Richard Mille have taken time to release three new watches celebrating the work and passion of Jean Todt in the motorsport industry. 50 years of automotive passion in hand with 50 years down an exceptional career path. At the 2016 Chantilly Art & Elegance event, Richard Mille release these stunning timepieces in honour of a man who continues to write some of the greatest pages in motorsport. As a close friend of Richard Mille, the three watches bear the name ‘Jean Todt’ and are decorated Todt’s favourite colours. Today we examine the Richard Mille RM 056 ‘Jean Todt 50th Anniversary’.
One thing that really stands out with this watch is the fact that the entire case – front bezel, caseband and back bezel – are cut and milled from solid blocks of sapphire crystal. In order to reveal and showcase the horological architecture of this watch, it was only natural for Richard Mille to join the transparent sapphire crystal route – after all many of the top Swiss manufactures have increasingly seen an uptake in the amount of interest in full sapphire crystal watches, and they look super cool.
Richard Mille RM056 Jean Todt Sapphire Case
The production of the sapphire structure took many years of research, development and testing in order to ensure the watch was durable yet comfortable at the same time. After all wearing a $1 million watch on the tennis court or polo field seems to be the style of Richard Mille – bold yet brazen. At least you can take some comfort from the fact that Sapphire is known as a particularly scratch-resistant material with a hardness of 1,800 Vickers – almost 10x harder than steel. The sapphire is made of aluminium oxide (AI203) crystals and is transparent thanks to the molecular composition of this material. Due to this composition of this material, machining it to a suitable quality is an absolutely colossal task, with Richard Mille admitting that a few sapphire cases didn’t make the cut, due to the stringent quality controls at the manufacture. Nonetheless, the case proves to be a true feat of wonder, and is said to be the most complex to make in the industry, show Richard Mille produce nothing short of phenomenal.
Those unfamiliar with the work of Richard Mille would look upon the RM 056 as a true work of art. The skeleton dial showcasing various complications is not new to Richard Mille, with collectors and fans alike seeing the skeleton dial amongst the appeal of Richard Mille. At the 6 o’clock position lies a beast of a tourbillon – measuring in at a staggering 12.30mm and ensuring a great deal of reliability and aesthetics to this watch. The watch is also equipped with a crown position indicator – at the 4 o’clock position – giving the wearer the ability to see the winding, neutral and hand setting positions as the crown is pulled out. The inclusion of a torque indicator at the 11 o’clock position supplies information about the mainspring’s tension, allowing the optimisation of the chronometric functioning of the movement.
This case required no less than 1,000 hours of machining per case, including 430 hours devoted to grinding and 350 hours of polishing.
To add a little something extra on top of an array of complications, the RM 056 Jean Todt is also complete with a high performance chronograph function to the timepiece. New research and implementation was conducted into the geometric design of the column wheels that control the different levers in order to ensure the perfect, long-term, stable and simultaneous performance of the chronograph mechanism. This signifies that not only does Richard Mille strive for pure excellence, but also the fact that their continuing research and development serves as a benchmark for other Swiss watch manufactures.
The development of a new generation of split seconds components means that energy consumption of the chronograph can be lowered by approximately 50% through the reduction of friction on the spindle – meaning Richard Mille have eliminated the hands jumping when resetting the chronograph. The watch also complete with the state of the art torque limiting crown technology designed to add extra security to the crown in order to prevent accidental overwinding, which in turn may cause breaking the winding stem or putting too much pressure on the barrel spring.
The watch is powered by the incredible caliber RMCC1 manual winding tourbillon movement, which powers conventional hours and minutes display, split-seconds chronograph, power reserve indicator, torque and crown indicators. The RM 056 ‘Jean Todt’ has a staggering power reserve of 70 hours and complete with the manufacture’s signature grade 5 titanium spline screws – designed to withstand physical manipulation during assembly, disassembly and over time. The watch is said to be the culmination of a life-long dream by Richard Mille – producing an object to be both seen and used. With that said, it’s very unlikely you will see this watch on the wrist out and about – with the watch only being limited to 3 pieces worldwide – with the assumption Jean Todt having one.
Leave a Comment