Amalgamating athletic aesthetics with superfast timekeeping, we tell you why the Richard Mille M 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph is a genuine racing engine.
Time waits for no one. Acknowledging that it’s all about speed when it comes to accuracy in the timekeeping world, Richard Mille presents its aptly named high-frequency model, the RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph.
This highly complex sports timepiece that’s designed for everyday use fuses functionality with style, serving its purpose as well as athletic aesthetics. As highlighted by its name, the superfast masterpiece is a highly precise split-seconds chronograph, which also sets a Richard Mille history as the first automatic watch to come equipped with a function selector on the crown.
Taking five years of development and boasting over 600 components, the RM 65-01 is the most complex automatic chronograph timepiece to date. Fine-tuned for superior timekeeping, it features a new high frequency balance with variable inertia, 5 Hz or 36,000 vibrations per hour, and a newly designed variable geometry to optimise the rotor’s winding motion.
The genuine racing engine houses a patented rapid winding mechanism, a first at Richard Mille that was developed in addition to the automatic winding and winding with the crown, that allows the barrel to be rearmed in a moment’s notice should the watch stops. With this function, in instances where the watch has not been worn for a long time, it makes for a hassle-free and swift rearming. Activated by a push-button located at 8 o’clock, the barrel can be fully wound in 125 presses.
Complementing this rapid movement winding button is the aforementioned function selector on the crown. The latter is a new, enhance gearbox that allows the switching between ‘traditional’ winding (W), semi-instantaneous date adjustment (D) or setting the time (H), with a simple press of the crown.
Not lagging behind in the aesthetics department, the RM 65-01 sports an athletic look that captures attention while still remaining highly functional. In fact, its functions dictate the aesthetics, as demonstrated by its bold colours that correspond to each function.
On the sapphire dial, yellow is for time, hours, minutes, little second at 6 o’clock and numbers – limited to four. Green is for the date display, red for winding mechanism, while blue is for the split- seconds hand. Orange can be seen on the central hand and the chronograph’s 30-minute and 12-hour totalisers, indicating short time displays.
Visible through the watch’s base is its 6-column wheel architecture and vertical coupling, which function like a mechanical brain and provide unfailing consistency. Encased in a grade 5 titanium chassis supported by grade 5 titanium bridges, it maintains its 60-hour power reserve owing to the energy generated by its fast-rotating barrel, whose automatic winding also helps sustain the watch’s ideal torque while strapped on the wearer’s wrist.
(All images: Richard Mille)
This story first appeared in the August 2021 issue of Prestige Malaysia. Log into Magzter to read the latest issue for free.
