Luxury watchmaker Richard Mille has given the old school pocket watch a modern twist, with a tourbillon movement inside a square case, attached to a keychain. It’s a high quality bespoke piece as you’d expect, with carbon fibre and titanium all over the shop.
Inside is the RM20 movement and on the dial you’ll see a kind of gearbox indicator which lets you know when you’re in the winding position, or hands setting mode. Interesting detail; it runs at quite a low 21,000vph speed, so should have long term reliability, as in a lifetime of service.
Here’s a little bit of tech detail from the RM website;
The RM 020, the only pocket watch in the Richard Mille collection, has a unique, slightly rectangular case housing its exceptional 10-day tourbillon movement, with the two bezels curving outwards in two directions. The creation of a case like this, including the front and back sapphire glass which offers an open view of all parts, is a veritable tour-de-force of Swiss casemaking in haute horlogerie. The case is assembled with 16 spline screws in grade 5 titanium and abrasion-resistant washers in 316L stainless steel.
Here’s the tech specs from RM;
Movement dimensions: 42.20 x 42.20 mm
Thickness: 8.40 mm
Tourbillon diameter: 12.30 mm
Number of jewels: 28, set in white gold chatons
Balance wheel diameter: 9.12 mm
Balance: Glucydur®, 2 arms, 4 setting screws, moment of inertia 10 mg•cm2, angle of lift 53°
Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
Balance spring: elinvar by Nivarox®
Shock protection: KIF Elastor KE 160 B28
Barrel shaft: nickel-free Chronifer® (DIN x 46 Cr 13 + S) with the following characteristics: stainless – antimagnetic – suitable for tempering
We cannot see any clues as to the UK price on the RM website,but let’s take a guess at about £70,000. Reassuringly expensive.