On the wrists of Wayde van Niekerk and Mutaz Essa Barshim during the World Championships in Athletics at the Olympic stadium in London, the public will have an opportunity to discover the new creations from Richard Mille, the RM 67-02 Sprint and the RM 67-02 High Jump, both sports versions of the RM 67-01.

Olympic Gold medallist and world-record holder for the 300 and 400 metres, the pluridisciplinary athlete Wayde van Niekerk is the only sprinter to have run the 100 metres in under 10 seconds, the 200 metres in less than 20 seconds, the 300 metres in less than 31 seconds , and the 400 metres in under 44 seconds. He will be joined by the new Richard Mille partner, Mutaz Essa Barshim, Mr. High Jump himself. An Olympic medallist twice over, the native of Doha has turned in the four best performances worldwide in the last five years, proving he has everything it takes to become this discipline’s new record holder, twenty-four years after Javier Sotomayor.

The desire to create a watch that was so uniquely adapted it was practically a second skin for the athlete, permitting a sort of ‘symbiosis’ with the athlete was the guiding ambition that propelled this new development. Starting with the idea of lending a sporty feel to the RM 67-01, whose lightness, thinness and ergonomics made it a perfect candidate, the Richard Mille teams reworked its lines to highlight its athletic qualities. The incorporation of 4 extensions, in addition to being a hallmark of the brand’s sports watches, contributes to reinforcing the case structure.

The case is crafted in Carbon TPT® and Quartz TPT®, composite materials exclusive to Richard Mille possessing exceptional shock resistance. The slimness of the 7.8 mm bezel / caseband / caseback assembly in no way reduces its physical properties, nor its ability to handle any situation that might occur while engaging in high-level sports.

The secret of Quartz TPT® lies in its layering of silica laments with a maximum diameter of 40 microns. These are assembled by a dedicated machine that modi es the fibres’ orientation by 45° at each layer, then impregnated with three newly developed coloured resins: crimson for the RM 67-02 High Jump associated with Mutaz, who is Qatari, and two—yellow and green—used in the 67-02 Sprint, for Wayde’s native South Africa. The Carbon TPT® employed for the caseband is produced according to the same process, but using carbon fibres.

The tight, taut lines of the rotor, crafted of Carbon TPT® and white gold, the bridges and the DLC-coated grade 5 titanium baseplate of the new in-house extra at CRMA7 calibre sharply underscore the sporty quality of this timepiece. The at least two hours of machining time required to achieve such extreme skeletonisation of the baseplate are themselves made possible by hundreds of hours devoted to programming and adjusting specialised machinery.

The going train, optimised by adoption of an involute pro ling of gears that produces a 20° angle of pressure, ensures excellent transmission of power to the barrel thanks to its variable-inertia balance, thus guaranteeing constant performance for 50 hours.

With its satin-finished, bevelled hands and sharp lines, the calibre CRMA7 actively conveys a sense of power and strength. The dial, whose lines echo those of the movement, is machined from a sheet of titanium only four tenths of a millimetre thick. Treated with a black DLC coating, it is then painted by hand in the colours of each athlete’s flag.

For superlative wearing enjoyment of the RM 67-02, Richard Mille has equipped these timepieces with their new comfort strap. Entirely seamless and non-slip, the strap is highly elastic, allowing it to perfectly t the contours of each wrist, adapting to individual morphology. As the lightest strap the brand has ever created, it has helped lighten the RM 67-02 to just 32 grams. This makes the RM 67-02 the lightest automatic watch of the Richard Mille collection.

Mutaz, Wayde and Yohan Blake will be outstanding representatives of Richard Mille in London. We offer them our full support in the upcoming world championships, and wish them an exceptional competition.

I am a huge fan of sports, motorsports certainly, but not exclusively. What inspires me in sports are performance and technique. Since antiquity, athletes have had the power to fascinate. These gods of the stadium are winning machines, yet no less human for all that; it is precisely this paradox which has always interested me. How far can you push the limits, while retaining your soul and values, a descendant worthy of Pierre de Coubertin, inventor of the modern Olympic Games? These are gripping questions not only for athletics, but for life. When I first met Wayde, I already knew I was facing one of the fastest men of all time, but it was his personality more than anything else that captivated me. It goes beyond a relationship to time, which we naturally share, or the quest to always shave off some hundredths of a second, beyond a perpetual search for innovation. My imagination immediately told me what watch he might wear. A sporty, beefed up version of our extra flat RM 67-01, able, like Wayde himself, to fly over obstacles and over the track.

How did your collaboration with Richard Mille begin?
I met Richard in the Spring 2016, when my agent introduced me to an intriguing gentleman I knew nothing about, except that he was wearing an amazing watch. I had no idea who he was at first. But, within a minute, I was captivated by the story he told me about what he was doing in the watch industry, and the sports personalities he was working with. After hearing the whole story, I was naturally interested when he offered me the opportunity to join the Richard Mille team, and this chance meeting blossomed into a new friendship.

Time and speed are at the heart of your life, but what is your personal relationship to time?
When I am off the track, time is a very relative thing... A minute can feel like an hour, a week like a month. But in practical terms, I am a very punctual person, because I associate punctuality with respect. In my career, however, it is an entirely different story. Time is very important, important even down to the smallest fraction of a second imaginable. So, I am personally always physically chasing time to improve myself, improve my speed and just trying to improve as an athlete. Every second and fraction of a second makes such a difference to an athlete’s career it’s crazy. In the end, time means an progress for me.

What were your discussions with the Richard Mille teams like during the development of your watch?
The most important thing for me was comfort, and Richard was really interested in what makes me comfortable. I was very involved with the strap and the overall appearance of the watch. It relates to me and to where I come from, with the inclusion of the South African flag, incorporated into the design of the watch movement and colours.

What do you expect from your RM 67-02?
The power reserve of an automatic winding wristwatch like this is definitely a bonus for me. It makes it easier to just put it on and go, and not worry about winding it all the time. I can also relax with this watch, as Richard explained to me in great detail how tough it is inside and out. It can really take a lot of shocks, so I don’t have to worry about it during sports events with the fast movements and shock my body gets exposed to.

What are the common points between the watch and your discipline? technology and performance?
Within my discipline there are a lot of different aspects that an athlete must take into account in order to produce record times: training, nutrition, rest etc. And a great wristwatch also has a lot of aspects that come together to shape it and allow it to work so effortlessly. Every part contributes to the performance of the whole watch. In Richard’s watches, every detail is important and nothing is super-fluous; the same applies to me as a sportsman dealing with challenges in the domain of microseconds that differentiate winning and losing.

Case in quartz TPT®
Quartz TPT® is composed of over 600 layers of parallel laments obtained from separating silica threads. These layers, no thicker than 45 microns, are saturated in new resins (yellow and green) developed specially for Richard Mille in the athlete’s national colours, then inserted between layers using an automatic positioning system that changes the orientation of the fibre between each layer by 45°.

Gear teeth profile
The entire going train of the CRMA7 calibre utilises a special pro ling for the teeth of the wheels that produces a 20° pressure angle. This provides an excellent transmission of torque to the balance wheel, thus ensuring superlative chronometric performance.

Calibre CRMA7
The seventh in-house designed Richard Mille calibre is machined in grade 5 titanium. Every aspect of this mechanism was subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to ensure optimal strength.

Gear teeth profile
The entire going train of the CRMA7 calibre utilises a special pro ling for the teeth of the wheels that produces a 20° pressure angle. This provides an excellent transmission of torque to the balance wheel, thus ensuring superlative chronometric performance.

Dynamic case
These crenetions are a characteristic of Richard Mille sports pieces distinguishing them from the lifestyle models while strengthening their structure.

Comfort strap
The brand developed this new elastic strap, known as a ‘comfort’ band, especially for watches worn by the athletes of the Richard Mille family. It offers an alternative to Velcro® for even more lightness. The reinforced elasticity of this entirely seamless and non-slip strap allows it to perfectly fit the contours of each wrist, adapting individual morphology, improving comfort even further.

As early as 2013, the brand seized an opportunity to work with Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake on a tourbillon watch made of a carbon-nanotube composite featuring revolutionary ergonomics in the form of an asymmetrical shape. One leitmotif of Richard Mille since the very beginning has been opening horology to active collaboration with partners at the pinnacle of their respective disciplines, and the brand excels at combining technicity with sportiness. Among the over 70 models in the RM collection to date, there can be found a watch designed for regattas, and others specially produced for rally driver Sébastien Loeb, for instance, or polo player Pablo Mac Donough.

The RM 67-02 Automatic Sprint is faithful to this philosophy. For his latest addition, Richard Mille wished to update the extraflat RM 67-01 by adding a sporty quality to its rare elegance. The development engineers were given a single directive to comply with: to create a watch that would guarantee, under all circumstances, the genuine ‘symbiosis’ between the athlete and his watch which the demands he is subjected to by his sport practice render absolutely crucial.

The celebrated formula ‘Less is more,’ appropriated by Mies van der Rohe to describe his ardent Minimalism, applies with perfect accuracy to the RM 67-02: the essential edges out all superfluity. There are hours and there are minutes. Its innovations lie elsewhere, largely in its lightness and resistance, achieved thanks to the signi cant means deployed in its production. The calibre is protected by a case made of Carbon TPT® and Quartz TPT® —composite materials exclusive to Richard Mille—which ensures exceptional resistance to shocks despite the slim pro le of the crystal / caseband / caseback assembly, a mere 7.80 mm thick.

At the heart of this watch, ready for every possible contingency of high-level sports practice, beats the brand’s seventh in-house calibre, the CRMA7, with its especially taut, finely honed lines. The filigree rotor, crafted of Carbon TPT® and white gold drives the grade 5 titanium movement. The baseplate and bridges crafted in this material are given a black DLC coating. Following the several hundred hours required to program and calibrate the machines, a minimum of two hours of milling is required to create the extreme skeletonisation of a single baseplate.

The teeth of its gears employ a highly original involute pro ling that guarantees optimal transmission of power from the barrel to the variable-inertia balance wheel for the entirety of its 50-hour running time. The lines of the movement are complemented by the dial, which is machined from a sheet of titanium just four tenths of a millimetre thick, then finished with a black DLC coating and painted by hand in colours representing the outstanding South African athlete.

The quest for extreme wearer comfort in the RM 67-02 is the driving force behind a new comfort band. No timepiece deserves the name ‘sports watch’ if its strap doesn’t meet the same requirements as its case. Entirely seamless, the non-slip and hyper elastic qualities of the strap allow it to perfectly fit each wrist by adapting to individual morphology. This strap’s lightness made it possible to bring the weight of the RM 67-02 down to 32 grams, making it the lightest automatic watch in the Richard Mille collection.

A few years later, when it came time to produce a new watch developed with Felipe Massa, the RM 009, engineers at Richard Mille took on a fresh challenge—lightening the case. Despite the difficulties involved in its machining, they settled on ALUSIC®—a proprietary acronym for aluminium, silicon and carbon alloys previously reserved for use in satellites—to protect the titanium tourbillon movement.

• Profiling and aerodynamics
  
• Lightness
  
• Ultra-resistant materials
  
• Nothing superfluous
  
• Skeletonised movements
  
• Aggressive aesthetic

The RM 009 weighed in at 30 grams, becoming the lightest watch of its era. Today, the RM 27-01 holds this title, dividing the previous record almost in half, at 18.83 grams including its strap and carbon-nanotube case. These new materials, as well as those subsequently added, like the Carbon TPT® and Quartz TPT® employed in the RM 67-02, are all machined in-house by Richard Mille, and are optimally suited to watches subjected to extreme forces.

Bespoke innovations distinguish a number of the brand’s other creations, including its sports watches, which, much like a racing car, are all about essentials. Function dictates form, always, and their greater and more complex skeletonisation of the calibre provides a lighter, more open appearance, while preserving shock resistance. The three-dimensional quality of the skeletonisation on display in the RM 38-01 Bubba Watson and RM 27-03 plays a decisive role in the rigidity and extreme compactness achieved. An RM 27-03, for example, can withstand 10,000 g’s.

With their racy lines, the cases of our latest sports watches af rm their dynamic qualities more clearly than ever, while their curves have been updated without in any way losing their character. With its slim pro le and extra-dynamic lines, the RM 27-01 ushered in a new era at Richard Mille. Designed to structurally reinforce its case, the extensions surrounding the screws that rst appeared on this model quickly became iconic of the brand’s sporty pieces. Meanwhile, the tonneau shape has been regularly reinterpreted to meet speci c conditions of operation for the sports gures who wear them. This includes the asymmetric RM 59-01 Yohan Blake, the armoured RM 053 Pablo Mac Donough, and the extra at RM 67-02.

At Richard Mille, every aesthetic development is motivated by a particular technical imperative. The RM 67-02 bears witness to the collection’s technical and artistic evolution just as it reflects the day-to-day research and development conducted alongside our sports partners.

For Richard Mille, there is more to life than watches. There are also straps —as witness the latest of these, which completes the RM 67-02.

For over a decade, Richard Mille partners have amassed a stunning record of performances while wearing their watches, in no small part because these t like a second skin. Also, the ergonomics and wearer comfort of watches remain a constant concern of the brand.

Since the brand first launched, athletes have been at the heart of research and development efforts. The ergonomics of straps, how they are affixed to the case, and the materials used to make them are all the subject of uncommon scrutiny, ensuring their ability to withstand the most punishing conditions. The first ever ‘bespoke’ watchband was designed for Felipe Massa, who wanted a rubber strap that would maximise air ow. The elegant design of this accessory—made of hypoallergenic material— presents wide louvers that echo and extend the lines of the case without jeopardising its 20-kilo mechanical resistance, and has proved a lasting success. A few years later, Rafa’s RM 027 was to receive a double-closure Velcro® strap. Flexible, comfortable and vibration resistant, its totally reliable closure enabled a customised t. These qualities were to catch the attention of another Richard Mille partner, Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean, as freeing him up to wear his watch outside his overalls.

The new comfort strap is Richard Mille’s response to all the high-level athletes out there who feel they have a right to expect maximum comfort during their exertions. To meet this challenge, the engineers studied one of their key accessories: shoes. Lightness, support and the transmission of sensation—the footwear studies yielded precious information processed by Richard Mille to provide the innovation of this seamless woven bracelet which requires no buckle for closure. A special weave guarantees high elasticity, accommodating a wide range of movements. It also offers optimal breathability, avoiding any risk of slippage on the part of the watch subjected to intense forces. Lastly, it would be hard for a band to be lighter than this buckle-free strap reinforced with titanium inserts where it joins the case.

Rubber, polyurethane, Velcro® and more... every material used at Richard Mille is exhaustively scrutinised for its flexibility and reactions to temperature variations. We owe it to each of the champions we work alongside that, regardless of their discipline, we can guarantee the flexibility, comfort and hypoallergenic qualities of their watchbands.

Calibre CRMA7 : Automatic skeletonised winding movement with hours and minutes.

Dimensions : 38.70 x 47.52 x 7.80mm.


Power reserve: Circa 50 hours (±10%).

Baseplate and bridges in grade 5 titanium
Grade 5 titanium with black DLC treatment confers great rigidity on the baseplate, as well as precise surface flatness, which is essential for the perfect functioning of the gear train. The bridges are also in grade 5 titanium, with a grey DLC treatment. These components are satin-finished, microblasted and bevelled by hand.

The skeletonised baseplate and the bridges have been subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to ensure optimal strength.

Free-sprung balance with variable inertia
This mechanism guarantees greater reliability when subjected to shock, and during movement assembly or disassembly, hence better chronometric results over time. The regulator index is eliminated, and a more accurate and repeatable adjustment is possible, thanks to 4 small adjustable weights located directly on the balance.

Rotor in carbon TPT® and white gold
Relying on a rotor made of Carbon TPT® and white gold, combined with the OneWay® winding system, which has ceramic ball bearings, the barrel can be efficiently wound while maintaining the compact dimensions of an extra-flat, skeletonised movement.

Fast-rotating barrel (5 hours per revolution instead of 7.5 hours)
This type of barrel has the following advantages:

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

Gear teeth profile
The entire going train of the watch, the primary transmitter of power throughout the movement, utilises a special profile for the teeth of the wheels. Developed specifically for the calibre CRMA7, the wheels maintain a 20° pressure angle.

This system equalises any discrepancies that might arise between the centres of each wheel, for instance during thermal changes and normal use, and promotes an excellent transmission of torque to the balance wheel, thus supporting superior chronometric characteristics.

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 unaffected by physical manipulation during assembly or disassembly and age well.

• Movement dimensions: 28.40 x 31.25
  
• Thickness: 3.60 mm
  
• Jewels: 25
  
• Balance: CuBe, 4 arms, 4 setting screws
  
• Inertia of moment 7.5 mg.cm2, angle of lift 50°
  
• Frequency: 28,800 vph (4 Hz)
  
• Balance spring: AK3
  
• Shock protection: INCABLOC 908.22.211.100 (transparent)

Case
The front and back bezels of the RM 67-02 are made from Quartz TPT®. This material, which possesses a remarkable damascene surface is composed of layers of parallel filaments obtained from separating silica threads.
Quartz fibres are generally used for very high-performance applications due to their resistance to high temperatures, their strength and their transparency to electromagnetic waves.
Fibres are aligned in layers no thicker than 45 microns and saturated in three new resins developed specially for Richard Mille: green and yellow for the Wayde van Niekerk version and crimson for the Mutaz Essa Barshim version. These layers are then stacked using an automatic positioning system that changes the orientation of the fibre between each layer by 45°. After being heated to 120°C and subjected to a pressure of 6 bars they are machined on a CNC machine at Richard Mille’s manufacturing facilities.

The caseband is machined from Carbon TPT®, a material produced using an identical process to Quartz TPT®, but from carbon threads.

The complete case construction is water-resistant to 30 metres thanks to two Nitril O-rings, and is assembled with 12 spline screws in grade 5 titanium and 316L stainless steel washers.

Spline screws in grade 5 titanium for the case
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.

Upper flange
In carbon; index points filled with approved luminous material.

Dial
In grade 5 titanium, DLC treated and hand painted.
Thickness: 0.40mm

Crystal
Bezel side: in sapphire (1,800 Vickers) with anti-glare treatment (2 sides).
Thickness: 1.00 mm
Case back: in sapphire with anti-glare treatment (2 sides)
Thickness: at the centre 1.00 mm and outer edges 1.75 mm


Movement

• Microblasted anglage
  
• Microblasted milled section
  
• Microblasted sinks
  
• Grey and black electroplasma treatment for the baseplate and the bridges

Steel parts

• Satin-finished surfaces
  
• Anglage hand polished
  
• Hand-polished sinks
  
• Burnished sections

Profile-turning

• Lapped and polished ends
  
• Burnished pivots
  
• Post faces polished

Wheels

• Concave chamfering with a diamond tool
  
• Diamond-polished angles
  
• Circular-finished faces
  
• Rhodium plating (before cutting the teeth)