From now, we expect to see Rafael Nadal wearing a new Richard Mille the Tourbillon RM 27-01 on his wrist during all of his matches. Not only is the look is vastly different but so is the engineering, but the main feature of the timepiece is its lightness (just 19 grams including velcro strap) and its priceless value ($690,000).
Made of titanium (for the baseplate and tourbillon carriage) and a aluminium-lithium alloy (for the barrel bridges and gear-train), this watch has an ultra-light movement which weighs just 3.5 grammes. Rafael Nadal timepiece has a baseplate attached to the case by four braided steel cables just 0.35 mm in diameter to protect the movement and to allow it to withstand accelerations of more than 5,000G.
This isn’t the first watch Richard Mille has produced for Nadal. But Spanish tennis player, one of the very few who wears a watch while playing, managed to ruin some of them while doing so. The first model, named the RM 27 had a chequered past, with the tennis player once leaving it behing in a locker room and once having it stolen from his hotel while he was sleeping. We’ll see whether he will have more luck with this new watch.
The RM 27-01, is currently available in a limited edition of 50 timepieces via official Richard Mille stockists