First introduced back in 2011, the RM 33 was Richard Mille’s interesting take on dress watches, a stylish round timepiece that was quite different from any other timekeepers released by the Swiss watchmaker at that time. Today, the RM 33 has been beautifully revamped, with a new, sportier look that was executed in a stunning combination of materials.
Just like Richard Mille’s popular tonneau-shaped watches, the RM 33 is now more aggressively styled, with an angular, notched bezel, and a striking case that’s basically a sandwich of carbon composite and gold held together by six large, visible screws, at 12, 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 o’clock, where the bezel has notches as well.
The notches at six and 12 are also continued into the integrated rubber strap, with a fin running down the length of the strap to accentuate the sporty look of this watch.
The bezel and the back of the case are made of Carbon TPT, a unique carbon composite material made by North Thin Ply Technology, Swiss materials specialists that supply this carbon composite mix for all of Richard Mille’s composite cases. Carbon TPT is made of different layers of carbon fibre sandwiched together in the composite to get this eye catching stripped appearance.
In between these layers of carbon TPT the case middle is made of 18k red gold, a material that’s also used for the large Arabic numerals which sit on a pair of black-coated titanium rings that are mounted right on the base plate of the movement, a bold styling option that’s necessary because this watch actually has no dial.
The new RM 33-02 is powered by an extra-thin automatic movement called RMXP1, that’s just 2.6mm high. This complex movement was produced by Vaucher but customized for Richard Mille to get this monochromatic, technical look, with open-worked, black coated bridges and many other interesting details.
