Richard Mille Celebrates Ten Year Partnership With Rafael Nadal With Million-Dollar Tourbillon

Few brands have such long and strong relationships with their ambassadors as Richard Mille. The bond between the brand and Rafael Nadal, currently ranked world No. 2 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals, is already in its tenth year and has resulted in quite a few breathtaking watches in the last decade. Another one will be added to this as well, as Mille and Nadal teamed up once again for the RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal, a 50-piece limited edition costing $1,050,000 each, which is available exclusively at Richard Mille boutiques worldwide.

This watch is nothing short of breathtaking, as the ‘dial’ doesn’t only look like the strings of a tennis racket, but actually supports the entire movement. A single cable of braided steel with a diameter of only 0.27mm is strung in precisely the same fashion as a tennis racket, going through the hollow bezel 38 times and held together by two tensioners which Mille crafted from PVD-treated red gold. This mesh plays an essential role in supporting the movement as the back of the mainplate is connected to the string mesh through five grade 5 titanium hooks, which have been given a red gold PVD treatment and polished finish. This all ensures that the movement is capable of managing accelerations of over 12,000 g’s, a new record for Richard Mille.

Another extraordinary thing is that the watch, strap included, only weighs 30 grams. An important role to achieve this is played by the case, which is made out of TitaCarb. This material is exclusive to Richard Mille and the first time the brand is using it. It is a polyamide to which carbon fiber has been added, making it one of the most resistant, high-performance polymers in the world. The manual wind movement is fitted with a one-minute tourbillon and the usual Richard Mille features such as a fast-rotating mainspring barrel, barrel pawl with progressive recoil, and spline screws in grade 5 titanium. While the RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal is a very advanced and technical watch, it also features old school finishing, as is evident from the hand-polished beveling. Nadal is currently wearing the $1,050,000 RM 27-04 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal while playing in the French Open, a tournament which he has won in the past already 12 times.