Richard Mille wrist watches are the perfect combination of tacky and ugly. Yes but – they’re masterpieces of high tech materials and engineering! Which is a bit like saying “Look! The world’s most fire retardant paper hat!” Enter the Richard Mille RM 020 Tourbillon Pocket Watch . . .
The PR pic above reminds of the TV that hangs over my dentist’s chair in an attempt to distract me from the sharp pointy spinny things poking around my teeth and gums. Only the Mille TV set is held in place by the business end of a scorpion.
The 62mm tall X 52mm wide Richard Mille RM 020 Tourbillon Pocket Watch has all the hallmarks of a Mille abomination, from the curving carbon nanofiber composite case, to the star-like screws bolting the bits together, to the inelegant combination of unadorned mechanical bits under the crystal.
Compare that movement to this Bunn Special railroad grade pocket watch:
OK, the Bunn doesn’t have a tourbillon or power reserve indicator. But there’s a functional elegance to it that the Mille can’t touch. And the dial’s legible. Check out the Mille pocket watch’s caseback:
If this pocket watch sounds like it looks, it whirs instead of ticks. But it must be better than listening to the BS on Mssr. Mille’s website . . .
The first pocket watches were great technical achievements, bringing timekeeping to the world of the private and personal for the very first time in history. It preceded the appearance of the wristwatch by several centuries.
With our deeply held aesthetic convictions and experience in mechanical technology, we were keen to revisit and radically modernise the concept behind this archetype for a long time.
Deeply held aesthetic convictions? Explain this (I tried):
It’s not enough to modernize a pocket watch. Mille wants to modernize the concept of a pocket watch.
Which is to say F centuries of round pocket watches. Let’s make a square watch that digs into the owner’s flesh – attached to a chain suitable for a Rottweiler. A watch that reminds buyers they paid a gazillion dollars for a watch they have to extract from their pocket to remind people that they paid a gazillion dollars for a watch.
Is it me or is the model showing us what you should never do around a police officer? Too soon? Let’s go back to the tape . . .
Taking advantage of the more generous dimensions of the RM 020 format to emphasize its architecture, we felt free to stretch and accentuate the curve and camber of the case.
The rhomboid shape of the chain links is a clear reference to the Column of the Infinite by Brancusi, the brilliant 20th century sculptor. In the presence of this piece, we oscillate between the two utopias of absolute time and infinite space.
In case you haven’t already run that through wikipedia, the chain’s inspired by Brancusi’s “monument commissioned by the National League of Gorj Women to honor those soldiers who had defended Târgu Jiu in 1916 from the forces of the Central Powers.”
But you knew that, right? I mean, the reference is clear.
As for the design “oscillating between the two utopias of absolute time and infinite space,” I reckon Mille’s ad copy oscillates between absolute pretentiousness and infinite snobbery.
Don’t get me wrong. The Richard Mille pocket watch is a thoroughly modern Millie.
The Bunn and its ilk are defeated by magnetic fields and easily broken. Mssr. Mille’s creation laughs at magnetism with a Nivarox® anti-magnetic balance spring and nickel-free Chronifer® balance shaft. It’s jolt-protected by KIF Elastor KE 160 B28 anti-shock protection. Not to mention the titanium torque limiting crown (above).
But wait! There’s more!
The pocket watch comes equipped with a barrel pawl with progressive recoil (“distributes the mainspring’s internal tension”), winding-barrel teeth with third-wheel pinion with a central involute profile (“promotes effective rotary motion and compensates for possible variations in the engagement of the going train, ensuring excellent torque transmission with a distinct improvement in performance”) and a Zircon endstone for the Tourbillon cage (“eliminates wear”).
There will be a test. But not of this watch. Given my comments about Mssr. Mille’s watches, the chances of me rhumba-ing with the rhomboid for a review are lower than the odds I’ll write for HoDinkee. As for affording the price-unknown piece, I don’t think so.
On the positive side, Mr. Mille’s pocket watch indicates that interest in the genre is increasing. Makes sense. With the smartwatch decimating the traditional watch industry, quartz and mechanical pieces are rapidly becoming a nostalgia sell. What could be more nostalgic than a pocket watch? Except this one.
So the chain is integral? Obviously this is to be worn around the neck a la Flava Flav, but the chain seems to short. Was there not a time where compactness was a sign of technological advancement? This is total devolution
Same kind of tasteless idiots that go for Lamborghinis, are attracted to this crap.