Richard Mille RM 005 – the model that laid the foundation for an empire

Richard Mille is today associated with extreme materials, sports stars and prices that place the brand's watches in the same economic sphere as supercars. But before Rafael Nadal, Carbon TPT and colourful billionaire watches there was the RM 005, a relatively low-key model that laid the foundation for almost everything that would come afterwards. In collaboration with Stories of Time we take a closer look at an unusually complete example in titanium from 2008. 

Background

It is hard to look at Richard Mille without at the same time relating to everything that surrounds the brand. The watches have become symbols of sport, celebrity culture and a new kind of hypermodern luxury. They are seen on the wrists of Formula 1 drivers, tennis players and artists, often in colours and materials that are impossible to confuse with traditional Swiss haute horlogerie.

That also makes it easy to forget how differently Richard Mille was perceived during the brand's first years. When the RM 001 was presented in 2001 the project was not about creating yet another status symbol. The ambition was rather to treat the mechanical watch as an engineering object: a construction where architecture, materials, ergonomics and mechanics got to govern the expression. The curved tonneau shape, the visible screws and the open movement architecture were established right from the start. 

The first models were however technically and economically extreme. The RM 001 and RM 002 were tourbillons, followed by complicated references such as the RM 003, RM 004 and RM 008. Richard Mille had created a clear design language, but not yet a model that could function as the brand's mechanical base watch.

This is where the RM 005 came in.

Introduced in 2004, the RM 005 became Richard Mille's first automatic wristwatch and at the same time the brand's first model without a high complication such as a tourbillon or split-seconds chronograph. To call it simple would nevertheless be misleading. It already contained several of the technical ideas that would later become central for Richard Mille: a baseplate in titanium, a skeleton-like expression, a large date display and above all the adjustable rotor with variable geometry. 

The RM 005 was therefore not just a cheaper alternative to the brand's tourbillons. It was the model that showed that Richard Mille's idea could work even without a spectacular complication. The architecture, the materials and the feeling were sufficient in themselves.

Seen with a perspective of a good two decades, the RM 005 appears almost as a proto-Richard Mille: less loud than many later models, but at the same time more significant than its relatively discreet position in the brand's history first suggests.

History

Richard Mille already had a long career in the watch and jewellery industry when he began developing his own brand together with Dominique Guenat. The two had got to know each other during Mille's time at Mauboussin and were united by an interest in cars, aviation and advanced mechanics. When the Richard Mille brand was launched the ambition was to create a new category within exclusive watchmaking, rather than to try to compete through traditional complications and historical references. 

The RM 001 became the manifesto. The case was ergonomically curved, the mechanics exposed and the design language borrowed more from the racing car's suspension and chassis construction than from classic pocket watches. The RM 002 developed the concept further with among other things a baseplate in titanium and a function indicator for winding, neutral position and time setting.

When the RM 005 was presented in 2004 the same philosophy was translated into an automatic everyday watch with hours, minutes, seconds and date. The movement was developed in collaboration with Vaucher Manufacture in Fleurier, but was designed to follow Richard Mille's technical and visual language. The movement was not placed in a traditional movement holder ring but was mounted with shock-absorbing fixings inside the case. 

The manufacture of the baseplate in titanium was in itself a technical challenge. Richard Mille needed to invest in special tools and develop new working methods in order to be able to machine the material and then mount the movement without damaging the dark PVD treatment. The rejection rate was high, something that says quite a lot about how far away the RM 005 was from the notion of a conventional entry-level model. 

The most important novelty was however the rotor with variable geometry. By changing the position of the rotor's weights a watchmaker could adapt its moment of inertia to the owner's activity level. For a person with a relatively quiet everyday life the rotor could be set for more efficient winding with small movements. For an active wearer it could be adjusted so that the rotor did not spin as aggressively.

Today similar systems appear in several of Richard Mille's automatic calibres, but the RM 005 was first. The function was moreover completely in line with the brand's basic idea: the watch should not just be worn, but set and optimised like a mechanical machine. 

The date display was unusual too. Instead of a discreet date window a large, semi-quick changing date was placed at seven o'clock, integrated into the open dial's architecture. The small seconds is found at approximately four o'clock. The result is asymmetric but balanced – an expression that looks technical without the functions being reduced to decoration.

It is also important to understand the RM 005 in relation to the brand's continued development. The year after came the automatic ladies' model RM 007. After that followed among others the RM 011, whose automatic flyback chronograph would become one of Richard Mille's most recognisable models. The RM 005 thereby functioned as a kind of technical testbed for the automatic part of the collection. 

Later Richard Mille watches became bigger, more colourful and even more experimental. The RM 005 on the other hand comes from the period when the brand's design language was still young and surprisingly concentrated. Here there are no strong contrast colours, no sports partners on the dial and no material names that need their own glossary. Just titanium, mechanics and the original tonneau shape.

Object

The example at Stories of Time was made in 2008 and executed in grade 5 titanium. The case measures 45 millimetres in length, 37,8 millimetres in width and 11,45 millimetres in height. The dimensions sound big on paper, but the tonneau shape follows the wrist in a way that a round watch of corresponding length rarely does. The titanium also keeps the weight down and reinforces the feeling of a technical instrument. 

It is precisely in titanium that the RM 005 perhaps emerges most clearly. Versions in gold have their own appeal, but it was never the precious metal that made the model important. The brushed grey case instead lets the construction take centre stage: the exposed screws, the separate case parts and the curved silhouette.

The dial is open, but not skeletonised in the modern sense where every component has to be exposed. Here there is still a clear dark structure with large applied Arabic numerals, an outer minute track and hands that are easy to read. Beneath the surface parts of the movement and its bridges are visible, but the whole is more architectural than theatrical.

The date at seven o'clock is one of the model's most characteristic details. The placement is not symmetrical and does not try to be either. Together with the small seconds at four o'clock it creates a dial that immediately feels like Richard Mille, even without the brand's later colours and graphic effects.

The automatic movement offers according to the listing around 55 hours of power reserve. The watch is water protected to 50 metres and fitted with sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment. The current example sits on a grey technical textile strap with a folding clasp in titanium. Three further straps are included. 

The accessories are particularly relevant for an early Richard Mille. The watch is sold as a full set with original box and original documents, something that is not only a question of future second-hand value. For a young brand with many case, material and strap variants the documentation helps to place the example in the right context.

Stories of Time

Stories of Time are based in Stockholm and describe themselves as a team of watch collectors and enthusiasts with a background in international trade in exclusive wristwatches. The business works with both modern, hard-to-get models and older collector's objects, and offers help with purchase, sale and service. 

The RM 005 is a fitting object for such a context. It is not the most obvious Richard Mille model and not the one that is seen most often on social media either. For the collector it is instead interesting because it represents a decisive point in the brand's development: the moment when Richard Mille went from a series of extreme complications to establishing a coherent watch brand.

The current example also has a combination that rarely turns up on the Swedish market: early reference, case in titanium, full documentation and several alternative straps. By switching between textile, rubber or a more traditional strap the watch's character can change more than you first think. It can go from a purely technical instrument to something approaching an unusually modern dress watch – at least by Richard Mille standards.

The RM 005 is perhaps not the model that best sums up what Richard Mille has become. It sums up something more interesting: what the brand originally tried to be.

And for anyone who wants to understand Richard Mille beyond the sports stars, the colours and the astronomical price tags it is hard to find a better place to start. Read more about the watch here.