Richard Mille debuts RM 52-05 Tourbillon Pharrell Williams
Talented, multi award-winning singer, songwriter and producer Pharrell Williams has long been a friend of high watchmaker Richard Mille, sporting many of its iconic timepieces. When Richard Mille suggested they work together on the first watch to bear his name, Pharrell looked deep into his childhood for inspiration, resulting in the RM 52-05 Tourbillon Pharrell Williams
Pharrell has always been fascinated by the sky, which was here before the Earth, before this Solar System. It’ll be here after us and nothing’s more meaningful than that. When he looks up at the sky, he feels that he is looking at God – the Alpha and the Omega.
The word Pharrell uses to describe his music is ‘subversive.’ His artistic world is all about shifting focus, looking for new perspectives in unexpected partnerships. He feels that we need things to ‘pop’ in this world. As humans, we spend our time looking out at the cosmos. The ‘pop’ on the RM 52-05 comes from totally changing our perspective a full 180°. It’s the moment we realise, staring at the watch’s face, that what we are peering at, through the vastness of space is … ourselves. Earth as seen from Mars. A distant and beautiful reflection trapped in the helmet of an astronaut.
The question was how to capture this sheer vastness within the confines of a watch face. The RM 52-05 rises to this artistic and technical challenge with the kind of ground-breaking ideas devotees of the brand expect from the Richard Mille Creative Development team. High-tech materials have been handled in miniature, using state-of-the-art technology and honed by the partnership of an engraver, an enameller, and a painter.
The technical innovations of the RM 52-05 tourbillon calibre are mind-bendingly innovative. Equivalent to a space shuttle, the baseplate that carries the movement is machined of grade 5 titanium through which it is possible to glimpse the grade 5 titanium bridges, skeletonised to evoke rocket launch platforms. It features large inserts in dazzling blue aventurine glass that evoke outer space and the confines of the universe with all its stars.
The astronaut’s helmet is sculpted in grade 5 titanium, hand-painted using indestructible paint to hint at all-pervading timelessness. As for the Red Planet itself, only red gold could bring to life its unmistakable hues. We are drawn into the dramatic Valles Marineris, named for the Mariner 9 Probe, humanity’s first envoy to our distant neighbour. The engraving captures the overpowering rock face, rising a daunting 7 kilometres above the russet sandscapes below. For this, it was necessary to achieve multiple colour changes in the enamel. Unlike traditional grand feu enamels, obtained by adding different pigments, the orange to red and blue to black gradients were made by superimposing layers and increasing the number of firings at 850 °C.
We become the astronaut. In the helmet, two white gold elements containing a black sapphire and two diamonds evoke the floodlights that light up our immediate surroundings. Against the skin, we feel the spacesuit composed of grade 5 titanium, painted white using an airbrush.
Other innovations complete this cosmic timepiece. The brown Cermet combines the lightness of titanium with the hardness of a ceramic. It consists of a metallic zirconium matrix associated with high-performance ceramic that gives the material its incredible brown hue with metallic reflections. The caseband is made of Carbon TPT, well-known in the field of aerospace. The hands and bridges on the back of the model have been skeletonised to evoke rocket launch platforms or satellite arms. The crown is based on the design of a rocket capsule. Even the rubber surrounding it sports the distinctive profile of a Martian rover tyre.
Only a very small crew of astronauts will be on board this unique mission to Mars. The RM 52-05 Tourbillon Pharrell Williams will be produced in an edition of 30 pieces. The little boy who grew up watching Star Trek in Virginia Beach is more than excited to be piloting the expedition.
