Hands-on Reviews, Richard Mille

Richard Mille – RM35-02 Rafael Nadal in Red Quartz

Today, I’d like to show you a watch, which is light as a feather, red as a heart and expensive as hell – Richard Mille RM35-02 Red Quartz.

Richard Mille – watchmaking brand, which is well-known for creating funky-looking watches for various athletes like tennis players or golfers. Serious following amongst super rich watch collectors.

These days everything is becoming simpler – you don’t need to be a tennis player to be a tennis player, you merely need a Richard Mille. They use ‘weird’ materials for their creations, which we can call ‘exotic’, instead of ‘weird’. In this case, RM35-02 features a special case made of quartz, making it extremely lightweight and shock-resistant.

I’m still not quite convinced about Richard Mille watches and honestly, this cheap velcro strap certainly does not do a work in making me like the brand. Though, their rubber straps with a double deployment clasp are on point.

As for a case shape, well… some say RM watches look ridiculous, ugly, like toy watches, to certain degree it’s true, for couple of years I thought so as well. The truth is that after a while, when you have a chance to play with these expensive toys, you start to appreciate the way they look, they work and feel on a wrist. It’s almost the same thing as with Hublot watches that are being hated by various watch collectors. Though, RM watches are more sophisticated and expensive.

Annoying thing about them – they are both comfortable and expensive as hell. My wrist of ‘petite’ size feels really good with a massive case that RM35-02 has. 44.5mm x 50mm only looks scary only on papers, this enormous size is barely noticeable, once you have worn the watch for a while. 

I really wish to test its amazing shock-resistance by chucking it against a wall or dropping it from a 50-storey building. I would gladly accept any RM watch for test purposes.

This watch is not your perfectly legible companion and it shouldn’t be one. It features a skeleton see-through movement, mounted on four bridges. The key to shock-resistance and overall durability is to create a watch, which weighs nothing and has less parts, which could possibly be damaged. Titanium is your best buddy, hence Richard Mille made sure there’s enough of this material inside their watches. 

I’m definitely not an expert in terms of this brand, I haven’t worn enough of their watches – my journey has just started, that’s why I will hold up with my enthusiasm over Richard Mille. When I was doing a post about RM016, I was strongly against the brand, right now, when I get to play with these timepieces, I’m starting to understand the whole concept behind them, though the price point will be really hard to swallow with an average price above £100,000.

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