And seven. For the seventh time in ten years, Richard Mille has created a watch entirely dedicated to Rafael Nadal. The king of clay is entitled to an even more extreme, even more technical and above all, even more tennisinspired model than the previous ones. Until now, their stated objective was lightness, resulting in a series of records. Here, thanks to a movement pared down to a minimum and a case made of TitaCarb, a new carbon composite, Richard Mille lands an ace on the 30-gram service line. Yet the second less well-known and less visible objective has always been shock resistance. The idea of Richard Mille watches dedicated to athletes is that they wear them during competitions, which serve as a test – one might even say a crash test This led to the RM 27-01 and the idea of suspending a movement from cables inside the case. In the RM 27-04, the cables serve as a steel string mesh and the movement is attached inside this ‘racket’ by means of an ingenious mechanism of tensioners. Like shock absorbers, these cables help to make the watch resistant to accelerations of 12,000 Gs. This is truly mind-boggling because the 27-03 was capped at an already staggering 10,000 Gs. And all this without even mentioning the look of the 27-04, every bit powerful and devastating as the Mallorcan’s legendary lift.
Richard Mille RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal
Case: TitaCarb, transparent sapphire crystal and caseback, water-resistant to 30m (3 bar)
Size: 38.40 x 47.25 x 11.40mm
Movement: titanium, mechanical manually wound Caliber RM27-04 with a 38h power reserve, suspended in a steel mesh structure Functions: hours, minutes, tourbillon
Dial: titanium and carbon flange
Strap: canvas with Velcro fastening
50-piece limited series
