Among the six new watches released by Richard Mille at SIHH 2014, there was one that felt distinctly unlike the others – the new RM63-01 Dizzy Hands. We’ve come to know Richard Mille for the Swiss manufacture’s never-ending quest to push the technical boundaries of watchmaking (and the unarguably polarizing designs like the RM59-01 Tourbillon for Yohan Blake). Unlike other Mille timepieces, which are often inspired by high-level sports like F1 Racing and the aerospace industry, the Dizzy Hands takes conceptual cues from a poem called “Le Temps” by 19th century French poet Gérard de Nerval.
Among the six new watches released by Richard Mille at SIHH 2014, there was one that felt distinctly unlike the others – the new RM63-01 Dizzy Hands. We’ve come to know Richard Mille for the Swiss manufacture’s never-ending quest to push the technical boundaries of watchmaking (and the unarguably polarizing designs like the RM59-01 Tourbillon for Yohan Blake). Unlike other Mille timepieces, which are often inspired by high-level sports like F1 Racing and the aerospace industry, the Dizzy Hands takes conceptual cues from a poem called “Le Temps” by 19th century French poet Gérard de Nerval.
First, let’s look at the unique in-house movement that animates this time-only piece, the brand new automatic calibre CRMA3. This movement features a 50-hour power reserve and a bevy of technical features, including a 20-degree pressure angle on the gear teeth that reduces discrepancies between axles along the going train. In addition, the watch’s barrel rotates at a rate of 5 hours per revolution, faster than the more typical 7.5-8 hours. This faster rotation reduces the potential for a phenomenon called periodic mainspring adhesion, which can affect timekeeping performance.
Richard Mille is releasing a new world timer watch after their RM 58-01 from back in 2013, and this one is called the Richard Mille RM 63-02 World Timer Automatic. It is not a tourbillon, but it has got a brand new in-house movement, and this new world timer still sticks to the philosophy of the brand that the watch should be as easy to use as possible. This was achieved in part by removing the need for a pusher when using the time zone function: the satin-brushed and polished grade-5 titanium rotating bezel is actually set on ball bearings, allowing easy adjustment when the wearer is setting a time zone. The rotating bezel also has a wheel connected to the movement which directly manipulates the hour hand, increasing time-setting accuracy and speed. When you’ve set your city to the 12 o’clock position, the watch will have the 23 cities set in their time zones referenced against your home city.
Taking a look at the dial, you’ve got the two outermost rings which are, naturally, for the time zone cities, and for the world time indication – with dark blue for PM and white for AM on the 24 hour scale. You might miss it at first, as it is set among two skeletonized discs in the same gray color, but there also is a date indicator right under 12 o’clock – which can be adjusted by a push button at 10 o’clock. The large, center piece of the dial is a 0.40 millimeter thick plane of sapphire that has been put through the anti-glare spa treatment, so that legibility remains good – and that the skeletonized movement plates in titanium underneath are easier to appreciate.
The new in-house automatic CRMA3 movement has 37 jewels and features baseplates and bridges which are made of the aforementioned grade-5 titanium which is also treated with electroplasma in order to improve rigidity and surface flatness. The balance spring has variable inertia to help shock resistance, and they’ve eliminated a regulator index in favor of four small, adjustable weights on the balance spring. Richard Mille’s CRMA3 movement has a fast rotating barrel that completes a revolution in five hours as opposed to seven-and-a-half, wound by a 5N red gold and titanium rotor. The benefit of this, apparently, being a reduction in internal mainspring adhesion as well as creating a mainspring delta curve with an improved power reserve/performance and regularity ratio. This ratio may be improved, but power reserve is significantly less than the 10 days in the RM 58-01, with the Richard Mille RM 63-02 World Timer Automatic having a 50-hour power reserve