Richard Mille and Ferrari launch second collaboration watch that’s approved by Lewis Hamilton

When two powerhouses of innovation come together, magic happens. Since announcing their partnership in 2021, Richard Mille and Ferrari have pushed the limits of engineering and design, blending high-performance watchmaking with the adrenaline-fueled world of supercars.

The partnership gave birth to the RM UP-01 Ferrari in 2022, a groundbreaking timepiece that became the world’s thinnest watch, measuring at a mind-boggling thickness of just 1.75mm.

The UP-01 was certainly an unexpected surprise. And now, three years later, Richard Mille and Ferrari have unveiled their second collaboration, but this time, no records have been broken.

Instead, the release is a reinvention of the watchmaker’s most complex high-complication format – the tourbillon split-seconds chronograph. The choice is a natural one, as the split-seconds chronograph fits into the automotive world, allowing one to stop one hand to measure an intermediate time while continuing to measure the total time, ideal for recording lap times on the track.

At first glance, the RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari looks rather restrained as compared to the more out-of-this-world UP-01. But the choice was deliberate. According to Alexandre Mille, son of founder Richard Mille and the brand’s commercial director, the RM 43-01 “is probably way more what people were expecting when we first announced a partnership between Richard Mille and Ferrari”.

“But it also shows that from now on, you will always be surprised,” Mille added.

A FERRARI ON THE WRIST

The watch was unveiled to press on Thursday (Mar 21) at an exclusive event in Paris, where Richard Mille’s headquarters are located. Present at the event, which took place at the Palais de Tokyo, was longtime brand partner and former Formula 1 driver, Felipe Massa, who shared his journey with the brand and personal stories of wearing Richard Mille watches to race during his career.

The RM 43-01 comes in two versions – microblasted titanium with a carbon TPT mid-case, and full carbon TPT. For those new to Richard Mille, carbon TPT is a specialised composite material favoured by the brand, made up of thin layers of carbon fibres stacked in a way that enhances the material’s strength and durability, while keeping it lightweight.

Each version is limited to just 75 pieces, bringing the total number to 150. Both feature Ferrari colours, with the more classic titanium version sporting touches of red and the high-performance carbon TPT with accents of yellow.

“We have two cases to express two distinct personalities – a ‘gentleman driver’s’ ethos for the titanium case, and a more high-octane attitude in the carbon version,” said Julien Boillat, Richard Mille’s casing technical director.

The watch sticks to Richard Mille’s signature tonneau shape, but Ferrari touches and inspirations are evident throughout, which will surely please race car enthusiasts. In fact, the Richard Mille design team collaborated closely with Ferrari’s Centro Stile, the design centre in Maranello, Italy.

Several details of the watch, from the shape of the pushers to the slight indent on the tonneau-shaped bezel, are inspired by design elements found in racing beasts like the 488 Challenge Evo, Daytona SP3, and SF90 Stradale. The strap also features the pattern of the Ferrari Purosangue seats.

AN ENGINEERING POWERHOUSE

Beyond aesthetics, the RM 43-01 calibre, designed in collaboration with Richard Mille’s long-time partner Audemars Piguet Le Locle (APLL), is an engineering masterpiece, comprising a staggering 514 components. It was developed from the ground-up over a period of three years, bringing multiple refinements to the split-second’s mechanism.

Exceptionally lightweight and strong, the intricate architecture rests on a highly skeletonised grade 5 titanium baseplate. Its engine is supported by bridges produced from both titanium and Carbon TPT. It delivers 70 hours of power reserve indicated at 2 o’clock on a 5N PVD titanium dial.

At the bottom left of the watch, a space was deliberately left open during the development of the movement. It’s filled with a titanium plate laser-engraved with Ferrari’s iconic Prancing Horse logo, the shape inspired by the rear wing of the 499P, a hybrid-powered race car built by Ferrari which made history by winning on its debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2023, and later again in 2024. 

DESIGNED FOR CHAMPIONS

A Richard Mille is no stealth watch, thus the RM 43-01, with its impressive engineering, naturally carries a hefty price tag. The titanium is priced at around S$1.96 million (US$1.47 million), while carbon TPT is priced at S$2.3 million. And no, you don’t have to be a Ferrari client to buy one.

The RM 43-01 has already won the approval of Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton, a seven-time F1 world champion also known for his impeccable style, stunned the racing world with his move to Ferrari for the 2025 season after over a decade with Mercedes.

To mark the watch launch, Richard Mille released a candid video featuring the two teammates playfully swapping the pieces around to see who gets to wear which version. “This is so light, you can drive with it,” Hamilton remarked, favouring the carbon TPT version because black looks better on his wrist. Jokingly, he added, “This one’s not going back,” hinting at keeping the watch for himself.

A third Richard Mille and Ferrari timepiece is already in the works, with the partnership between the two brands extended for another five years, revealed Tim Malachard, Richard Mille’s marketing director. “The idea is that we always come up with a new watch every 18 to 24 months. But the great thing is we have a very open relationship [that understands] it has to be the right product at the right time, rather than having to [launch a new watch] by the end of the year, because things take time in our business.”

The continued collaboration hints at even more groundbreaking designs in the future, as both brands strive to redefine what’s possible in the world of luxury timepieces and automotive-inspired engineering.

Will any records be broken the next time around? “Breaking records is not always on our minds. [We do it when] it’s relevant because it makes sense for who will be wearing the watch,” said Mille.

Mille added: “[The RM 43-01] doesn’t break any records and it doesn’t have to. It depends on what we are trying to express. For us, it was already a challenge to work hand in hand with another design department to see how we can come up with a watch that is still very, very much Richard Mille, but you can feel that it’s also a Ferrari.”