The new Richard Mille ‘Black Night’ limited edition is a RM030

This limited edition of 25 pieces will be available this summer at selected RM retailers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

The RM 030 Black Night features a DLC-treated titanium case which creates a striking contrast with the red of the dial ring and other elements, such as the tip of the second hand, the declutchable rotor indicator and power reserve indicator. This timepiece comes on a black rubber strap complete with a black DLC-treated buckle.

Inside the case of the RM 030 beats the novel calibre RMAR1, representing a further advance in the world of automatic wristwatch design.

The winding of an automatic wristwatch is accomplished by a small turning rotor, silently driven by physical movements of the wearer. These rotations of the rotor provide energy to the winding barrel, which reaches its optimal point once it is fully wound. After this point, overwinding can easily occur and needs to be avoided. This is traditionally achieved through the use of a sliding flange that allows the spring to slip, thus avoiding the movement becoming overwound. However, this traditional system allows the build-up of harmful debris inside the winding barrel as the flange releases the excess energy of overwinding during longer periods, especially when a person is particularly active. This in turn can severely affect chronometric results.

To avoid such adverse conditions, Richard Mille took four years to develop the concept and the design of a rotor that declutches automatically. With this system, the winding barrel is automatically disconnected from the rotor’s winding mechanism at the moment when the spring is fully wound. Additionally, this new mechanism is linked to the power reserve indicator to provide an optimal winding control. This allows both the movement and the oscillator to work with the best ratio of constant torque/power, to provide the optimum chronometric performance.

Automatic winding movement

Power reserve circa 55 hours

Declutchable and adjustable rotor geometry

Winding indicator

Date display

Free sprung balance with variable inertia

Double barrel

Baseplate, bridges and balance cock made of titanium

Torque limiting crown in titanium

Balance: Glucydur, 4 arms

Inertia moment 4.8 mg.cm2, angle of lift 53°

Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)

Spline screws in grade 5 titanium for the bridges and the case

Interior flanges in carbon fibre

Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium, wet sandblasted, Titalyt® treated

Barrel bridges PVD coated

Sapphire blasted and hand-drawn surfaces