Richard Mille RM 27-04: A new lightweight tourbillon for Rafael Nadal

The Majorcan tennis star Rafael Nadal has been brand ambassador for the high-end watch brand Richard Mille for 10 years already. To mark this special anniversary, the brand did not cut any corners and re-issued the “RM 027” model, which kicked off the cooperation back in 2010, for the fifth time.

TitaCarb and Titanium

As you would expect from Richard Mille, the RM 27-04 is anything but off the rack: The case is made of an innovative material called TitaCarb®, which is essentially a light and robust titanium-carbon alloy. According to Richard Mille, its high dimensional stability makes it the perfect choice for everyone who likes hitting 200 km/h serves.

The baseplate and bridges are manufactured from grade 5 titanium, consisting of 90% titanium, 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium. It is thanks to this special material mix that the entire watch (including strap) only weighs in at 30 grams. However, there is yet another factor that is responsible for the light weight.

Cable-suspension mechanism

Richard Mille has come up with a innovative solution for the inside of the watch to ensure that the caliber is held in place in a particularly robust manner: The caliber RM27-04 is entirely carried by an ultra-fine, micro-blasted steel cable mesh, whose source of inspiration has allegedly been a tennis racket.

It starts with the steel cable being attached to a turnbuckle at 5 o’clock. Then the mesh structure is carefully woven by first tensioning the main strings and finally carefully braiding the cross strings in between. In doing so, the cable “leaves” the titanium case a total of 38 times, only to be fixed again in the second turnbuckle at 10 o’clock.

What looks spectacular has a reason, of course: Due to the complicated cable bearing, the caliber RM27-04 can withstand accelerations of over 12,000 Gs. This is more than most astronauts today will ever experience in their lifetime and certainly enough to withstand Nadal’s serves.   

The Richard Mille RM 27-04 at a glance:

• Reference: RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal
• Case dimensions: 38.40mm x 47.25mm x 11.40mm
• Winding: Manual
• Caliber: RM27-04
• Power Reserve: 38h
• Strap: Textile (with leather inside)
• Glass: Sapphire
• Water Resistance: 50m
• Features: Tourbillon, Cable suspension mechanism
• Limited Edition: 50 pieces
• RRP: 1,050,000 USD (roughly 900,000 EUR)

For more information, visit Richard Mille here.