The Richard Mille RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon by Rafael Nadal sets a new record for lightness

If you’re looking for a watch with remarkable lightness and superlative performance, then the Richard Mille RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal could be the watch for you.

The watch weighs 11.5 grams excluding its strap and can withstand a g-force of 14,000 – a two-fold record for a manual winding tourbillon watch.

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The RM 27-05 project may have launched in 2019, but its story is rooted much earlier.

“I still remember the day in 2008 when Richard contacted me to discuss working together. It was unthinkable for me, as I’d never worn anything on my wrist. It all came together in 2010, when he came to visit me in Mallorca. As a joke, he first presented me with a very heavy platinum watch. When I reacted as you might expect, he quickly held up a prototype of the RM 027: a surprisingly light watch with spectacular lines,” recalled Rafa Nadal.

Since then, Nadal has seized one victory after another with a Richard Mille watch on his wrist, with each iteration aiming to be lighter and more comfortable than the previous model.

This latest model, the RM 27-05, features a movement, based on the ultra-thin RMUP-01 calibre. It has a power reserve of 55 hours and incorporates a flying tourbillon that oscillates at a frequency of 3 Hz.

Its PVD-treated titanium baseplate is optimally skeletonised and hand-finished (even the hidden parts). The bridges are also made of grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT to make them even lighter.

The result? The calibre measures 3.75mm thick and weighs just 3.79 grams.

Around 4,000 hours of work went into designing the calibre and case. No screws are holding the movement to the case, instead, the entire mechanism rests inside the monobloc back/caseband unit, which is then topped by the flange and bezel. The whole assembly presses down on the calibre to hold it firmly in place.

What gives this model a major advantage is a new composite. Carbon TPT B.4 (developed over five years with North Thin Ply Technology) is an optimised anisotropic material that makes it possible to machine the case to ever-thinner cross-sections.

Compared with earlier Carbon TPT, the new composite is 4% denser, the fibre 15% stiffer and the resin 30% stronger. These values make it possible to lighten the whole watch without losing stiffness.

This weave creates the X-shaped ridge on the caseback that the movement rests on. The calibre is positioned 5/100ths of a millimetre from the caseback on six support points.

Various calculations, multiple simulations, tomography (X-ray) and numerous impact tests were used to develop and test prototypes. This eventually allowed the RM 27-05 to withstand extraordinary accelerations over 14,000 g.

The RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal will be available in a limited edition of 80 pieces. The price is available upon request.

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About

As Buying Guide Editor, Spencer is responsible for all e-commerce content on Stuff, overseeing buying guides as well as covering deals and new product launches. Spencer has been writing about consumer tech for over eight years. He has worked on some of the biggest publications in the UK, where he covered everything from the emergence of smartwatches to the arrival of self-driving cars. During this time, Spencer has become a seasoned traveller, racking up air miles while travelling around the world reviewing cars, attending product launches, and covering every trade show known to man, from Baselworld and Geneva Motor Show to CES and MWC. While tech remains one of his biggest passions, Spencer also enjoys getting hands-on with the latest luxury watches, trying out new grooming kit, and road-testing all kinds of vehicles, from electric scooters to supercars.