Richard Mille continues where it left off with the playfulness of the Bonbon series with a new stone-covered Talisman collection.
Colored from the strap, case, dial, buckle, crown, and even the rotor, the Talisman collection is an eruption of precious stones joined into a collection of ten models (only 7 pieces each) that represent the Disco-era of the ’70s. Cécile Guenat, Creative and Development Director at Richard Mille, comments: “The intense glamour of the disco era resided in a multiplication of colors and textures. I had to find a way to make this idea tangible. Working with the stones themselves proved to be a considerable challenge. Because stones of very similar hues can end up looking completely different depending on their size and the type of setting.”
Depending on the model, the watches contain anywhere from 817 to 971 stones. Sized at 52.20 x 34.40 x 12.50 mm in case size, the watches are powered by Richard Mille’s in-house caliber CRMT1 skeletonized automatic-winding tourbillon movement and are made with Grade 5 titanium, white gold, 18K red/white gold, yellow sapphires, diamonds, tsavorites, peridots, lapis lazuli, chrysolemon, and malachi.
Those interested in learning more about these works of art can head over to Richard Mille to see the entire collection.
In other watch news, Watchfinder & Co. unveils this year’s most sought-after luxury watches.
Last November, Richard Mille presented the new RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman, a collection comprised of ten models, each of them presented in a limited edition of 7 pieces and enhanced by a spectacular rainbow of precious stones.
Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, tsavorites, peridots, lapis lazuli, chrysolemon, malachite, mother-of-pearl, turquoise, pink opal and jasper are just some of the colourful elements used by Cécile Guenat, Creative and Development Director at Richard Mille, for these exclusive creations.Manufacturing these timepieces requires great skills and craftsmanship. After our introductory article (you can read it here), we are now delighted to share new pictures that highlight the beauty of these timepieces as well as the exquisite craftsmanships required to manufacture them. Just imagine that more than six months in total were spent just for researching and confirming the placement of the stones in their final configuration.
“A profusion of light in prismatic colours. An eruption of coloured stones.” – is how Richard Mille presents the all-new RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman collection for women. It comprises ten models, each presented in a limited edition of just seven pieces. Inspired by the essence of the ’70s nightlife, each piece in the collection is distinct through its combination of coloured gems, geometric patterns and contrasting colourful straps.
“I was immediately drawn to a very specific cultural era for inspiration very early on in the process; I was in a Studio 54 state of mind—listening to disco, funk and R&B,” explains Cécile Guenat, the Director of Creation and Development at Richard Mille. “This collection is so different from anything we’d done before, even if we had used some coloured stones in previous watches. The Bonbon collection helped us introduce this colourful and fun aesthetic to our audiences, and we decided to continue in that way.”
Cécile is the daughter of Dominique Guenat, who joined forces with Richard Mille to co-found the brand in 1999. The Guenat family’s involvement in the watchmaking industry goes back four generations from Cécile, when Ali Guenat became the owner of a small watchmaking enterprise in 1900. Today, this company is Guenat S.A. Montres Valgine, which oversees the manufacturing and distribution of all Richard Mille timepieces.
Cécile, who also happens to be the director of Richard Mille’s women’s collection, made her debut in 2018 with the RM 71-01 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman collection. The ten model collection fused tribal arts with Art Deco references using a palette of black, white, silver and gold. The colourways were achieved using a combination of precious stones and metals. This collection also debuted the brand’s first in-house automatic tourbillon movement – the CRMT1 tourbillon.
Last year, Cécile gave us the playful yet distinctly feminine RM 07-03 Bonbon collection, also comprising ten models. This collection was presented under two themes – Fruits and Sweets – featuring a total of 60 bright colours. The miniature sweet embellishments that decorated the timepieces were created by hand suing powdered enamel and fine sand, and finished in acrylic paint and lacquer.
This year’s RM 71-02 collection combines elements from Cécile’s previous two collections to produce an aesthetic that is original and bold in equal measure; drawing on “the untamed energy and raw glamour of the 1970s.”
Like Cécile’s previous two collections, the RM 71-02 also comprises ten models. Unlike the previous two, however, Cécile gave each model in the collection a feminine name – Bianca, Carmen, Diana, Donna, Gloria, Grace, Jane, Jessica, Liz and Paloma. These names serve a dual purpose: to reinforce their feminine character while also eluding to the highly symbolic choice of stones.
Each watch, depending on the design, may contain between 817 to 971 precious stones on a case with a dimension of 52.20 x 34.40 x 12.50 mm. The stones used include diamonds, sapphires, rubies, tsavorites, peridots, lapis lazuli, chrysolemon, malachite, mother-of-pearl, turquoise, pink opal and jasper, among others. Cécile and her team reportedly spent more than six months researching and confirming the placement of the stones.
The RM 71-02 becomes the second Richard Mille collection powered by the CRMT1 tourbillon calibre. This skeletonised and tonneau-shaped calibre has a diamond-set oscillating weight at the heart of its self-winding mechanism. Requiring around a thousand hours of development, the calibre is only 6.2 mm thick and weighs just eight grams. The integrated tourbillon cage weighs just 0.3 grams.
Developed for daily wear, this calibre is shock resistant to 5,000 g’s and has a power reserve of 50 hours. The mechanism has a bidirectional rotor with variable geometry, which enables its self-winding to be adjusted to the wearer’s activity level.
For the first time, watches in the RM 71-02 collection come with a full series of “coloured metallic” leather straps. Each piece of leather is given a patented “metallic leather treatment” to reinforce the impact of the coloured stones and to channel “the glamour of 1970s fashion.” Each piece is also embossed. The straps that attach above 12 o’clock have an understated botanical motif, while those that attach below 6 o’clock have geometric motifs to set off their jewelled cases. The two straps assigned to each watch have contrasting colours.
The Richard Mille RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman is now available in the region through authorised dealers.
Two years after the black and white shades of the RM 71-01 (you can read our presentation here), Richard Mille is launching the new RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman collection whose protagonists are the prismatic colours of the precious stones enriching the timepieces.Comprised of ten models, each presented in a limited edition of 7 pieces, the collection is somehow inspired by the club culture of the 1970s and the birth of electronic and disco music.
Diamonds, sapphires, rubies, tsavorites, peridots, lapis lazuli, chrysolemon, malachite, mother-of-pearl, turquoise, pink opal and jasper are just some of the colourful elements used by Cécile Guenat, Creative and Development Director at Richard Mille, for these exclusive creations.The precious stones are set in geometric motifs over the entire case as well as the dial thanks to an amazing work of craftsmanship.Just imagine that more than six months were needed to validate the stones’ positioning, size and type of setting to achieve the precise effect sought.
The ten models differ in the arrangement of their stones, their setting pattern, their engraving and the central decoration of the 0,90 mm thickness dial. All models are housed in 52.20 x 34.40 x 12.50 mm white gold cases and powered by the self-winding CRMT1 calibre that was originally developed for the Replica RM 71-01 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman collection in 2018.
The eighth in-house movement of Richard Mille as well as its first automatic tourbillon calibre, this skeletonised and tonneau-shaped calibre is just 6.2 mm thick and weighs only 8 grams. The mechanism incorporates a new automatic tourbillon that is particularly slim, ultra-high performance and enhanced with sparkling diamonds, mother-of-pearl, onyx and black sapphires. The baseplate protecting the tourbillon’s rotation remains open to preserve transparency.
Beating at 28,800 vibrations per hour and offering a power reserve of 50 hours, the new movement features a gem-set bidirectional rotor with variable geometry that enables winding to be adjusted to the owner’s activity level.
Richard Mille has unveiled the most colourful, exuberant collection to date—the RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman, a lineup of 10 models (each limited to seven pieces) inspired by the disco era and its unadulterated glamour and histrionics.
Trust when we say that this is the most extravagant work of craftsmanship from the Swiss watchmaking brand you may be feasting your eyes upon—the RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman features a combination of stones in myriads of colours to best represent the theatrical culture of the ’70s. We’re talking tsavorites, spessartites, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and more; while the ornamented dials are decked with talismanic precious stones including hematite (strength), lapis lazuli (vision), pink opal (healing), malachite (inner balance) and more.
“I immediately drawn to a very specific cultural era for inspiration very early on in the process; I was in a Studio 54 state of mind—listening to disco, funk and R&B,” said Cécile Guenat, Creative and Development Director at Richard Mille. “This collection is so different from anything we’d done before, even if we had used some coloured stones in previous watches. The Bonbon collection helped us introduce this colourful and fun aesthetic to our audiences, and we decided to continue in that way.”
Fun fact: The stones’ positioning needed more than six months to be validated to ensure that it exuded the precise effect that Guenat wanted.
“The intense glamour of the disco era resided in a multiplication of colours and textures,” Guenat said. “I had to find a way to make this idea tangible. Working with the stones themselves proved to be a considerable challenge. Because stones of very similar hues can end up looking completely different depending on their size and the type of setting.”
Besides the captivating colour palette and symbolic use of stones, the names of each RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman timepiece carries significance as well. All the watches bear women’s names, as Guenat wanted to conjure a group of empowered women with different set of strengths.
The RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman has the same CRMT1 calibre that was first presented in the RM 71-01 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman two years ago. The first automatic tourbillon calibre by Richard Mille, it is also the eighth in-house movement and an impressive technical innovation that required more than 1,000 hours of development. The calibre measures only 6.2mm, with a featherlight weight of only eight grams.
All 10 models boast different setting patterns, stone arrangements, engraving and even the central decoration of the 0.9-mm-thick dial. Another beguiling element of the collection is the series of bracelets that have been specially designed for each model. Subtle vegetal motifs have been embossed on the bracelets, each featuring two shades and given a metallic treatment. Guaranteed to turn heads, the RM 71-02 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman is truly a lesson in artistic expression, steeped with the ageless freedom and indomitable allure of the ’70s.
