A crown that operates without being pulled. A chronograph whose stopwatch function has little impact on the watch’s power reserve. Each of these advances emerged from a willingness to examine an established way of doing things and ask if things could be done better.
But imagining a different solution is only the beginning. Greater control over movement architecture would give Richard Mille added scope to turn ideas into working mechanisms. Developing its own movements would allow the intent behind each watch to find its purest mechanical expression.
Freedom to Imagine, Space to Innovate
For Richard Mille, that control means deciding how a mechanism should be built, down to the relationships between its components. The first step toward that ambition came with the CRMA1 caliber for the RM 037—the first movement developed entirely in-house and the foundation of a new capability for the brand.
With that capability came the freedom to reconsider even the most familiar mechanisms within a watch. Among them was the connection between the crown and the movement. In a conventional arrangement, the stem connecting the crown to the movement is an inherent point of vulnerability, capable of transmitting external shocks to the gear train. For the RM 037, Richard Mille developed an alternative architecture that secures the crown so that it is virtually impossible to dislodge while protecting the movement from forces transmitted through the crown.
The RM 037 Ladies, introduced in 2014, carries this architecture into a feminine interpretation of the original unisex watch. Rather than requiring the crown to be drawn out to select different functions, Richard Mille transferred function selection to a dedicated pusher on the lower-right side of the case. This lets the wearer choose between winding, neutral and time-setting, with a small window confirming the selected mode. Another pusher on the upper-left adjusts the date.
The architecture of the movement is as visual as it is mechanical. An open titanium baseplate and bridges expose the mechanics beneath the dial while polished, brushed and matte finishes accentuate the shapes and layers of its construction. The movement’s structure becomes part of the watch’s design, demonstrating what greater control over movement development makes possible.
Extraordinary Complexity, Everyday Reliability
As Richard Mille’s expertise deepened, so did the scale of its ambitions. The RM 037 had demonstrated the possibilities opened by greater control over movement architecture. The RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph presented a different challenge: bringing hundreds of interacting components together in a complex automatic chronograph designed for everyday use. Housed in Carbon TPT, this breathtaking watch comprises more than 600 components.
To translate that vision into a working timepiece, Richard Mille drew on its longstanding relationship with Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier, a specialist in movement construction. Together, they developed the RMAC4 caliber, the automatic movement at the heart of the RM 65-01. This undertaking would span some five years, challenging both teams to make a split-seconds chronograph that is both dependable and practical.
Much of that complexity lies in the split-seconds mechanism, which allows the wearer to record an intermediate time without stopping the chronograph. One seconds hand pauses for the reading while the other continues timing the event; the paused hand can then catch up, ready for another measurement. The chronograph can measure intervals to one-tenth of a second.
Integrating automatic winding with the split-seconds chronograph allows wrist motion to replenish the watch’s energy. The winding system can be adjusted to suit the wearer’s activity level, optimizing its performance in everyday use.
Richard Mille also developed a rapid-winding mechanism that lets the wearer wind the watch by repeatedly pressing a dedicated pusher. This offers a way to energize the watch without turning the crown or relying on wrist movement. Behind the simplicity of a button press lies a formidable engineering challenge: harnessing each press to wind the movement while ensuring the mechanism can withstand the same forces time and again.
To validate its reliability, the watch underwent shock and drop simulations, water-resistance and magnetic-field testing, and accelerated aging equivalent to 10 years of operation across its functions. The rapid-winding mechanism alone was activated thousands of times during tests.
Rewriting the Rules of Elapsed Time
For Richard Mille, mastering mechanical complexity would open up a greater possibility: rethinking how a chronograph could work. That pursuit found expression in the RM 72-01, powered by the brand’s first entirely in-house chronograph movement. This proprietary architecture would address a fundamental challenge: enabling a stopwatch to run for extended periods without significantly diminishing its power reserve.
In a conventional arrangement, a chronograph’s seconds mechanism also drives its minute counter, drawing energy as each minute advances. Richard Mille set out to reexamine that relationship and devise its own solution.
In the resulting CRMC1 caliber, a proprietary double oscillating-pinion mechanism allows the chronograph’s minute and hour counters to draw power without relying on its seconds wheel. The power reserve remains approximately 50 hours whether or not the stopwatch is running.
The advances extend beyond energy efficiency. Developed over more than 30 months at Richard Mille’s workshop in Les Breuleux, the CRMC1 brings 425 components together within a movement just 6.05 millimeters thick. The double oscillating-pinion mechanism is thinner than a vertical clutch, which helps keep the movement slim.
Deepening Mastery, Limitless Possibility
For Richard Mille, watchmaking convention is often a starting point for inquiry. When another approach can better serve the watch, established mechanisms demand reconsideration rather than deference. As the brand’s capabilities have expanded, so has its ability to act on that conviction.
Each advance has given Richard Mille deeper mastery of its mechanical capabilities and greater scope to take challenges further. Engineering, materials, architecture and functionality come together to turn ambitious ideas into working mechanisms designed to be worn and used. This approach to movement development, and the freedom it creates to imagine new possibilities, now lies at the heart of what modern high watchmaking means to Richard Mille.