Richard Mille Keeps Making Right With The Women’s RM 07-01
Richard Mille has just released three new Memphis-inspired variants of the RM 07-01 in colored ceramic to officially close out summer. Or, if you’re an actual RM client, to get you in the mood for your tropical winter vacation later this year in Mustique or St. Barts or wherever the beautiful people go.
Memphis was a school of ’80s Italian design founded by Ettore Sottsass, and it’s had a hardcore resurgence in the past few years thanks to Instagram and the Ultrafragola selfie mirror at Opening Ceremony on Howard St. (RIP). It’s graphic and colorful and sort of haphazard.
This capsule collection of RM 07-01 watches comes in very Memphis-inspired colors: powder blue, blush pink, and lavender pink. The high-performance ceramic cases are made from TZP (or Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal – like you’d ever need to remember that), which is a biocompatible ceramic. Its properties include corrosion resistance, increased hardness providing scratch resistance (1,400 Vickers), and toughness superior to sapphire. Just a note to say that I love nothing more than nerdy tech specs when it comes to women’s watches. Rejoice. The case shape is a traditional RM tonneau – slightly narrowed down, of course, for the 07-01 (31.40 x 45.23 mm, to be precise). The ceramic bezel and caseback are fixed together with a micro-blasted white gold caseband – again, all very RM. Nothing new shape and form-wise for the foundation here. The focus is firmly on the pop aesthetic of the Memphis design and the very intricate hand finishing.
Fixed atop the baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium is a gray PVD-treated red gold skeleton dial that showcases the engraved Memphis motif, surrounded by other decorative detailing in colored ceramic, laser-cut rubber appliques, and diamond-set elements. Guilloche is the prominent decorative technique employed on the contrasting shapes of the dial – adding to the geometry and imparting a depth of texture and light play. Makes you want to run your fingers across the grooves of the dial, but I wouldn’t recommend doing that. Luckily, there’s a sapphire crystal to protect people like myself from wreaking absolute havoc when coming into contact with one of these $205,000 watches.
The Richard Mille RM 07-01 automatic colored ceramic watches come equipped with Caliber CRMA2 – a skeletonized automatic movement with hours, minutes, and adjustable rotor geometry with a power reserve of 50 hours.
Each watch comes on a very juicy contrasting color strap, which reminds me of sticky pink lip gloss and patent Louis Vuitton Speedy bags and the smell of whatever saccharine perfume I was wearing in 2004. A little bit of 1980s nostalgia via the 2000s; that’s the aesthetic Venn diagram of this watch. Cécile Guenat, the Creative and Development Director at Richard Mille, is a pioneer when it comes to watch design. She has captured my complete attention with her approach to aesthetics. Guenat can go crazy, but all in good taste – and remember, folks, taste is subjective (kind of), so I don’t wanna hear it. Guenat’s audacious palette of tongue-in-cheek design, from Bon Bon to Smiley and now Memphis, is executed all while keeping the integrity of material performance and technical watchmaking intact. Her ethos is totally modern – talking to women about watches without talking down to them. Yes, I am still harping on about this, but reality bites!
Okay, so RM just released a capsule collection of summer colors just in time for fall. But it’s RM, they make the rules and I abide by them because I am a true proponent of year-round color and taking life less seriously. I don’t rave about Richard Mille because anybody tells me to, I rave about it because, in my dream world, I would wear an RM 07-01. I would also erase all memory of Jeremy Strong wearing one to the Met gala. Each to their own fantasy.
