille RM 037 ladies’ automatic exhibition caseback, featuring the CRMA1 movement.

It began in 2012 with the CRMA1 movement, created to power the RM 037 ladies’ automatic. In skeletonised grade 5 titanium, it featured an oversized date at 12 o’clock and a function indicator at 4 o’clock. Two years later, the CRMA2 followed, at the heart of another ladies’ watch, the RM 07-01, and this time featuring a variable geometry rotor that protects its winding mechanism.

The RM 67-02 automatic winding extra flat sports watch weighs just 32 grams.

Richard Mille turned its hand to the art of lightweight design with the CRMA7: the RM 67-02 sports watch’s movement was created to be as thin and light as possible, combined with unmatched rigidity. The watchmaker’s sports credentials got a further boost with the CRMA8, an ultra-compact and resistant movement integrated into the case of the RM 07-04 Automatic Sport that made the watch into the perfect athletic partner.

Richard Mille RM 74-01 exhibition caseback, featuring the CRMT5 movement.

The tourbillon has long been among the most prized of horological complications, and here too Richard Mille has proved its expertise. CRMT5 and CRMT6, for example, are the pair of ultra skeletonised movements inside the RM 74-02 and RM 74-01 Automatic Tourbillons respectively. On the RM 88 Smiley, meanwhile, the CRMT7 powers a tourbillon that sits on the dial, amid a smiley face and other symbols of good cheer.

Richard Mille’s CRMC1 flyback chronograph movement.

With the RM 72-01, advanced chronographs were also added to Richard Mille’s list of achievements. Its CRMC1 flyback chronograph calibre showcased a function indicator and a stop-seconds mechanism, along a with bidirectional automatic winding function.

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