‘We couldn’t have dreamt of a more fitting partner than McLaren. The brand strives to achieve perfection—whether it be in research and development, aesthetics or execution, right down to the smallest detail. With our ten-year partnership, we are really only at the beginning of exploiting opportunities and transfers of know-how between our two companies. Yet the collaboration has already borne fruit with the RM 50-03, the lightest mechanical chronograph ever produced.'

THE WORLD’S LIGHTEST SPLIT-SECONDS TOURBILLON CHRONOGRAPH

Produced in collaboration with the famed Formula 1 team, the RM 50-03 is a technical masterpiece offering off-the-chart mechanical performance. The split seconds chronograph ultralight McLaren F1 weighs merely 38 grams, strap included, making it the world’s lightest split-seconds tourbillon chronograph.

This achievement is attributable to the use of highly technical materials: not only do titanium and Carbon TPT® make for an extremely open design, but an entirely new material has been introduced for the case, namely Graph TPT®.

A SHARED DEDICATION TO TECHNICITY AND DESIGN

An extraordinary avant-garde automotive constructor, possessed of an unrivalled heritage and history, McLaren has been inspiring passion for over half a century. Richard Mille has tremendous admiration for this pillar of motorsports, and its founder. Indeed, he has long drawn on technical solutions developed by engineers at McLaren and adapted them for his watches. Naturally, their shared dedication to technic and design has led the brand and team to pursue joint developments.

GRAPH TPT® : A REVOLUTIONARY MATERIAL

The RM 50-03 introduces an entirely new material into the world of watchmaking: Graph TPT®, which contains the revolutionary substance, graphene. These new applications for the material emerged through research at the National Graphene Institute, established in 2015 at The University of Manchester, where graphene was first isolated by Professor Andre Geim of the School of Physics and Astronomy, back in 2004. Six years later, the discovery earned its author the prestigious 2010 Nobel Prize in physics, alongside his colleague, Professor Konstantin Novoselov. Thanks to the collaborative work between The University of Manchester, McLaren Applied Technologies and North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT®), Richard Mille has succeeded in producing a watch case machined in an improved form of Carbon TPT®.

The carbon’s physical properties were significantly enhanced by the introduction of graphene, a revolutionary nano-material which is six times lighter than steel and 200 times stronger. McLaren Technology Group and McLaren-Honda, which are currently working on integrating graphene into their Grand Prix cars, made it possible for us to consider this material as a means to significantly lower the density of the carbon composite while increasing its resistance. Convinced of the incredible advantages conferred by graphene, our engineers worked with those at North Thin Ply Technology to envision practical applications of the new material and studied how to incorporate it into Carbon TPT®. Exhibiting a distinctive, damascene surface, Carbon TPT® is made up of 600 layers of parallel filaments obtained by separating out carbon fibres.

These layers, no more than 30 microns thick, are impregnated with a graphene-containing resin. They are then assembled on a dedicated machine, which stacks the layers, varying the orientation of the fibres by 45° between layers. The composite is then hardened in a kiln heated to 120°C at a pressure of 6 bars. Numerous control and validation tests conducted by McLaren Applied Technologies made it possible to develop the solutions that resulted in Graph TPT®, a material employed exclusively by Richard Mille in the domain of watchmaking.

CALIBRE RM50-03

Manual winding tourbillon movement with hours, minutes, split-seconds chronograph, 30-minute totaliser, and power-reserve, torque and function indicators.

Limited edition of 75 pieces

POWER RESERVE

Circa 70 hours (± 10%), without the chronograph running.
Actual power reserve results will depend on the period of time the chronograph is utilised.