SIHH 2014: Richard Mille - RM 35-01 Rafael Nadal

0 0 Tuesday, 28 January 2014 Edit this post

The Richard Mille watch dedicated to the Spanish tennis champion Rafael Nadal keeps evolving.

With the new RM 35-01, Richard Mille combined the RMUL3 movement in grade 5 titanium with a new case created using NTPT carbon, a highly resistance and light material used for racing yachts, F1 car chassis and in aeronautics.

The surface of NTPT carbon displays extremely regular undulations, as this material is composed of multiple layers of parallel filaments obtained by dividing carbon fibers. These layers, with a maximum thickness of 30 microns, are impregnated with resin then woven on a special machine that modifies the direction of the weft by 45° between layers, resulting in a high quality wood appearance.

Heated to 120°C at a pressure of 6 bars, is then processed on a CNC machine in Richard Mille’s Proart case factory. NTPT stands for North Thin Ply Technology, the name of the Swiss company who developed this technology which improves the mechanical properties of composite materials by significantly reducing the rate of occurrence of breaking stresses and micro-cracks.

The skeletonised manual winding calibre RMUL3, weighing just 4 grams, offers exceptional resistance to impacts and shocks thanks to the particular construction architecture. Made in grade 5 titanium with black PVD surface treatment, this calibre surpassed severe tests including shocks exceeding 5000 G (to read about typical examples of G-force acceleration, click here).

Beating at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations per hour) and offering a power reserve of 55 hours thanks to the double barrel system, the RMUL3 calibre features a free sprung balance with variable inertia which guarantees better chronometric results.

The case of the RM35-01 is assembled with 20 spline screws in titanium and is water resistant to 50 metres. Dimensions are: 50mm x 42mm x 14mm.