Style Edit: Richard Mille’s 72-01 Lifestyle In-House Chronograph is an everyday watch that is nevertheless another study in innovation and precision engineering in titanium and ceramics

Jun 30 , 2023

The RM 72-01 Lifestyle In-House Chronograph. Photos: Richard Mille

A dedicated team worked for 30 months on the design that is slimmer than if a vertical clutch was used, according to Salvador Arbona, technical director for movements at Richard Mille

A patent application has been submitted for the double-clutch chronograph, the first flyback chronograph entirely developed and designed by Richard Mille

Richard Mille watches are modern-day classics among luxury timepieces; tonneau-shaped marvels feted for their innovation in design, materials and movements. The latest offering – the RM 72-01 Lifestyle In-House Chronograph – though less outwardly flashy than some models, is no different.

The brand’s first in-house flyback chronograph, it features a double-oscillating pinion mechanism that took a full 30 months to develop. Unsurprisingly, after such efforts, a patent is pending for the design.

A patent is pending for the RM 72-01 Lifestyle In-House Chronograph’s double-oscillating pinion.

“This pinion, which can enmesh or withdraw from the gear teeth, has been twinned. There’s now one for the minutes and another for seconds. This system is thinner than a vertical clutch, which would be hard to fit into the heart of the movement,” says Salvador Arbona, technical director for movements at Richard Mille.

The innovative double clutch has a double impact: keeping the Calibre CRMC1 slim at a willowy 6.05mm, despite it containing a whopping 425 components; and also meaning that the chronograph function has little impact on the watch’s power reserves.

The RM 72-01 in available black ceramic.

That’s handy, considering the 24-hour and 60-minute counters positioned at 5 o’clock and 2 o’clock respectively that let you keep track of a long drive, or the time spent on a time-sensitive project.

One of the most striking features of the dial? The three counters are colour-coded – the blue accented one for seconds, the orange for minutes and the green for hours. As a visual counterbalance, the numbers 3, 8 and 11 are highlighted, creating an interesting asymmetry.

The RM 72-01 openwork caseback is a hallmark of Richard Mille designs.

The mechanism was imagined and manufactured in Les Breuleux, Switzerland, the home of Richard Mille, with all this precision viewed through another brand hallmark: the openwork case back.