It’s an oft-repeated story that has become part of the high-performance, alpha-male mythos surrounding the Richard Mille brand, but it remains impressive even when you hear it for the nth time.
In 2009, F1 star Felipe Massa was wearing the RM 006 tourbillon watch when he suffered a high-speed, near-fatal crash at the Hungarian Grand Prix – the watch emerged still keeping good time, apparently largely due to its sturdy movement base plate, crafted from carbon nano fibres. The brand’s latest partner in motorsports is the McLaren-Honda team, a planned 10-year collaboration that has already spawned its first timekeeping marvel. Launched earlier this year and spotted on the wrist of team drivers such as Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne (pictured), the RM 50-03 McLaren F1 set a new record as the world’s lightest split-seconds chronograph, with a weight of 40g. Its subtly patterned case is made from an improved version of Carbon TPT that contains the new material Graph TPT or graphene, a nano-material six times lighter than steel but 200 times stronger.
Taking inspiration from the wishbone suspension structure of a McLaren-Honda F1 car, the movement of the RM 50-03 is supported by a transverse cage made from Carbon TPT. This cage is affixed to the case band directly, instead of being held in place by a casing ring – a feature we are told allows it to withstand shocks of up to 5,000g’s during testing.
