• Ultra-flat watch with a thickness of just 1.75 mm (1.18 mm for the movement)
  
• First watch born of the Richard Mille partnership with Ferrari
  
• New, patented ultra-flat escapement
  
• Limited edition of 150 timepieces

Sporting mechanisms that are as elegant as they are immediately recognisable. An identical obsession with excellence, precision, reliability and innovation. A common goal of uncompromising performance. In 2021, Ferrari and Richard Mille, driven by their shared quest for perfection, joined forces to create a long-term partnership. Richard Mille celebrates this budding relationship with the creation of an exceptional ultra-flat timepiece, the RM UP-01 Ferrari.

Breaking with the brand’s established stylistic codes, but faithful to its identity and spirit, this model once again rolls back the limits of the possible by taking up the ultra-flat challenge.

At just 1.75 millimetres thick, the RM UP-01 Ferrari constitutes a triumph of technical prowess and exemplifies a new approach to watch mechanics in which technicity more than ever dictates aesthetics.

A model resulting from many year’s work, dozens of prototypes and more than 6,000 hours of development and laboratory testing... Richard Mille was determined to retain a traditional architecture in which the movement is assembled within the case, rather than a construction in which the caseback doubles as a baseplate, in order to ensure under any circumstances total shock resistance.

“For such a project, it was necessary to set aside all the knowledge we had amassed over years of practice, and every conceivable standard of watchmaking,” explains Julien Boillat, Technical Director for Cases at Richard Mille. “This is precisely what we did throughout our collaboration with the laboratories of Audemars Piguet Le Locle. Shaving off those last millimetres of depth was an extremely demanding and lengthy process.”

The collaboration between Richard Mille and the Ferrari teams, most visibly expressed in the choice of materials and execution of the watch, also precisely lent the project the competitive spirit so essential in the most exhilarating adventures. The RM UP-01 Ferrari is an allusive piece to Ferrari’s values, developing sporting mechanisms that are as elegant as they are immediately recognisable. Their models make no concessions and frequently contradict current trends to create new aesthetical codes. The RM UP-01 Ferrari bears witness to this partnership of the best know-how these two iconic brands have to offer in the combination of their ideas, understanding, respective developments and shared values.

Meeting the challenge of an ultra-flat watch precluded a traditional movement with superimposed gears and hands. Richard Mille therefore opted to distribute what could not be stacked over a broader surface area by creating a perfect symbiosis between the movement and case, each ensuring the necessary rigidity of the other. The RMUP-01 manual-winding movement with hours, minutes and function selector – capable of withstanding accelerations of more than 5,000 g’s – thus boasts a thickness of 1.18 millimetres, a weight of 2.82 grams, and a power reserve of 45 hours.

To ensure optimal functioning of the going train, the baseplate and skeletonised bridges are crafted of grade 5 titanium, guaranteeing perfect flatness without compromising strength. The patented extra flat barrel is fitted with an extraordinarily fine hairspring and the architecture of the escapement was entirely redesigned. To reduce depth, the small plate of the balance and dart (guard pin) – two parts that prevent the anchor from slipping back during the free phase of the balance wheel’s movement – were eliminated. The new ultra-flat escapement, also patented, replaced these “anti-reversal” elements with an elongated fork with new horns. Likewise, the index was set aside in favour of a variable-inertia balance crafted in titanium whose six weights allow for fine-tuned calibration of the regulating organ.

To deliver a watch this thin, it was also necessary by rethinking the winding mechanism and to eliminate the winding stem, whose minimum diameter of 1.5 millimetres precluded its inclusion in such a slim watch. In its place, the two crowns, one for function selection, the other to utilise the selected function, have both been integrated in the case as movement wheels.

“Even in the realm of extreme flatness, we were determined to make a watch that met the same validation requirements as all our other models. In this quest for absolute flatness, we had to offer a watch that, far from being a ‘concept watch’, was up to the task of following a user’s daily life, whatever the circumstances,” concluded Salvador Arbona, Technical Director for Movements at Richard Mille.

As a material for the case – just 1.75 mm in thickness and water resistant to 10 metres – titanium was chosen for the advantages it offers in combining lightness and laboratory tested resistance. The two sapphire crystals, one over the time indicators whose hands are directly affixed to the wheels, the other positioned over the regulator (balance wheel-spring assembly) to showcase the movement’s operation, were also reduced in thickness to two tenths of a millimetre with a diameter calculated to ensure their resistance during testing phases. The narrow tolerance range and extreme slenderness of each part required the focus to be particularly meticulous and checked at almost every stage of machining. It was therefore natural that the decision to produce and machine the case in-house in our movement department was the logical step to take for the RM UP-01 Ferrari.

Like the prestigious Italian automotive legend – and consistent with the standards of the Richard Mille manufacture thanks to its extreme lightness, tonneau shape, spline screws, skeletonised bridges and level of finishing – the 150 limited-edition timepieces in the RM UP-01 Ferrari series combine innovation with performance, strength and aesthetics.

A work of surpassing prowess that meets the brand’s every expectation, ready to be worn under any circumstances.

The wheel of time turns inexorably on, shaping destinies to the tune of fortuitous encounters and founding partnerships on the bedrock of shared values. When the gears click, inspiration and passion harmonise in an eternal quest for perfection, with attention to detail the blazing focus of each heart and mind.

It is precisely this spirit that presides over the relationship between Richard Mille and Ferrari, two brands that are at once resolutely forward looking and eager to celebrate the traditions of their respective realms. Through this most intuitive of alliances, engineers and designers from the two brands pool their strengths, passionately striving to meet new challenges in single-minded pursuit of precision, reliability, innovation and excellence.

Naturally, Richard Mille felt compelled to celebrate this budding relationship by creating an exceptional timepiece. After many years of development, the RM UP-01 Ferrari has emerged, breaking with the brand’s usual iconography while remaining faithful to its identity, and once again pushing the envelope by taking up the ultra-flat challenge.

Breaking new ground, both technically and graphically speaking. A high-precision mechanism combining modern lines and performance, aesthetics and ruggedness. In short, a work of incredible prowess to meet the requirements specific to a watch that can be worn in any situation. A model worthy of the unconditional admiration that the prestigious Italian automotive brand inspires all over the world.

Ferrari has been designing legendary sports cars since 1947. In its 75 year history, these transalpine racing machines have won the most renowned competitions on roads and tracks worldwide. Maranello’s high-performance engines, with their deep-throated roar, have sung some of motor racing’s most glorious arias. For over 20 years,Richard Mille’s timepieces have been revolutionising the codes of Haute Horlogerie. Two brands that kindle strong feelings, both inspired by a desire for perfection. The meeting of two worlds that both worship at the altar of know-how, innovation and excellence.

Embarking on the unending quest to shave off yet another thousandth of a second. Defying all odds to meet insane technical challenges. Shaping the future by offering models that make zero concessions, vehicles for strong emotions. Not without reason did Ferrari and Richard Mille join forces in 2021, via a multi-year partnership that includes Formula 1, WEC endurance, GT racing and e-sport, which is gaining in popularity. United in their pursuit of top performance, the two manufacturers are engaged in the same passionate quest for excellence in their respective domains, sportscars and contemporary haute horlogerie respectively, two distinct realms with much common ground.

Founded in 1947, Ferrari is one of the most emblematic automotive brands in the world. Always ahead of its time, the brand has created some of the most renowned sportscars in history. These fixtures of the paddock have triumphed in the most famous races of all time, from the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Targa Florio and Mille Miglia to the Monaco Grand Prix... Scuderia Ferrari boasts no less than 15 driver’s championship titles and 16 constructor world championship trophies. These victories and experience on the track have allowed the minds behind the Prancing Horse to imagine the world’s finest supercars.

What Richard Mille may lack in years next to the brand’s prestigious partner, it more than makes up for by being daring. Since 2001, at Les Breuleux in the Swiss Jura, Richard Mille has been designing watches with strong personalities and unheard-of levels of technicity. These symbols of modernity and performance are developed with no regard for limits, whether in terms of complexity or investment in R&D. Richard Mille engineers have in common with Ferrari an obsession with innovating to the extreme, a head-stone from which new standards and records flow...

The aesthetics of a watch or a car stem not only from the architecture of its engine, but also the materials it is comprised from with the ergonomics or performance sought.

In the automotive world as in fine watchmaking, there is an especially close relationship between form and function, between the exterior appearance and internal components of the final work. Applied to horology, these principles signify that a compact calibre will guarantee resistance to extreme shocks or to free up space for a larger complication, whereas a larger movement will make it possible to arrange components for depth.

Both manufactures develop sporting mechanisms that are as elegant as they are immediately recognisable. Their models make no concessions and frequently contradict current fashion to create new aesthetic masterpieces. In terms of design process, the Italian marque has made a specialty of combining talents, weaving together art and science into a result that is always spectacular. Ultimately, the fluid lines of a Ferrari are born of perfecting its proportions.

As the answer to a technical and pragmatic question, each Richard Mille watch displays aesthetics that are decisive and daring. Just as Ferrari builds victorious race cars as well as luxury sport cars, each Richard Mille model squarely occupies an unprecedented niche, designed for a specific environment, whether that be motorsport, lifestyle, athletics or art. Tonneau-shaped, round or ultra-flat, each one respects the tenets that forged the brand’s reputation: a strong architectural dimension, uncompromising attention to detail, perfect ergonomics and, above all, elimination of the superfluous.

It’s all about going above and beyond and staying out of your comfort zone. To elicit this attitude, Richard Mille and Ferrari creations must be equipped with movements and engines capable of exceptional performance. These are spectacular mechanisms, veritable works of art to be admired with all their attributes on display. In the case of Richard Mille this is through the prism of a sapphire crystal, or even a case entirely machined from this precious material, for Ferrari, under a glass bonnet revealing the signature red cylinder-head covers and crankcase designed by Maranello legend.

Such radical transparency obviously calls for extreme finishing and absolute precision to perfect each detail. An identical attachment to rigour inspires both the engineers at Maranello, striving to gain that last thousandth of a second and those of Les Breuleux, toiling to shape cases and movements to a hundredth of a millimetre or checking weights to the milligram. These devotees of technicity revolutionise style codes by introducing innovative materials like carbon fibre or Kevlar in the case of Ferrari, grade 5 titanium, Carbon TPT® or graphene as regards Richard Mille. All materials used in cutting-edge industries including aeronautics, aerospace and orthopaedic surgery. The surface treatments applied are not merely selected to aesthetically enhance them, they also play an important mechanical role. PVD surfacing improves the plate’s resistance to wear while delivering very low friction ratings.

The Richard Mille / Ferrari partnership will offer the world watches that bear witness to this collaboration of the best know-how these two iconic brands have to offer in the combination of their ideas, understanding, respective developments and shared values. Expect exceptional models that jump-start emotion.

Anyone aiming for performance must invest the necessary energy to achieve their goal. Such is the price paid, including by the Richard Mille teams who decided a few years ago to take on the thinness challenge in watchmaking. After dozens of prototypes and thousands of hours in R&D and laboratory testing, the 1.75 mm thick RM UP-01 Ferrari is here to prove that the end result was worth the blood, sweat and tears it took to shave off the last few tenths of a millimetre.

From the very start of the project, the extremely demanding brief made the movement’s performance a priority, meaning it would have to be a calibre both extremely thin and equipped with a 45-hour power reserve with a balance beating at 4 Hz (28,800 vph). The manual-winding RMUP-01 movement with hours, minutes and function selector presents a profile of just 1.18 mm and weighs in at 2.82 grams.

To start with, we realised that a calibre with hands mounted on the movement wheels in the usual way would prove impossible. And thus, because the quest to reduce thickness is one of absolutes, the very conception of many components had to be entirely revisited. The approach selected was to distribute across a large surface area the elements that could no longer be stacked, creating a greater symbiosis between the movement and case, which mutually stiffens each other.

The baseplate and skeletonised bridges are consequently made of grade 5 titanium to guarantee perfect flatness without losing any strength and ensure optimal functioning of the going train. The patented extra-flat barrel has an extremely fine-gauge spring, while the escapement architecture was reimagined. In order to save height, the small plate of the balance and the dart (guard pin) – two parts that prevent the anchor from slipping back during the free phase of the balance wheel’s movement – were eliminated. The new ultra-flat escapement, also patented, replaced these ‘anti-reversal’ elements with an elongated fork with new horns. Likewise, the index was set aside in favour of a variable-inertia balance crafted in titanium whose six weights allow for fine-tuned calibration of the regulating component.

It was also necessary to rethink the winding mechanism and eliminate the winding stem, whose minimum diameter of 1.5 millimetres precluded its inclusion in such a slim watch. In its place, the two crowns, one for function selection, the other to utilise the selected function, have both been integrated in the case as movement wheels and ringed with black ceramic inserts that protect the bezel from any wear. An additional challenge consisted in ensuring their necessary water resistance, along with that of the case as a whole. This called for R&D as strenuous as that of the movement itself.

Titanium was chosen as the case material for its combination of lightness and resistance, as demonstrated by rigorous laboratory testing. Slimming certain segments of the case to an astonishing 0.18 millimetres certainly called for a metal with extreme stiffness.

The two sapphire crystals, one over the time indicator, whose hands are transferred directly to the wheels, the other positioned over the regulating organ (balance and spring assembly) to showcase the movement, have also been reduced to a thickness of 2 tenths of a millimetre, with a diameter calculated to guarantee their resistance during tests.

In addition to the 3,600 hours of development required for the movement must be added 2,400 hours of functional design and 2,000 hours of labour on the casing, with batteries of tests at every phase of development. As a result, the RM UP-01 Ferrari fully occupied all hands at both the technical offices and laboratories of Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet Le Locle.

The dense programme of tests included wear (notably a 10-year accelerated aging of parts), water resistance tests, torsional tests, flex tests and last but not least, hours and hours spent testing shock resistance, especially using the notorious pendulum (Charpy impact test), which certifies resistance to acceleration exceeding 5,000 g’s. The goal was not to design the RM UP-01 Ferrari as a concept timepiece that would make watchmaking history, but to ensure the 150 parts of this powerful series were fit for the purpose of daily wear.

Working collaboratively alongside the Ferrari team, expressed mainly in the choices of materials and the lines of the watch, lent the project precisely the competitive spirit so essential to most exciting adventures. In a definitive win, the RM UP-01 Ferrari successfully respects the principles of the manufacture thanks to its extreme lightness, tonneau shape, spline screws, skeletonised bridges and level of finishing — even in areas invisible to the eye — including components that are satin-finished, polished, microblasted and hand beveled.

Throwing over the traditional codes of watchmaking and rolling back the erstwhile limits of ultra-flat design, the RM UP-01 Ferrari delivers an unprecedented relationship between movement and case.

As the moment approached to unveil this extreme watch designed for everyday use, it was only right that we gather for an interview those who made this project happen, namely Yves Mathys, Head of Production, Salvador Arbona, Technical Director for Movements, and Julien Boillat, Technical Director of Exteriors & Casing. Through their discussion, they provide us a glimpse into the heart of the creative process...

Can you take us through the genesis of this project and the ultra-flat watch that is the first model to come from your partnership with Ferrari?
Yves Mathys: Richard Mille has always been a brand that defies the odds. Having earlier developed the RM 27-01, which was, at the time, the lightest tourbillon watch in the world at 18.83 grams inclusive of strap, we were eager to take up a new challenge by focusing our energy on conquering the difficulties of an ultra-flat watch. After creating the RM 67-01, with its in-house calibre just 3.6 millimetres thick, we aspired to further thickness reduction. Like Ferrari, which continuously seeks to gain another few thousandths of a second while racing, we fought to shave off the last hundredths of a millimetre to achieve the flattest possible watch. But those last dozen or so micrometres were hard won in a long and arduous process.

What was the brief for this watch?
Salvador Arbona: To combine slimness with performance. We wanted a movement with a 45-hour running time, a frequency of 4 Hz for the balance, a function selector... all in the thinnest imaginable package. It is worth pointing out that the movement’s depth of 1.18 mm is thinner than a compact Disc. Here, the minimal thickness precluded a traditional movement with superimposed gears and hands. We therefore decided to use all the available surface, while obviously forestalling all bulkiness of the case, by working with Julien to find the most optimal and ergonomic case shape possible.

Julien Boillat: We felt it was important to stick with a traditional watch construction, meaning a movement that is assembled in a case. We did not want to resort to using the caseback as the baseplate. We started from the rather long tonneau shape of the RM 67-01, with a casing thickness initially fixed at three millimetres, consistent with the usual watchmaking standards. This was still far too thick. It was imperative that we shed our years of experience and challenge all our standards if we were going to imagine a watch just 1.75 mm thick while upholding the brand’s technical and performance characteristics.

Did you ever doubt the feasibility of this project?
Salvador Arbona: It’s when you tell yourself something is impossible and set out to do it anyway that you push back your limits and make the challenge even more exciting. We’ve confronted this time and again — for instance when we were asked to make the RM 27-01 lighter than 20 grams, or to invent a vibrating alarm spinning at 5,000 rpm for the 62-01, or a watch that would withstand 10,000 g’s for Bubba’s RM 38-02. Every time we think it’s going to be impossible... and we know how the story ends.

Julien Boillat: In terms of casing, watchmaking standards stipulate a minimum section thickness of 0.35 mm in certain places. However, we are sometimes at 0.18 mm of material here. Extensive laboratory testing was necessary to ensure the components offered the needed strength despite this reduction in material at strategic points such as the caseband and caseback. The rigidity ensured despite ultraminimal thickness is one of the essential features of this model.

The RM UP-01 Ferrari is a highly unusual piece in the realm of Richard Mille…
Yves Mathys: Reaching this degree of flatness requires that you break with tradition. For this model, we step into a new world where the usual principles do not hold.

Salvador Arbona: As far as the movement goes, the technique, extreme lightness and hand finishing are shared with all our other models. Even if we’re working in the ultra-flat realm here, we wanted to make a piece worthy of the brand. To confirm its reliability, it had to meet the same validation requirements as all our other models. In this quest for absolute flatness, we had to offer a watch that, far from being a “concept watch”, was up to the task of following a user’s daily life, whatever the circumstances.

Julien Boillat: The design echoes many of the stylistic codes of our other models. Its finishing includes substantial bevelling, as well as satin-finished, polished and microblasted parts. The 13 spline screws that hold the case components and strap are also emblematic of the brand, as is the tonneau shape, even if it is here lengthened on the 3 o’clock – 9 o’clock segment. The Richard Mille identity is omnipresent in this watch.

What are the main innovations of this timepiece?
Salvador Arbona: To start with, there’s an extra-flat barrel, less than 1.18 mm thick, with an extremely thin hairspring. There’s also a new, patented, ultra-flat escapement, with a dart-free anchor that has an elongated fork fitted with new horns. The balance wheel in titanium is a first for the brand. Each element of the movement has been designed and treated to offer maximum flatness and reliability. The finesse of the gears is astonishing.

Julien Boillat: No other Richard Mille watch comes close in terms of interaction between the movement and case, especially the crowns designed without winding stems, which are neither more nor less than the wheels of the calibre itself. In the same vein, the hands are directly transferred to the wheels, eliminating the hands’ barrels to gain in thickness. The sapphire crystals have also been reduced to a thickness of 2/10^th of a millimetre, whereas our thinnest crystals were previously 8/10^th minimum.

How many prototypes did it take to arrive at the definitive version?
Julien Boillat: Just finding the ideal geometry required about ten 3D prints. Then, to arrive at the definitive mechanism, we made about twenty prototypes in various metallic materials. In the end, grade 5 titanium offered the best responses to the ageing and torsional tests.

Having worked with this material for years, we have perfect expertise of its machining and knowing its limits. This is what allows us to produce today such thin and resistant parts.

Yves Mathys: More than ever we were required to match our materials to technical requirements to arrive at the final thickness of this watch intended for everyday wear. Whether it be the movement or the case, it is important to emphasize that it was the joint endeavour with the laboratories of Audemars Piguet Le Locle that made it possible for us to shave off those last hundredths of a millimetre to reach the desired thickness, by multiplying trials and tests of material resistance. It was following these exhaustive studies that we concluded that the case would have to be machined in our movement department. The extremely low tolerance for error of each part required that operations be particularly meticulous and checked at almost every stage of machining.

How did you feel when you first held the final version?
Yves Mathys: After so many sketches, so much time spent developing this piece and prototyping it, I felt like a marathon runner crossing the finish line. We often had to go back and sort out issues, continue to develop, modify... Looking at the final piece, which is just incredible, I was overwhelmed with emotion, I had never seen such an object before.

Salvador Arbona: This watch is the result of a lot of work. Its unique relationship between the case and the movement provides a sensation without precedent among our other creations. As with all our watches, technicity dictates the lines of the product. But I think with the RM UP-01 Ferrari we have gone a step further by blurring distinctions separating the work of the case and movement engineers. From the very first sketches through design and production, our respective offices became a single entity.

Objective in mind, often developed with the help of top sportsmen and women for whom the notion of time is essentially a matter of performance. Expressed in horological terms, these considerations translate into watches designed to surpass commonly accepted limits in terms of time measurement and to adapt to the most extreme conditions.

No taboo is permitted to stand in the way of this quest for absolute results, which involves research into high-tech materials as much as it does rethinking movement architecture, including the development of new components. The RM 031 is an example of this, which, under the guise of an “orthodox” haute horlogerie product, offers an “engine” delivering extreme performance. In concrete terms, the model is equipped with a direct impulse escapement whose precision is due to the unmediated action of the escape wheel on the balance wheel, foregoing a Swiss anchor. Timed at a high frequency of 5 Hz (36,000 vibrations per hour) with two opposing Elinvar balance springs, this regulator ensures an unheard-of chronometric variation of between 0 to 30 seconds per month.

The impossible was also brought within reach for Rafael Nadal, a brand partner since 2010. The tennis player was able to demonstrate his talent with an RM 27-01 weighing 18.83 grams on his wrist! The timepiece truly achieves the extreme in terms of lightness and resistance with its monobloc carbon nanotubes case. At the heart of this feat is a tourbillon movement weighing 3.5 grams, featuring a novel and totally innovative architecture, held in suspension by four 0.35 mm-diameter steel cables connected to the case and held in place by an ingenious system of tensioners and pulleys. This structure, which protects the mechanism from shocks, can withstand accelerations of more than 5,000 g’s, i.e., that of a piston in a Formula 1 engine.

With the RM 27-04 Rafael Nadal, Richard Mille broke the brand’s own record. This 30-gram watch made of TitaCarb®, an exclusive material made of polyamide reinforced by carbon fibre injection — one of the world’s most resistant polymers — relies on the same concept of a suspended tourbillon movement. In this case, it consists of a screen made of a single braided steel cable, 0.27 mm in diameter, held together by two screw tensioners that stabilise the movement via five hooks secured to the back of the plate and withstands accelerations of over 12,000 g’s!

The architecture of such constructions should not, however, obscure the mechanical complexity of the calibres, particularly that of the RM 62-01. With 816 components, 2 barrels, 7 hands, 11 displays and a tourbillon cage, an engineer was to be dedicated full-time for five years to perfect its development. This watch, conceived for Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ), displays hours and minutes, with an oversize date, a UTC display, an AM/PM display, a function selector, a power reserve indicator, a vibrating alarm and an on/off indicator for the latter. Add to this the 200 parts that make up the case, and you have a surreal technical sheet that makes the RM 62-01 one of the most complex watches Richard Mille has ever created.

The RM 70-01, created in collaboration with former Formula 1 champion Alain Prost, also offers a highly complex mechanism, but dedicated this time to cycling enthusiasts, who now have a novel function in the form of a mileage counter totalizer. This device is housed in a Carbon TPT® case with a completely new ergonomic design, designed specifically for cyclists. With its lines reminiscent of a curved trapezium, the watch (which can be worn comfortably on the right wrist for optimum legibility when cycling) follows, as always with Richard Mille, the principle that function dictates form.

This approach has not failed to encourage the Richard Mille teams to constantly explore new areas, such as the properties of sapphire. The brand was indeed the first to integrate this incomparably hard material, initially in its movements and wheels with the RM 018 Hommage à Boucheron, and then in its cases, such as that of the RM 056 with a tourbillon and split-seconds chronograph. Given the difficulty of machining sapphire, which requires highly specialised diamond tools, it is clear that at Richard Mille, a challenge whets the appetite like nothing else.

Ultra flat patented escapement
The parts that add the most height in a traditional escapement are the dart (aka guard pin) and the safety roller. Both serve to bank the lever in case of shock. The new patented, ultraflat escapement eliminates both parts and resituates the banking function directly on the anchor fork. To do so, the fork itself was elongated and its horns modified. As a result, the dart-free anchor is significantly reduced in height.

Case in grade 5 titanium
The RM UP-01 has traditional architecture in which the movement is assembled within the case, rather than a construction in which the caseback doubles as a baseplate, in order to ensure under any circumstances total shock resistance. The entire case is machined from grade 5 titanium, a material offering great lightness combined with levels of resistance proven in the laboratory through a rigorous battery of tests.

Special designed crowns
To deliver a watch this thin, we integrated into the case two crowns, one for function selection, the other to utilise the selected function. This can be manipulated with fingers or a dedicated tool delivered with the watch. Surrounding the crowns, two black ceramic inserts protect the bezel from friction and to ensure water resistance.

1.75 mm thick
At just 1.75 millimetres thick, the RM UP-01 Ferrari constitutes a triumph of technical prowess and exemplifies a new approach to watch mechanics in which technicity more than ever dictates aesthetics.

Baseplate and bridges in titanium
These components in grade 5 titanium provide the whole assembly great rigidity as well as precise surface flatness, which is essential for perfect functioning of the gear train. They were subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to ensure they met rigorous optimal strength requirements. The calibre RMUP-01 can withstand accelerations of over 5,000 g’s.

Limited edition: 150 pieces

Calibre RMUP-01: Ultraflat manual winding movement with hours, minutes and function selector.

Dimensions : 51.00 x 39.00 x 1.75 mm



Power reserve: Circa 45 hours (±10%)

Baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium
The baseplate and bridges of the RM UP-01 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, which explains its frequent use in the aerospace, aeronautics and automotive industries.

These components in grade 5 titanium provide the whole assembly great rigidity as well as precise surface flatness, which is essential for perfect functioning of the gear train.

The skeletonised baseplate was subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to ensure it met rigorous optimal strength requirements. the calibre RMUP-01 can withstand accelerations of over 5,000 g’s.

Movement thickness : 1,18 mm

Function selector
Integrated into the bezel, the function selector located between 10 and 11 o’clock allows one to select the winding (W) or the hand-setting (H) function with a simple rotation of the crown.

Setting the time or winding the barrel is then possible by turning the second crown located between 7 and 8 o’clock.

Patented ultraflat escapement with variable-inertia balance wheel in titanium
In the course of developing the RM UP-01 Ultraflat, engineers from Audemars Piguet Le Locle and Richard Mille developed a new type of escapement with a balance wheel in titanium that drastically reduces the calibre’s thickness whilst providing the same security as a conventional Swiss anchor escapement.

The parts that add the most height in a traditional escapement are the dart (aka guard pin) and the safety roller. Both serve to bank the lever in case of shock.

The new patented, ultraflat escapement eliminates both parts and resituates the banking function directly on the anchor fork. To do so, the fork itself was elongated and its horns modified. As a result, the dart-free anchor is significantly reduced in height.

The escapement transfers energy to a variable-inertia balance wheel, thus ensuring great stability during assembly, disassembly and exposure to shock or strong vibrations. The movement thus offers optimal chronometric precision for an extended period. The regulator index is eliminated and a more accurate and repeatable calibration is possible thanks to 6 adjustable weights located directly on the balance.

Fast-rotating barrel (6 hours per revolution instead of 7.5 hour)
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.

Winding-barrel teeth and third-wheel pinion with central involute profile
The central involute profile of the winding-barrel teeth and pinion provides an optimal pressure angle of 20°. This promotes effective rotary motion and compensates for possible variations in the engagement of the going train, thus ensuring excellent torque transmission with a distinct improvement in performance.

Spline screws in grade 5 titanium for the bridges and 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.

• Movement dimensions: 41.45 x 28.85 mm
  
• Thickness: 1,18 mm
  
• Jewels: 23
  
• Balance: in Grade 5 titanium, 3 arms, 6 setting weights
  
• Moment of inertia 3 mg•cm², angle of lift 54°
  
• Frequency: 28’800 vph (4 Hz)
  
• Balance spring: AK 3
  
• Shock protection: Kif

Case in grade 5 titanium
The design and execution of the entire watch bears witness to a comprehensive conceptual approach to the movement and the case, which are developed in complete harmony. It represents the first appearance of this new and highly identifiable form within the Richard Mille collection. Its uncompromising slimness perfectly symbolises the Richard Mille philosophy of letting technique dictate aesthetics, once again transforming the tonneau shape and adapting it to new circumstances.

The RM UP-01’s case has the same characteristics and exhibits the same sleek lines and attention to minute detail, as the large number of manufacturing operations required for its bezel and its monobloc caseband and caseback attest. The entire case is machined from grade 5 titanium, a material offering great lightness combined with levels of resistance proven in the laboratory through a rigorous battery of tests. The monobloc construction also optimises rigidity while guaranteeing water resistance to 1 atm (10 m).

Due to the low profile of the RM UP-01, all the components are machined at the Richard Mille movement department to meet the extremely demanding machining tolerance of a single micron.

Surrounding the crowns, two black ceramic inserts protect the bezel from friction and ensure water resistance.

The caseback and bezel are satin-finished, with polished bevels. The iconic prancing horse and all the references present on the case are laser-engraved. This unique ultra-thin case is assembled using 13 grade 5 titanium spline screws and abrasion-resistant washers in 316L stainless steel.

Couronne dynamométrique
Ce dispositif de sécurité permet d’éviter le remontage forcé, source de problèmes, tels que le bris de la tige de remontoir ou la surtension du ressort du barillet.

Crystal

• Hour dial: in sapphire (1,800 Vickers) with anti-glare treatment (both sides).
  Thickness: 0,45mm
  
• Balance dial: in sapphire (1,800 Vickers) with anti-glare treatment (both sides). Thickness: 0.20 mm at the centre; 0.30 mm at the outer edges

Crown
In DLC treated 316L stainless steel

Movement

• Baseplate in hand-ground grade 5 titanium, wet sandblasted
  
• Bridges in grade 5 titanium wet sandblasted, top surface polished by hand
  
• Locking sections hand polished
  
• Burnished pivots
  
• Diamond-polished sinks on the bridge side
  
• Pinions with undercuts

Steel parts

• Microblasted and hand-drawn surfaces
  
• Sapphire-blasted surfaces
  
• Anglage and polishing by hand

Wheels

• Concave chamfering with a diamond tool
  
• Circular-smoothed faces
  
• Rhodium plating (before cutting the teeth)
  
• Minimal corrections applied to the wheels in order to preserve geometry and performance