LONDON: Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille has unveiled the RM 65-01 McLaren Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph W1, the latest creation from its collaboration with British luxury carmaker McLaren.
This marks the fourth time the two companies have teamed up.
The RM 65-01 McLaren W1 is inspired by McLaren's W1 supercar, which builds on the legacy of the iconic McLaren F1 and P1.
Designed to reflect the high-performance nature of the W1, the RM 65-01 features a state-of-the-art RMAC4 movement that operates at 36,000 vibrations per hour, enabling it to track time to the nearest tenth of a second.
The watch incorporates a rapid winding system, recharging its 60-hour power reserve efficiently. Its movement is mounted on chassis rubbers, enhancing durability, and the variable geometry winding rotor adjusts to suit the wearer's activities.
The watch's design mirrors the W1’s advanced engineering, with a Carbon TPT case inspired by the supercar's aerodynamic lines.
The bezel, one of Richard Mille’s most complex to date, took nine months to develop, and the skeletonised titanium dial evokes the look of McLaren’s wheel rims.
The RM 65-01 also boasts a "function selector" crown, allowing users to switch between winding, date-setting, or hand-setting modes. The chronograph push buttons and rubber strap feature design elements drawn from McLaren’s supercars, including the use of papaya orange — a signature McLaren colour.
“Making this fourth watch in the series left us with the feeling that Richard Mille and McLaren are perfectly in-tune," said Richard Mille casing technical director Julien Boillat.
"We both work to the highest technical specifications with the most high-tech materials, ergonomics are as important to us as they are to them, and our design language really seems to have gelled. The interaction between our two teams and the partnership that it has created has, simply, become really strong.”
Richard Mille's three previous watch models for McLaren were:
> The RM 50-03 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph, the lightest split seconds tourbillon chronograph in the world (2017)
> The RM 11-03 Automatic Flyback Chronograph McLaren (2018)
> The RM 40-01 Automatic Tourbillon McLaren Speedtail (2021)
