As the 2017 Wimbledon Championships approach, we spotlight the newest timepiece worn by, and developed in cooperation with, one of the world’s top tennis players: the Richard Mille RM 27-03 Rafael Nadal. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this 50-piece limited edition with a six-figure price tag" It’s a quartz watch! (Well… not in the way you’d normally expect. Read on.)
The Richard Mille RM 27-03 Rafael Nadal has a case made of Quartz TPT; its colorful surface is achieved through a proprietary process.
The Richard Mille RM 27-03 Rafael Nadal ? the latest timepiece to spring from the Swiss brand’s partnership with the Spanish tennis champ, which began in 2010 ? instantly grabs attention with its distinctive yellow-and-red color scheme, a nod to the 10-time French Open winner’s native country. But take a closer look at the colorful, tonneau-shaped case and you’ll see there’s a lot more going on than an eye-catching paint job. The case ?like that of one of last year’s special Nadal watches, the RM 35-02 ? is constructed from Quartz TPT, a material whose colorful, textured surface is created by impregnating quartz fibers just 45 microns thick with tinted resin in a proprietary process developed for Richard Mille by North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT), a Swiss firm that specializes in lightweight prepreg materials. (The watch manufacturer also worked with NTPT on its groundbreaking RM 50-03 McLaren F1 model, its ...