zelin0802 / August 2, 2022

Resist the urge to draw parallel lines between Mssr. Miller’s business model and the plot of the Emperor’s New Clothes, let’s take a look at this watch that sells for the equivalent of eating at the world’s most expensive restaurant with 459 of your closest friends. . .

The highlight here is the big-name player – Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal. A decade ago, Miller struck a sponsorship deal with Lafite. The exact terms of the deal are unclear, but the Swiss watchmaker is sure to pick a winner. Make it a winner. Wikipedia:

Nadal has won 19 Grand Slam singles titles, the second-most titles by a male player in history, as well as 35 ATP Tour Masters 1000 titles, 21 ATP Tour 500 titles and the 2008 Olympic singles gold medal and 2016 Olympic singles gold medal. Olympic singles gold medal. Doubles.

In the majors, Nadal has won a record twelve French Open titles, four US Open titles, two Wimbledon titles and one Australian Open title, and has won at least one each year for ten consecutive years (2005-2014). Grand Slam champion. Nadal has won a total of 85 career titles, including the most outdoor titles in the Open Era (83) and a record 59 clay-court titles.

To upgrade the Nadal watch racket, Mille’s men mastered the art of turning a watch into a tennis racket.

The Richard Mille RM 27-04 ditched the PC-less but more nostalgic option of using a catgut, relying on 0.27mm steel cables to hold the movement in place. The tourbillon-driven motor is attached to the cable via five gold-colored titanium hooks. Hand weaving net machine can withstand shocks exceeding 12,000 Gs.

Like all his watches, the RM 27-04 has more sleeves than Transformers, including a TitaCarb® case (high tensile strength), a fast-turning barrel (ideal power reserve/performance and regularity ratio), Tourbillon dampers (to damp tourbillon vibrations), nitrile rubber O-rings (to stop the shuttle from exploding) and barrel pawls with progressive recoil (to lure the wealthy Bernie brothers).

Legibility isn’t a big factor, those fire-engine red Wankel engine rotors compete with similarly-colored hands and tiny triangular indexes for attention.

It’s ok. Mille used his bones to create watches, to Patek Philippe what Formula 1 was to the Auburn Boattail Speedster.

That said, an F1 car needs all of these technologies to go faster. Mille’s club’s sandwich-thick tech farragos end up doing better than a quartz Seiko — let alone a Citizen Satellite Wave GPS or Apple Watch.

The Richard Mille RM 27-04 is different from this cheesy wholesale watch fare. Like Patek Philippe, Mille stakes its demands on customers’ cash on itself with its sophistication, build quality, and exclusivity above all other factors.

The real question about RM 27-04: Mssr. Is it ok? Miller sells fifty? Should he?…