Richard Mille’s RM 53-01 tourbillon is designed to cope with rigours of polo

Apr 2 , 2018

Richard Mille created the RM53-01 watch to resist the knocks of polo, and reveal the beauty of its movements.

SIHH 2018

Tourbillon has special laminated glass created in collaboration with renowned sapphire specialist Stettler

Luxury watchmaker Richard Mille has created a tourbillon timepiece that can take the knocks of a physical game

of polo.

Knocks are part and parcel of top-class polo, especially in countries such as Argentina where the big games attract sizeable crowds.

“Polo is a dangerous sport,” Mille says. “Hard knocks are a regular occurrence. It’s a

very elegant game but also a contact sport.”

So the maison created a watch, the RM 53-01, that it says “could resist the many types of shocks arising in a polo match”.

Richard Mille also collaborated in its design with Argentine polo star Pablo MacDonough. Their aim was to create a shock-absorbing, durable watch, and also to highlight the beauty of the house’s signature mechanical movements inside.

Richard Mille put a thin Polyvinyl film between two sheets of sapphire glass to make them shatterproof.

As a result, the tourbillon has a special laminated glass that was created in a collaboration with Stettler, a world-renowned sapphire specialist. The maison put a thin Polyvinyl film between two sheets of sapphire glass to make them shatterproof.

It’s the first time such technology has been used in a wristwatch, although its use is not patented exclusively to Richard Mille.

Polo is a dangerous sport. Hard knocks are a regular occurrence. It’s a very elegant game but also a contact sport

Richard Mille, luxury watch brand