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Richard Mille RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire

An automatic watch with a highly sensual appearance

December 3rd, 2015

For several years now, women have been taking up a new stance in watchmaking. While they continue to endorse gem-set watches, they are also increasingly fascinated by the complexity and technicality of watchmaking. Always eager to please this demanding clientele, Richard Mille has created the new RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire especially for them: an automatic calibre protected by a pink sapphire case.

The 1930s was an innovative period, when the famous Pink Lady drink for women was introduced. This balanced cocktail designed for female members of high society encapsulated a desire to modernize the rather chauvinist customs of clubs and their gentlemen clientele. In the same spirit that sparked the creation of this ladies’ cocktail, the RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire brings a feminine approach to technique, cloaking it in the pink tones of this renowned drink.

Crafted from sections of pink sapphire taken from a single block, the case of the RM 07-02 is extremely difficult to machine. Observing the manufacturing process of a pink sapphire case highlights the challenge its creation entails, from both an engineering and technical standpoint. There is no room for even a single cutting error. The case requires almost forty days of machining and finishing to meet the uncompromising specifications laid out by Richard Mille. Numerous tests then follow to verify that the brand’s resistance and comfort requirements have been met.

Beneath its pink exterior, this original and ergonomic tripartite case reveals a unique automatic movement beating at its heart. The new in-house CRMA5 calibre is assembled around a skeletonized plate in microblasted 5N gold set with diamonds. The same 5N gold is used for the flange and the bridges, whose hand-chamfered and hand-drawn angles and edges capture even more light at the heart of the caliber.

Like the RM collection, the RM 07-02 features exceptional technical characteristics such as hand- decorated and gem-set gold bridges, a variable inertia balance wheel designed to ensure optimum performance in the long term, and a variable geometry rotor in 18K 5N red gold set with diamonds, which adapts the winding of the watch to the movements of the wearer. The central dial in onyx and diamonds, the crown in 5N red gold and the strap in white alligator skin add the perfect finishing touches to this exceptional creation.

With the RM 07-02 Pink Lady Sapphire —a caliber boasting an extremely technical design as well as a highly sensual appearance— Richard Mille is opening his sapphire collection to women.