Air April 2019

All images:
Promotional shots of the World
Champion French skier wearing his
RM 67-02 Alexis Pinturault, at a ski
clinic
AIR
collaboration with partners at the
pinnacle of their respective disciplines.
This made Pintu an ideal addition
to the brand’s athlete collective that
already includes the likes of tennis hero
Rafa Nadal, Jamaican sprinter Yohan
Blake and heptathlete Nafi Thiam.
Richard Mille maintains that these
brand friendships (he downplays the
word ‘ambassador’) are not reliant
on an individual’s success: the brand
stands alongside the athlete on their
career arc through ups and downs,
podium highs and injury melancholy.
Still, Pinturault’s triumph in
February had Richard Mille beaming
with praise, and at every twist and
turn on Swedish slopes, the soonto-be
champion was sporting his
specially-developed ‘RM’ watch.
The skier first dipped into the Richard
Mille suite of over 70 timepieces by
favouring the RM 035 NTPT Ultimate
Edition, and for two seasons of the
Alpine Ski World Cup he wore a version
with a case made of magnesium and
aluminium alloy. Then, Richard
Mille developed a timepiece with
the athlete’s name to it: the RM 67-
02 Automatic Alexis Pinturault.
It is a variant on the 67-01 Extraflat
Automatic template – a 50-hour power
reserve timepiece which Richard
Mille developed to adapt to different
sporting arenas, such as for tennis player
Alexander Zverev (where a red Quartz
TPT version of the 67-02 was primed for
his on-court battles), and another variant
for five-time World Rally Championship
victor Sébastien Ogier to keep time
when at the wheel of his Citroën.
Pinturault’s is deemed an ‘Extra Flat
in a sporty version’, and his own RM
67-02 namesake is decorated in the red,
white and blue of the French tricolor.
It’s a timepiece perfectly adapted for
skiing in extreme temperatures and
at high altitude, whilst maintaining
perfect ergonomics – as requested
by Alexis himself. Suffice to say, it
is both accurate and resilient.
The self-winding movement, called
the CRMA7, is machined out of grade 5
titanium. Richard Mille engineers explain
that each aspect of the mechanism was
subjected to extreme tests, to ensure
optimal strength; indeed, the brand’s
relentless research and development
testing pushes watch components to
the brink, in order for its timepieces
to emerge unscathed from the furnace
(or icy blast) of competition.
The CRMA7 is protected by a strong,
ergonomic case which – thanks to
cutting-edge composite materials –
feels barely there when on the wrist.
This is achieved thanks to Quartz
TPT, the famed Richard Mille registered
trademark material, composed of
over 600 layers of parallel filaments
obtained from separating silica threads.
It ensures exceptional resistance to
shocks, belying the slim profile of the
crystal/caseband/caseback assembly.
Despite the watch’s sizable 47mm
presence, the tonneau case is made of
this Quartz TPT (in white) and also
Carbon TPT, which keeps its overall
weight down to a remarkable 32g (indeed,
the RM 67-02 is the lightest automatic
watch in the Richard Mille collection).
There’s ingenuity in every millimetre of
this watch – right down to the seamless,
non-slip comfort band strap, developed
to fit like a second skin, an absolute
necessity at the highest levels of sport.
Pinturault has dedicated years of focus
to conquering the slopes, and is backed
by equipment that received equal focus
to become the best in the business.
“To make a mark on your sport,
you have to win everywhere. And to
win, you have to ski fast,” Pintu has
mused. Richard Mille can’t make time
go by any faster, but it has made its
mark on the watchmaking discipline
by ensuring that its timepieces
can prevail, almost anywhere.
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