Driving out beyond the horizon, so to speak, in the world of watchmaking is no easy feat, but Richard Mille watches are suitably jaw-dropping in evermore impressive ways. The same could be said of Ferrari, and the legendary automaker just partnered with the pioneering luxury horologist in the new RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari.
Billed by the automaker as a “Ferrari on the wrist,” the timepiece carries on Richard Mille’s penchant for the fantastical, from a stunning $1 million watch to an ultra-luxe, somewhat more affordable $353,000 quartz grey legend. The partnership is a fitting pairing given Ferrari’s lineup of covetable cars and its stable of lightning-fast Formula One drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. It also marks the second timepiece from two iconic companies, on the heels of the 2022 RM UP-01 Ultraflat Ferrari.
Richard Mille notes that the supremely intricate timepiece cements the company’s idea that, together with Ferrari, “performance is no longer an objective but a standard. Richard Mille enlisted the help of Audemars Piguet Le Locle in devising the meticulously delicate watch, which boasts a 54-component movement in a manual-winding caliber design.
Hamilton and Leclerc showcase the watch to great effect, while the timepiece manages to blend the detailed, precise nature of both a tourbillon and a split-seconds chronograph (the sort of utility that could come in plenty handy on the racetrack). Inspiration comes from places both unlikely and expected, right down to Ferrari’s Purosangue seats and signature Centro Stile.
The watch is certainly built to go the distance: Without its chronograph running, its power reserve holds for about 70 hours. A grade 5 titanium baseplate ensures further durability and bolsters the watch’s carefully crafted caliber movement, while its bridges take cues from Ferrari’s engine design and use both grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT.
And as Richard Mille sagely notes, “like a V12 in automotive engineering, the split-seconds chronograph is the most refined mechanism in timekeeping,” a fitting choice for this highly limited-edition watch, one that also makes use of the most complicated movement design from the celeb-favorite horologist.
Just 150 total units of the luxurious timepiece are available, an even split of 75 in two different exquisite yet hard-wearing case materials (Carbon TPT and an exceptional build of microblasted titanium and Carbon TPT). Good luck getting your hands on either variation: Pricing starts at a cool $1.3 million for the titanium option, and climbs to $1.535 million for the RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari. in Carbon TPT. Start your engines, indeed.
