Being relative newcomers in their industries, Richard Mille (founded in 2001) and McLaren Automotive (founded in 2010) both have a reputation for delivering exceptional examples of their brands and share a desire to be at the cutting edge, striving for excellence and rarity in everything they do. The two debuted their first-ever collaborative timepiece, the RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph at the Geneva Motor Show. Initially available only to owners of a McLaren Ultimate Series street-legal track car, both the supercar and the RM 11-03 are production limited to only 500 with the ultra-exclusive ability for your McLaren Senna and timepiece to share the same serial number.
Tourbillon watches are for Richard Mille what Formula 1 vehicles are to McLaren.
This latest edition of the RM011 is unique in its appearance and functions. The RMAC3 Caliber has a skeletonized automatic winding movement with adjustable rotor geometry delivering hours, minutes, seconds, a 60-minute countdown timer (dotLuxury Insider Note: It’s actually a reversed 60-minute chronograph totalizer) at 9 o’clock, a 12-hour totalizer, oversized date and month indicator, and, of course, a flyback chronograph (dotLuxury Insider Note: the flyback function instantly returns the stopwatch counter to zero for quick resetting).
The case measures 49.94 x 44.50 x 16.23 mm and takes advantage of exclusive Carbon TPT® and orange Quartz TPT® materials to produce an intricately layered and visually textured surface. These layers, with a maximum thickness of 45 microns, are woven in a special process between layers Quartz TPT® saturated with an orange resin specifically developed for Richard Mille to perfectly echo McLaren Orange. The case is water-resistant to 50m and is assembled with 20 spline grade-5 titanium screws and 316L stainless steel washers. The grade-5 titanium pushers, fitted to the caseband, echo the design of the headlights on the McLaren 720S and the titanium crown is a faithful reproduction of the McLaren wheel trim.
The RMAC3 Caliber’s bridges and plates are crafted from an alloy of 90% grade-5 titanium, 6% aluminum, and 4% vanadium which keep the timepiece surprising light, dramatically improving wearability. The variable geometry rotor’s flange is grade-5 titanium, the weight segment and ribs are 18K white gold. This exclusive Richard Mille design allowing the winding mechanism to be optimized and personalized to the owner’s activity level delivers up to a 55-hour power reserve.
The RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph (180,000 CHF or $189,230 at today’s exchange rate) just like its muse, the McLaren Ultimate Series of street-legal track cars, is unique, striking in appearance and function, with innovation throughout.
Richard Mille may have said it best:
We make watches you can wear for any occasion, just as McLaren creates cars that can be driven on a daily basis. We don’t do watches to be put in a safe waiting for the next generation.
