Richard Millle RM 65-01 Rose Gold
Richard Mille RM65-01 Automatic Winding Split Seconds Chronograph
When a brand that specialises in complicated chronographs announces that they’re releasig their most complicated chronograph yet, you can bet its something special.
This is exactly what happened in 2020 when RM announced the RM65-01 split seconds, a truly spectacular Rattrapante chronograph and is a “regular” production model rather than a limited edition.
This isn’t to say that it is readily available as RM’s production numbers are low at approximately 5000 watches per year across the brand but the existence of the 65-01 isn’t capped at 500 pieces, for example.
This makes sense as the movement took the brand 5 years to develop the RMAC4 in-house calibre which powers this particular watch.
Ratrappante translates from French to “catch up”
It’s a chronograph system that allows you to measure two seperate events that start at the same time, but have different end points, eg 1st and second times in a race.
It does this by using an additional seconds hand superimposed above the original, so when you start the chronograph, both hands begin to move at the same time.
At the press of a button, the second hand on the top can be stopped while the second hand on the bottom continues to move. This allows you to record the time of the first event while the second event continues to be monitored
If you want to resume timing the second event, press the same button again, and the top second hand will catch up with the bottom second hand, and both will continue to move together.
This catching-up mechanism is what gives the rattrapante chronograph its name.
On the 65-01 chronograph buttons are top right start or stop, top left to activate or stop the ratrappante or “split seconds” element, and bottom right to reset the count entirely.
A very intuitive and easy to use set-up.
The crown conceals a couple of tricks as well and uses a pusher which is mounted into it to act as a function selector.
Pressing this button switches the operation of the crown between winding, date setting, and time setting, and correlates to the function selector window on the bottom right of the dial which an arrow which points to your selection whenever you actuate the crown button.
W - Wind
D - Date
H - Hours (to set the time)
The openworked dial is flawlessly executed and showcases a riot of colour, this isn’t just decorative though, despite invoking a F1 cockpit layout.
The colours used all denote and link to functions of the watch.
Red relates to winding - note the red band on the crown matches the red W on the function indicator - and also matches the red WINDING button located at 8 on the left hand side of the watch.
This winding button is pressed to quick wind the watch - 125 presses and the watch is wound from dead to full. A very cool (and patented) trick from Richard Mille.
Their engineers describe the rapid winding mechanism as “Very playful” which is highly accurate since behind every watch lover there’s a kid in a candy shop just dying to press things.
In this context, a big red button is the perfect temptation and I love them for it.
Green relates to the date - green band on crown, green date window, and green D on the indicator.
Orange is linked to the chronograph pushers and hand tips, with blue denotiing the ratrappante pusher and hand tips.
Contrasting colours have been used to differentiate between standard and split second measurement.
Yellow is for standard timekeeping so you can pick out the hour minutes and seconds at a glance.
Once you “get” the use of colour and purpose, then the watch becomes remarkably easy to read, use, and understand.
While the dial is an exercise in colour and impressive skeletonisation the movement visible through the sapphire rear absolutely no slouch either with blasted and brushed hand anglage and finishing, electroplated and pvd titanium baseplates and a really attractive structure that is slightly reminiscent of an alien cityscape, no idea why it invokes that in me, but it does and i’m all for sharing.
You can also see the two weights suspended within the rotor - this is the variable geometry system which can be adjusted to speed up or slow down the winding system to suit the wearers level of activity.
The case is a standard tri-part case comprising of rear and front plates bolted through the mid case using splines. It is a curved tonneau shape so although large at 44mm diameter, 16mm tall, and 50mm tip to toe, its incredibly comfortable to wear, as are all of Richard Milles offerings regardless of stature.
The front and rear plates are pink gold, while the mid-case is carbon to keep the weight down. A thick and supple rubber strap flares down from within the case and arcs around the wrist with a clasp that snaps harder than an alligator to secure it.
Mille is pretty genius at modern watchmaking and this, in my opinion, is one of their regular production grails.