RM 58-01 World Timer Jean Todt

Jean Todt, President of the FIA, is a man in great demand, traveling thousands of kilometers around the globe every year for official events and conferences. Richard Mille conceived a timepiece offering extreme travellers like Jean Todt an easy and useful method for keeping track of travel through time zones .

 

This manually winding movement has hours, minutes and a 10-day power reserve shown on an indicator at 2 o’clock. The caliber RM58-01, 34mm in diameter, is supported on a baseplate of grade 5 titanium, a material also utilized for the bridges. The tourbillon, positioned at 9 o’clock and oscillating at a frequency of 3Hz, is accommodated in a four-part case made from titanium and red gold. The shot-blasted, satin-brushed and polished rotating bezel bears the names of 24 world cities, symbols of the international 24 time zones on its brown upper flange.

Behind this apparent simplicity hides a technical mechanism of great complexity. The RM 58-01 does not need any adjusting push-piece to change from one time zone to another. The time is set by simply rotating the bezel anticlockwise, making adjustment a quicker operation. All the traveller needs to do is position the name of the city where he or she has just landed at 12 o’clock, which automatically sets local time and the time in the other 23 world cities thanks to the 24-hour scale engraved on the flange. The black and white disc distinguishes day from night for the user automatically, so there is no possibility of confusion.

 

This innovation is the outcome of many hours of work by Richard Mille’s movement and case engineers, who managed the feat of linking the bezel and movement with a special gear train for perfect interaction, while ensuring that the whole timepiece remains perfectly water-resistant.