Richard Mille has always stood out for its watches with futuristic shapes and technologies, and this time was no different.
This new iteration with an automatic movement and tourbillon certainly has a more cheerful character than its predecessors and almost seems to harken back to the carefree world of comic books and children’s cartoons.
Indeed, housed in the now iconic tonneau case is a fully skeletonized dial in three dimensions within which titanium bridges and hand-sculpted hanging miniatures are interspersed.
Among them, a Smiley sculpted in micro-sandblasted yellow gold towers at 12 o’clock as the personification of joy and positivity, celebrating its role as a pop culture icon during the past fifty years. It is the latter that gives its name to the watch, now with deep roots in the common imagination and used by the maison to share the values it champions.
The dial
Surrounding the radiant face of the Smiley, a series of miniature sculptures grace the movement of the Richard Mille RM 88 Smiley Automatic Tourbillon, forming a surreal scene that exudes fun and demonstrates a true mastery of the infinitely small. Indeed, the challenge of this scene with its festive character is highly technical, with attention to detail and perfection taken to the max.
Supporting the Smiley is an additional micro-sandblasted ARCAP® bridge with polished anglage and colored enamel inlays, which nicely complement the dark monochromatic appearance of the base rhodium plating. From this branch out numerous tie-rods that support the myriad of tiny sculptures arranged along the edges of the dial: truly impressive in size, they are finished and painted by hand with the smallest tools in existence, once again showcasing the skill of Richard Mille’s craftsmen.
Underneath the intricate dial is a glimpse of the plate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium micro-sandblasted and covered with matte PVD treatment from which the mirror-polished screws and gears stand out due to the contrast in color and light refraction.
The choice of this particular material is due to its physical characteristics of stiffness and extreme surface flatness, which is essential for proper motion operation.
Titanium as an element is itself biocompatible and highly resistant to corrosion. The alloy used here, however, consisting of 90 percent titanium, 6 percent aluminum and 4 percent vanadium, has even better mechanical properties, justifying its frequent use in the aerospace and automotive industries as well.
Case
Enclosing it all is a three-parts tonneau case consisting of a white ATZ ceramic bezel and caseback and 5N 18k red gold side band.
ATZ ceramic consists of aluminum oxide tubes injected at a pressure of about 2,000 atmospheres (the equivalent of being 2km underwater). This high-pressure process allows the stiffness to be increased by 20 percent and minimizes the porosity of the material, thus making the color unalterable in the long run.
With a scratch resistance of 1,400 Vickers, the only instrumentation capable of machining it is diamond, resulting in an extremely time-consuming and expensive process to achieve the elegant convex lines that characterize this case.
Subsequently micro-sandblasted and polished in the bevels that surround the outer edges, this case is water-resistant to 50 meters, a depth guaranteed by two nitrile O-ring seals. It is then surrounded by twelve titanium screws (grade 5) and an equal number of wear-resistant 316L steel bolts that help define the iconic appearance of the Swiss manufacturer’s timepiece.
Movement
Animating this splendid timepiece is the skeletonized automatic caliber CRMT7, with hour, minute, tourbillon and function displays.
The latter is perhaps the interesting feature, though not the most technically complicated: it does in fact indicate in what position the crown is located, in fact it can be in the running (or winding) position indicated by the letter W or in the hour change position, with the letter H, and is located at 3 o’clock.
This movement features a 50-hour power reserve and is wound unidirectionally by a 3N yellow gold rotor with the likeness of a stylized solo, again underscoring the playful spirit of this watch.
The balance wheel is also worthy of mention, in fact, being free-thrusting and variable inertia ensures greater reliability in case of shocks and during assembly and disassembly of the movement, resulting in better chronometric results over time.
The regulator index has also been eliminated, and more precise calibration is possible thanks to 4 small adjustable masses located directly on the rocker arm.
Our opinion
This perspective of the brand on extra-luxury watchmaking is not new, and has so far proved successful (recall the collection dedicated to sweets).
Certainly this is not a watch for all occasions, nor one that can be worn with all types of clothing, however, it is definitely the pinnacle of watchmaking in this genre, both as a level of creativity and for the mastery demonstrated from a technical standpoint.
As with everything, cannot question personal taste. However, I think Richard Mille really did a great job with this timepiece, combining technology and imagination in the best possible way and resulting in a proper work of art.
Price and availability
This is a limited edition of 50 pieces and the price is €1,200,000.00 (excluding tax).
To learn more about Richard Mille and his watches visit the official website.
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