Developed in collaboration with Sylvester Stallone, the new RM 25-01 Adventure tourbillon chronograph attests a desire on the part of Richard Mille and the artist to conquer the most thoroughly hostile of natural environments. Hero of the novel First Blood by David Morell, John Rambo has embodied our idea of the adventurer for over thirty years. First portrayed on film in the guise of Sylvester Stallone in 1982, this character of a man tormented by a war without mercy had a major impact on the actor’s career, revealing Sly as the man of Hollywood action films. With its hitherto unheard-of functionalities that go to the very heart of the watch, the RM 25-01 could easily be imagined on John Rambo’s wrist. Truly a horological UFO, this timepiece is, as Sylvester Stallone says, “Ready for action”.

Despite our sedentary modern lifestyle, humans retain from our nomadic past a thirst for adventure and discovery. As new technologies make it possible to situate oneself to the nearest centimetre anywhere on the globe, today’s adventurers seek to challenge their capacity to survive under perilous conditions. The goal of the technical approach adopted by the RM 25-01 was to provide a tool that would allow these brave souls to get around safely, wherever they might be. Stallone has always had a distinct preference for imposing wristwatches. Many noted the RM 032 on a red strap that he wore throughout The Expendables 3, which he also directed. It was thus incumbent on the RM 25-01 to adopt the round shape of the former, perfect for accurate reading of the time and suitable for housing a compass, a crucial piece of equipment no adventurer should be without, which Stallone specially requested. In terms of movement, the calibre RM25-01 tourbillon is Richard Mille’s signature technicity at its best.

Its baseplate and bridges, machined out of grade 5 titanium, effectively support a mechanism that combines a tourbillon complication and the complexity of a new ‘competition’ chronograph movement. It took the brand’s engineers several months of work to optimise the calibre. In the end, they successfully reduced its weight while increasing its precision and long-term chronometric reliability. The overall reduction in inertia goes hand in hand with a 50 per cent lower energy consumption. The 70-hour power-reserve, visible using the coupling and function indicators, drives an unusual 24-hour display, essential for distinguishing am and pm should the viewer be deprived of sunlight. The round case showcases a combination of titanium and Carbon TPT®, the indestructible composite whose damascene surface has become something of a brand signature, and which significantly reduces the overall weight of the watch.

Water resistant to 100 metres, the RM 25-01 comes with two interchangeable bezels. The first is a compass in grade 5 titanium with a DLC coating that has both a fixed and a rotating bezel. Its bayonet mount makes it quick and easy to fix on the case. The Carbon TPT® cover has a mirrored back and a slot at 12 o’clock to increase precision of sightings with the compass needle. Its sapphire crystals have a multilayer anti-reflective treatment, as well as an antimagnetic coating to prevent any mutual interference of the movement and compass. A spirit level located at 4 o’clock makes it possible to check that the watch is perfectly horizontal for better readings. Detached from the watch, the compass may be affixed to a plate made of Carbon TPT®. Ideal for orientating, this configuration provides—among other things—lines indicating the direction to take when following a course on a map.

The compass bezel may be switched out by the wearer for a bidirectional bezel in Carbon TPT® and titanium, with a 24-hour scale, a 360° graduated disc, and indications for the cardinal directions. No calculations are required—all that’s needed is to face the sun with the hour hand and turn the bezel so the local time is indicated on its 24-hour scale—the wearer can then identify North, South, East and West in either hemisphere. At 2 o’clock, a hermetic compartment in grade 5 titanium can hold water purification tablets that make a litre of any water safe to drink in 30 to 120 minutes, depending on the level of pollution.

In keeping with the spirit of adventure that emanates from this limited edition of 20 pieces, designed with ‘Sly’ Stallone, a sculptural strap in natural rubber sporting a camouflage motif and a strong pin-buckle in grade 5 titanium keep the ergonomic curves of this imposing case securely on the wrist as only the Richard Mille brand knows how.

Ex VAT price: 791 500 € - 934 000 CHF

An iconic actor of 1980s Hollywood, Sylvester Stallone is a man of many, sometimes contradictory, facets. When John Simonian, my American partner, introduced us, I was struck by how nice he was, by his sense of humour and his wry wit. His persona is serene and endearing, authentic and sincere. He is also an artist, whose deeply personal work is rooted in his passion for great painting and sculpture. He doesn’t cheat. Stallone assumes sole responsibility for his creations. I see that as strength, as powerful. We became friends, and discovered that we were passionate about similar things and had similar desires. He is a fan of all things mechanical, something that comes through in his sculpture works. Of course, he also loves watches, and enjoys wearing them, particularly rather imposing models. So naturally, it occurred to us one day that we ought to do something together. The RM 25-01 is like no watch that has ever existed before. Like Sylvester Stallone himself, it is completely unfettered. Its development was especially slow and painstaking, and as an object it is completely in sync with the brand: extreme, designed for extreme conditions, useful, sophisticated and complex, yet unbelievably tough—the ultimate timepiece!

Sylvester Stallone is, of course, Rambo —and vice versa. Just as the Expendables saga, is a savvy blend of muscle and testosterone. But that’s not all. Stallone is an actor, director, producer and huge international star, as only Hollywood makes them. More surprisingly, he is also—and has been for a very long time—an artist. As a painter, he has even been shown at the Nice Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. And of course, he is also a major collector of art and watches —often of very impressive size.

16 May 2015. Guests crowd in front of the con- temporary gallery at the Nice Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. A typical opening evening. Typical? Not quite. Tonight, the artist exhibiting in the space, which is generally reserved for young talent, is a cult American actor known around the world, but less for his paintings than for bringing to life the character of Rocky. In the midst of the Cannes Film Festival, international media—and even American channel Fox News—have travelled over to Nice. Why? To come and see the ‘Real Love’ exhibition. The crowd is out in droves. There are so many people inside it is difficult to see the paintings.
Of note is the portrait entitled Finding Rocky, which dates from... 1975.

Which just goes to show that Sylvester Stallone has been painting for quite some time. In fact, contrary to what one might think, this painting is what inspired the film, rather than the other way around.

That the artist, up until now, owes more of his fame to the film than to his painting did not stop Harry Bellet, art critic for Le Monde, from giving him credit in his review of the exhibit. “Admittedly, though it may come as a surprise, Stallone’s exacerbated Expressionism might not be to everyone’s taste, but then again, it’s difficult to picture him as a Minimalist artist, and it must be acknowledged that “it’s painted”, as was once said in the workshops. Those who appreciate beautiful materials will be particularly pleased: Stallone admirably masters the difficult technique of impasto—which so easily becomes a sort of crust, but Stallone always just manages to avoid this. He knows how to work with washes and glazing, he has no qualms about cutting into the base or loading with drips à la Jackson Pollock, letting liquid paint run in lacy forms, or using a trowel to launch paint onto the canvas.”

The artist also asserts a pronounced taste for Russian and German Expressionism, and admires the audacity of Kazimir Malevich and Francis Bacon. The actor, who paints every day— and is thus anything but a casual amateur— wasn’t content to stop with Rocky.

He has depicted nearly everyone, from James Dean to Michael Jackson. While he is captivated by American icons as reproduced in Life magazine, he prefers to reveal their darker, more unsettling aspects.

“Through that”, wryly shared Stallone in an interview with American magazine The Hollywood Reporter, “I’m trying to prove that John Rambo has a subconscious. I’ve always been fascinated by Life”, he adds. “The cover only. It generally showed actors, America’s royalty in a sense, in a positive way and always well lit. I told myself that my own Life would show the opposite— the underlying menace”.

Sylvester Stallone considers, not without humour, that his activity as a painter has this in common with his character of Rambo, that in both cases he imagines himself as lost in a haunted forest, ever a source of highly cinematographic inspiration. It’s also a way for him to explain that like everyone else, celebrities have something beyond their profession—another, more personal life. It’s this parallel vein that he aims to mine today.

“The end of a celebrity’s career and fame is a bit sad, because you feel like you’re still full of energy, but the opportunities become increasingly rare. Even the greatest stars experience a professional death. It’s a dark subject that I’ve explored, but I’ve since moved on to other things”. And it’s for the best for that.

His art reveals a much more complex personality than his roles have let viewers see. “Painting, without a doubt, is the most honest form of all the arts. Because it’s simple, unforgiving”. Although he’s been painting for forty years, few of the actor’s fans or art lovers know about this side of Sylvester Stallone, who has been nourishing this real passion since the age of eight and has studied art as well. “I’ve always cultivated this part of my personality’, he shares, ‘especially when I became an action film star”.

Through this regular work in the workshop, as humble as it is gratifying, since it has been rather well received by the art world, the actor renews his creativity—meanwhile discovering new reasons for to live.

You had to see him arrive at the Oscars in 1977, wearing an expression that seemed almost punch-drunk—perhaps intoxication from the much hoped-for win?—garbed in a frilled dress shirt open across a powerful but not yet chiselled torso, dedicating the best film statue awarded that year to ‘his’ Rocky, as well as ‘to all the Rockys in the world’.

That night, in Los Angeles, Sylvester Stallone, the son of an Italian immigrant from Apulia, an idle kid from Hell’s Kitchen, New York, an actor familiar with the hell of serial productions, bacame king of the world. Yesterday’s nobody was suddenly seated at the same table as the day’s biggest stars: Nicholson, Hoffman, Redford, etc. Just another magical of one night on Hollywood Boulevard, perhaps. But what came next would prove even more surprising. Stallone’s movies, stroving to express a revenge of the beaten down, the oppressed, the rank and file on a whole society—they were not yet tales of revenge for ‘first blood’—appeared on screens in the insolent 80s. A hint of Kazan, a dash of Capra, a lot of sincerity and harshly-cut action scenes.

But Sly, as his legions of fans around the world would come to call him, forged his own myth early—that of a muscular Narcissus—at the risk of losing himself to its power. Gary Cooper and Jimmy Stewart were no longer in style. With Ronald Reagan, backed up by Wall Street, America wanted to be sure there was no doubt about its power and reburnished pride, con- cealing, in bad faith, its battered sons—John Rambo first among them. Stallone gave his era the iconic virility it thirsted for. As such, he embodied what John Wayne, Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood were for previous generations: an indisputable image of manliness.

The gross mistake made by many critics was to have taken Sylvester Stallone for what he is not. He himself admits that his silhouette, his physique and his shyness—the things that made him so like the original Rocky Balboa—did not work in his favour. His sensitivity could be over-whelming: ‘I feel like I slip more easily into my character when I’m not at peace with myself’. Sly’s success lies in his ability, grounded in his strength of character and singular insight, to continually reinvent himself, to recover himself where others would give up, and this in spite of the vicissitudes and drama that have marked his extraordinary journey.

When the first Rambo film was released in the US in 1982, the myth—which was in fact the result of hard work and sacrifice—was immediately cemented. Rocky, a losing boxer who becomes a champion, unleashed passions and crowds, and found himself, as triumph always, is copied and mocked. At the height of his career, Stallone, a friend of Andy Warhol and was an object of fascination for many.

It took Sylvester Stallone ten years to emerge from the artistic desert in which he was left by audiences and professionals that had formerly rallied to his side. In the end, it was the thrice- married Stallone and father of five children who came out on top, and the actor, author and painter who was to have the last word. “I learned to take life more easily,” he says. “Freed from my own desires and demands, I relied on destiny. I had been so serious about everything”. A shrewd producer and screenwriter, Sly will appear as an ageing mercenary in his own franchise, The Expendables. Now seventy-one years old, with nearly as many feature films to his name and still full of cinematographic promise, he’s sure to forever be a legend.

Torque and
power-reserve indicator
This indicator makes it easy to view the chronometric performance of the timepiece.

2 interchangeable
bezels
With the RM 25-01 t is possible to swap out the bidirectional bezel for the compass bezel.

Bidirectional
day-time bezel
This bezel, made of Carbon TPT®, provides 360° graduation, a 24-hour scale, and indicates the cardinal directions.

Torque-limiting crown
with function indicator
This security feature forestalls overwinding. And, when the crown is pulled out, a hand indicates the current function: Winding, Hand Setting, or Neutral.

Compass bezel and lid
Made of grade 5 titanium, the compass is equipped with a bayonet mount. Its mirrored cover with a slot at 12 o’clock improves the accuracy of sighting with the compass needle.

Water purification capsules
The hermetic compartment in Carbon TPT® can contain 5 capsules, each capable of rendering a litre of any water safe to drink in 30 to 120 minutes, depending on the level of pollution.

Competition chronograph
movement
Crafted of grade 5 titanium, the tourbillon movement required several months of development. Research on optimisation enabled a 50% reduction in energy consumption.

Spirit level
The titanium-cased spirit level makes it possible to hold the watch perfectly level—essential for ensuring the accuracy of sightings with the compass needle.

The RM 031 is a timepiece that brings together a grand watchmaking tradition with cutting-edge concepts. The concept is classical: its objective is to provide the world’s most regular mechanical calibre. It achieves this goal with a variation of just 20 seconds per month, an unprecedented feat.

This calibre, offering hours, minutes, seconds oversize date, flyback chronograph, UTC and countdown functions—to say nothing of the function selector and a power-reserve indicator—required the design of over 1,000 all-new pieces. To this day, it remains the most complicated watch ever produced by Richard Mille.

This tourbillon calibre has a 70-hour power reserve, a function selector and a g-sensor placed at the centre of the sapphire crystal. This last can be set with a simple twist to the g-force you wish to calculate (acceleration, deceleration, turn).

Caliber RM25-01: Manual winding tourbillon movement with 24-hour display, minutes and chronograph function, power reserve, torque and function indicators.

Diameter: 50.85 mm x 23.65 mm.

Power reserve
Circa 72 hours (numerical zone on the left of the barrel) .

Baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium
Baseplate and bridges are crafted of grade 5 titanium, a biocompatible, highly corrosion-resistant and remarkably rigid alloy, which enables the gear train to function effortlessly. The alloy is 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium. This combination further increases the material’s mechanical properties.
The skeletonised baseplate and bridges have been subjected to intensive and complete validation tests to optimise their resistance capacities.

Competition chronograph movement
Richard Mille engineers spent several months of work and research reducing the weight and optimising the calibre, especially the precision of time calculation over the long term. This has given rise to many innovations, such as the design and manufacturing of several titanium parts, like the levers, which reduce inertia and thus lower energy consumption by 50%. This made possible to significant alleviate friction on the axis and eliminate jumps and twitches of the chronograph hand during start or stop of the timer.
Operation: the chronograph function is stopped and started via the pusher located on the lower left at 8 o’clock. The hands are reset by pressing another pusher, located on the upper left at 10 o’clock.

Torque indicator
This indicator supplies information about tension in the mainspring, thus permitting an optimisation of the movement’s chronometric functioning. Below 53 dNmm, the spring is considered too slack, while above 65 dNmm, excessive spring tension can adversely affect the mechanism’s operation, or indeed endanger it (these indications appear on a numerical zone near 2 o’clock).

Function indicator
Similar to a car’s gearbox, the function indicator allows one to see the winding, neutral and hand-setting positions as the crown is pulled out.
The current position is indicated via a hand at 4 o’clock displaying the following functions: W (Winding) – N (Neutral) – H (Hand Setting).

Free-sprung balance with variable inertia
The free-sprung balance offers increased reliability in the event of shocks and movement assembly or disassembly, thus achieving better chronometric results over time. The index has been eliminated, allowing more precise and repeatable adjustment using 4 setting screws.

Fast-rotating barrel (6 hours per revolution instead of 7.5 hours)
This type of barrel provides the following advantages:

• The phenomenon of periodic internal mainspring adhesion is significantly diminished, thereby increasing performance
  
• An excellent mainspring delta curve with an ideal power reserve/ performance and regularity ratio.

Barrel pawl with progressive recoil
This device permits an appreciable winding gain (circa 20%), especially during the start of winding. It also aids in ensuring even distribution of the mainspring’s internal tension.

Winding barrel teeth and third-wheel pinion with central involute profile
The wheel with a central developing profile and a pressure angle of 20° promotes rolling movement more effectively by compensating differences between centres, thus ensuring excellent torque transmission with a distinct improvement in performance.

Modular time-setting mechanism fitted against the caseback
Provides the following advantages for longevity and maintenance:

• Since the component is mounted outside of the movement, the time-setting assembly can be changed without affecting the integrity of the baseplate in the event of a possible defect or during maintenance,
  
• The mounting and dismantling of this module from the back will not require removal of the hands or dial.

Spline screws in grade 5 titanium for the bridges
This permits better control of the torque applied to the screws during assembly. These screws are therefore unaffected by physical manipulation during assembly or disassembly and age well.

• Movement dimensions: 38.95 mm
  
• Thickness: 8.37 mm
  
• Tourbillon diameter: 12.30 mm
  
• Balance wheel diameter: 10.00 mm
  
• Jewels: 35
  
• Balance wheel: Glucydur®, with 2 arms and 4 setting screws
  
• Moment of inertia: 11.50 mg.cm², angle of lift 53°
  
• Frequency: 21,600 vph (3 Hz)
  
• Balance spring: elinvar by Nivarox®
  
• Shock protection: KIF ELASTOR KE 160 B28
  
• Central bridge in titanium
  
• Barrel shaft: nickel-free Chronifer® (DIN x 46 Cr 13 + S), with the following characteristics: stainless – antimagnetic – suitable for tempering

Case in carbon TPT® and titanium
Carbon TPT® is an exclusive material with a unique damascene appearance. Its remarkable surface displays extremely regular striations, as Carbon TPT® is composed of many layers of parallel filaments obtained by dividing carbon fibres. These layers, with a maximum thickness of 30 microns, are impregnated with resin, then woven on a special machine that modifies the direction of the weft by 45° between layers. Heated to 120°C at a pressure of 6 bars, the Carbon TPT® is then ready to be processed on CNC machines in Richard Mille’s parts factory.
The case of the RM 25-01 is water resistant to 100 metres, ensured by two Nitrile O-ring seals. The case is assembled with spline screws in grade 5 titanium and abrasion-resistant washers in 316L stainless steel.

Spline screws in grade 5 titanium for the case
This permits better control of the torque applied to screws during assembly. These screws are therefore unaffected by physical manipulation during assembly or disassembly and age well.

Compass
The compass consists of a fixed bezel and a rotating bezel, both crafted in DLC-treated grade 5 titanium, with sapphire glass. It attaches to the case with a bayonet mount. Its cover is made of Carbon TPT®, and includes a mirror with an opening at 12 o’clock that permits greater precision when orientating with the compass needle. The spirit level contained within a titanium bubble makes it possible to hold the watch exactly horizontal to improve accuracy when sighting with the compass needle.
Once removed, the compass can be affixed to Carbon TPT® baseplate. Ideal for orientation, this arrangement provides a number of indications, including engraved lines showing the direction to head in when following a course with a map.

Bidirectional daytime bezel
The titanium bezel can be exchanged for a ‘daytime’ bezel should the owner so desire.
This second bezel, in Carbon TPT® and grade 5 titanium, possesses marks for the four cardinal directions in addition to a 360° graduated disk and a 24-hour scale.
This mechanism relies on two pieces of information: knowledge of local time, and the position of the sun in the sky. The indications on the bezel of the RM 25-01 make it possible to orientate not only in the Northern, but also in the Southern hemisphere, without additional calculations, simply by choosing the appropriate scale.

Water resistant receptacle
This module, in grade 5 titanium, is hermetically sealed to stash water purification tablets that can make any source of water safe to drink.

Torque-limiting crown
This added security system prevents accidental overwinding of the watch, which can cause damage to the winding stem or place extreme pressure on the barrel spring.

Interior flanges
Upper flange in metal with black galvanic treatment; index filled with a approved luminous material. Lower flange in metal with black galvanic treatment.

Dial
In sapphire (thickness: 0.40 mm) with anti-glare coating (both sides), protected by 8 silicon braces inserted in the upper and lower flange grooves.

Crystal

• Bezel side: sapphire (1800 Vickers) with anti-glare treatment (on both sides)
  Thickness: 3.30 mm
  
• Caseback: sapphire with anti-glare treatment (on both sides).
  Thickness: 1.90 mm at the centre, outer edges 2.81 mm

Movement

• Hand-polished bevelling
  
• Hand-polished locking-sections
  
• Sapphire-microblasted milled sections
  
• Bridges hand drawn following PVD treatment
  
• Lapped and polished contact points
  
• Burnished pivots

Steel parts

• Sapphire-blasted and hand-drawn surfaces
  
• Screw slot and screws bevelled and polished with rounded and polished tip

Wheels

• Concave chamfering with a diamond tool
  
• Circular-finished faces
  
• Rhodium plating (before cutting the teeth)
  
• Minimum correction applied to the wheels to preserve geometry and performance.