In 2021 Richard Mille launched their first RM 07-01 Colored Ceramic watches. Now, in the same vein, they have announced an Endless Summer series in the RM 07-01 collection consisting of three new watches with coloured ceramic bezels and case backs, inspired by the Memphis design movement.

The new watches are about colour, and the use of contrasting shapes, and materials, with a bit of traditional guillochage thrown in as well. The colours are blush pink, lavender pink, and powder blue.

The three-part case is 45.66mm x 31.40mm x 11.85mm and water resistant to 50m. It is held together by twelve grade 5 titanium spline screws and abrasion resistant washers in 316L stainless steel. Lightweight Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal (TZP) ceramic is used for the bezel and case back and the case bands are made of micro-blasted white gold with hand-polished pillars.

TZP is a ceramic constituted of over 95% zirconia (ZrO2) which is corrosion reistant, has 1,400 Vickers of hardness, and a density of around 6 g/cm3. Machining and grinding of the material is done using diamond tools.

Powering the new RM 07-01 Color Ceramics is the in-house skeletonised automatic CRMA2 movement. Beating at 28,800 VPH, it has a power reserve of 50 hours. The bridges and the base plate are micro-blasted grade 5 titanium with electroplasma treatment for greater rigidity and to achieve more precise surface flatness. The bridges are also in micro-blasted and electroplasma-treated grade 5 titanium.

The rotor has an edge ring in 5N red gold and what is called an automatic OneWay® variable-geometry ceramic winding system with ball bearings that adapts the rewinding of the mainspring to the user’s activity level. This variable-geometry rotor (in 18kt red gold) makes it possible to effectively adapt rewinding of the mainspring to how active the wearer is.

Its setting can be modified by adjusting two weights that are fixed in place by spline screws. The inertia of the movement is increased when the two weights are closer to each other i.e. the barrel then rewinds more quickly. Conversely, if the weights are at their furthest points, the barrel winds more slowly.

The dials on which the Memphis-inspired designs are situated are gray PVD-treated red gold, A grey PVD-treated red gold dial serves to showcase the engraved Memphis motif, surrounded by other decorative detailing in coloured ceramic, laser-cut rubber appliques and diamond-set elements. The guilloché work is on the white gold segment in each model.

You could be forgiven for intuitively thinking that these watches would be most likely to come on rubber straps, but they are varnished calf.

[Photo credit: Richard Mille]

Categories: Richard Mille, Watch Profile, watches, Women's watches