Polo is possibly one of the toughest sports for any tourbillon watch to have to deal with. Sudden turns, wild swings, the clash of horses and riders: these are forces far greater than the norms found in other sports. Known as the ‘king of sports’ polo is uniquely elegant and highly physical.

For Pablo Mac Donough, partner of the brand, Richard Mille had an idea for a totally new case design inspired by the tonneau shape and engineered to tolerate the extreme shocks likely to occur during a polo match. He created an ‘armored’ case in titanium carbide with two raised arcs leading to two viewing windows. The movement design and windows are tilted at a 30 ̊ angle. The seconds run with the tourbillon cage on the left viewing window and on the right the hours and minutes are shown.

This angled view is ideal when seen from the rider’s saddle. The highly compact, totally new tourbillon movement design utilizes a highly skeletonized baseplate and bridges with a compact going train-winding barrel arrangement. Since the movement itself is ultra light and tightly unified, it is less susceptible to the centrifugal and centripetal forces generated during a game.

Polo has always played a very important role in the Mac Donough’s lives. It is therefore no surprise that the Argentinean began playing polo at only 6 years old in the Nueva Escocia Polo Ranch, Buenos Aires, where Pablo’s father breads his own horses. Pablo Mac Donough played as a pro soon after he finished high school. At 23 years old, Pablo Mac Donough became part of La Irenita where the breeding program for polo horses is held. His career kicked off in 2001 when he won the Camara de Diputados Cup in Buenos Aires. In 2003, he began playing for Ellerstina, one of the best Argentinean Polo teams of the last decade, where he played eight seasons and won the 2010 Argentinean Triple Crown.

In 2010, Pablo Mac Donough was regarded as one of the best polo players in the world when he became Number One of the World Polo Tour Ranking. In May 2011, he joined the elite crowd of the Richard Mille Polo Team alongside H.E Bahar Jefri. Last December, Pablo Mac Donough and La Dolfina won the Argentinian Open confirming his position as World Number One.

The RM 053 Pablo Mac Donough is a limited edition of 15 pieces in microblasted titanium and titanium carbide.