Unveiled at SIHH 2016, the Richard Mille RM 50-02 ACJ Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph draws its inspiration from aeronautical designs and innovations. ACJ stands for Airbus Corporate Jets.
To create this exclusive timepiece, Richard Mille has partnered with Airbus, a world leader in the application of novel approaches to aeronautical design, in particular those aircraft created for personal clients by its Airbus Corporate Jets (ACJ) unit.
The RM 50-02 Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph was designed by Sylvain Mariat, Head of ACJ’s Creative Design Studio in association with Julien Boillat and Salvador Arbona of Richard Mille R&D Office.
The RM 50-02 Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph makes use of advanced, open worked design elements in the internal design of bridges and base-plate in grade 5 titanium, along with an extensive application of skeletonisation to every possible area, offering significant weight reduction. A number of parts within the movement have been coated with a distinctive, special aeronautical coating normally used to protect engine and chassis parts from corrosion and environmental conditions.
This timepiece offers a visually breathtaking and dramatic view of the technical interior of the split seconds chronograph movement which also technical repercussions such as the elimination of the initial jump of the chronograph seconds hand during starting and stopping, with new split seconds components also in titanium additionally lowering the chronograph’s energy consumption through the reduction of internal friction.
The new RM50-02 tourbillon calibre also hosts a power reserve indicator (70 hours) between 11 and 12 o’clock, a torque indicator that supplies information about the tension of the mainspring allowing the optimisation of the chronometer function and a function indicator to show the watch’s state in each of the positions for winding, neutral and Hand setting.
The very distinctive and novel case shape in Titanium-Aluminum alloy (TiAl) with a secondary ceramic bezel was developed to mirror the outlines of an ACJ’s typical window shape with a clearly visible, multilayered hull structure surround. This Titanium-Aluminum is the same alloy as that used in the Airbus for its jet turbine blades, which must function safely under the convergence of high temperatures and high fields of pressure, thus requiring a very strong and highly stress resistant material. A premiere for the brand, this is also the first time the iconic Richard Mille screws around the outer edge of the bezel have been replaced by Torq set® screws with their distinctively shaped head slots, and a jet engine inspired crown bearing an engraved, wave patterned Airbus logo.
The tourbillon RM 50-02 ACJ is a limited edition of 30 pieces, only available in the Richard Mille boutiques.
