RM 70-01

Tourbillon Alain Prost

The pusher at 2 o’clock can select any of the five rollers linked to the odometer, whose readout is visible in a titanium window. Once a roller has been selected, pressing the pusher at 10 o’clock advances the roller by one. The only effort required of the user is to add the day’s distance to the previous total.

The mechanism itself, however, is much more complicated. The first pusher enables one of the five rollers to be selected. Execution is confirmed by the perfect alignment of two yellow arrows. The second pusher incrementally rotates the roller, which automatically blocks thanks to its carry mechanism. To avoid accidental manipulations, the complication has been fitted with a neutral position (N). A spring-lock ensures that the selection fork is lined up straight, with an arrow at 2 o’clock pointing to N providing visual confirmation that the mechanism is locked.

Equipped with a 70-hour power reserve visible at 5 o’clock thanks to an indicator powered by a planetary differential, this manual winding tourbillon calibre sports a baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium. The extreme rigidity of titanium enables the calibre to withstand the roughest of trails with ease. Nods to the realm of cycling abound, from the titanium Allen screws that fix the bridges, to the barrel ratchet, which recalls the design of forged wheel spokes, not to mention the tourbillon carriage and the dynamometric crown, which evokes a bicycle pedal.

The creation of any timepiece demands a fine balance between total volume, the physical requirements of the movement and its specific features. But user comfort is equally essential, and this was at the heart of the original tonneau shape developed by Richard Mille during the brand’s infancy. Regardless of whether a particular RM model is slim or solid, its shape ensures optimal comfort, never interfering with the owner’s physical movements. Form and function are addressed in yet another manner with the RM 70-01.

Machined from Carbon TPT®, the case of the RM 70-01 perfectly combines tonneau, rectangular and asymmetrical shapes. Both taut and curved, its unique lines not only ensure the greatest possible comfort on the wrist, but also optimised legibility when gripping a cycle’s handlebars. As always at Richard Mille, function dictates form.