A favorite among collectors, Richard Mille’s limited-edition timepieces never fail to inspire amazement across the global horological community. The new RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, an evolution of the celebrated RM 027 series, marks 14 years of horological innovation and ongoing development. In the world of lightweight, high-performance technical watches, the RM 27-05 is, quite understandably, in a class of its own.
Advanced Lightness
Since the inception of the RM 027 Tourbillon in 2010, timepieces in the RM 027 Nadal collection have always been defined by their synthesis of technical mastery, mechanical robustness, and, in particular, lightness. The latter quality forms the very foundation of the watchmaker’s collaboration with Rafael Nadal.
“My main condition for wearing a watch during competition was lightness; I didn’t want to feel it on my wrist,” said Rafael Nadal when he met Richard Mille in 2008. Two years later, the now-legendary RM 027 Tourbillon was presented to the Spanish star.
Guided by these original principles, Richard Mille’s engineers understood that an even lighter, stronger material would be required to merit a new creation worthy of the range. If such a material could not be found in nature, then it needed to be created by the best scientists using the most advanced technologies. This was how Carbon TPT® B.4 was born.
This advanced carbon composite is the result of a five-year collaboration between Richard Mille and Swiss partner North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT). Carbon TPT® B.4 boasts a 4% increase in density while delivering a 15% increase in stiffness and 30% increase in strength, compared to its predecessor Carbon TPT®. The material has a distinctive, visually striking pattern, thanks to a fabrication process where the composite is woven in stacks at a 70-degree orientation between layers. Crucial for the designers at Richard Mille, Carbon TPT® B.4 offered the possibility of creating a watch case that would be thinner, lighter and significantly stronger.
“The RM 027 collection’s most emblematic technical feature is indisputably its weight,” says Yves Mathys, Director at Richard Mille. “A new, significantly stiffer carbon, developed in collaboration with NTPT™, played a key role in achieving our goal.”
The project was never simply about substituting one material for another. Carbon TPT® B.4 opened a new world of possibilities—one that mandated a reevaluation of not just the case but the movement.
“For the RM 27-05, form follows function,” says Alexandre Mille, Commercial Director at Richard Mille. “The creation of its caliber is linked to an objective. The same applies to its case.”
The idea of innovating a much thinner casing was first proposed by Julien Boillat, Richard Mille’s Technical Director for Casings. “We took the same approach: a stubborn determination to save every last fraction of a gram,” says Boillat. “There are no screws holding the movement and case together.
The entire mechanism sits inside the monobloc caseback, topped by the flange and followed by the bezel and crystal.”
At 7.20 mm thin and weighing 11.5 grams, the RM 27-05 is slimmer and lighter than its predecessor and is distinguishable by an X-shaped ridge on the caseback.
Revolutionized, Refined, Perfected
The advances in case design opened up possibilities for a new movement. In keeping with tradition, the RM 27-05 would incorporate a flying tourbillon oscillating at 3 Hz. However, this presented a challenge: how would such a complex mechanism fit into the slimmer dimensions enabled by Carbon TPT® B.4? Was this even feasible?
Here, the engineers were fortunate that they were able to draw on in-house expertise. Watch afficionados would know that Richard Mille recently finalized the development of its record-breaking ultra-flat RM UP-01 Ferrari watch. The engine from this 1.75-mm thin watch, the engineers surmised, would form the perfect base for the RM 27-05.
Building on this, the team developed a tourbillon movement measuring a mere 3.75 mm thick and weighing 3.79 grams while offering a 55-hour power reserve.
“Thanks to a base fitted with ball bearings, the tourbillon retains its performance while making it possible to do away with a bridge,” says Salvador Arbona, Technical Director for Movements at Richard Mille. “Making the barrel fly likewise fit with our need for lightness. Its extreme thinness, less than 0.72 mm thick, helped us to develop an extra-flat caliber with volume. The barrel was thus pressed into service of this singular aesthetic.”
The RM 27-05 also features a skeletonized, PVD-treated titanium baseplate and bridges made of Grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT®.
Handcrafted Resilience
It should come as no surprise that the intricate and detailed craftsmanship needed to turn the RM 27-05 from imagination into reality is the culmination of over 4,000 hours of human labor and ingenuity operating at the highest level. Some 2,000 hours alone were spent on the case.
A large portion of development hours also went into testing—from finite element simulations to tomography and impact tests. Built to withstand g-forces exceeding 14,000, the RM 27-05 embodies world-class athleticism at its core.
“I officially wore the RM 027 Tourbillon watch for the first time during the 2010 French Open. That year, I won three Grand Slam tournaments in a row: the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,” says Nadal. “Since then, Richard Mille watches have become an essential part of my equipment, to the point that I feel strange if I’m not wearing one.”
More than a meeting of minds, the RM 27-05 is a celebration of deep, personal connections forged across time. “What truly binds us is the human side,” says Alexandre Mille, “the strength of our friendship with Rafa. The RM 27-05 is a testament to both this long friendship and our shared enjoyment. After all the time we’ve spent together, we’re looking forward to continuing our exchanges for many years to come.”
The RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal is available in a limited run of 80 units. For more information on the RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, visit
www.richardmille.com