Richard Mille RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph McLaren W1
Getting in the Driver’s Seat: A Closer Look at the RM 65-01 McLaren W1 from Richard Mille
A hyperwatch to match the automotive maker’s hypercar, this colorful chronograph strikes a delicate balance between the recognizable and the future.
By Rhonda Riche
Editor-At-Large
A supercar is a type of vehicle that, in its simplest form, can be called a street-legal sports car with racetrack-like power. A hypercar pushes performance beyond that of the exotic, especially when it comes to speed, acceleration, and rarity.
By this definition, the RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph McLaren W1 from Richard Mille must be a hyperwatch.
Last week, Richard Mille and McLaren announced their fourth collaboration, a technically appealing new timepiece. According to Richard Mille, the brief required the watch to reflect the cutting-edge, high-performance features of the W1 car in terms of its shape, materials, and functionality, as well as the “engine” that powers it.
Sure, it’s a very cool-looking chronograph; however, considering that a hypercar is designed to redefine the boundaries of the possible, we here at Watchonista were interested in how it would differ from past collaborative pieces.
Flying Colors
The new RM 65-01 McLaren W1 strikes a delicate balance between the recognizable and the future. Its muse is the latest Ultimate Series model and heir-apparent to the legendary F1 and P1, the 2.1-million-dollar McLaren W1 hypercar, which was also unleashed last week.
Watches like the RM 65-01 McLaren W1 and cars like the McLaren W1 create an immediate visceral reaction when you first see them because of their obvious superlative engineering. And any racing fan’s adrenaline will start pounding the minute they clock the papaya orange colors of McLaren’s livery on the RM 65-01 (mostly on the crown grip, a pusher, numbering, hands, and framing the inside edge of the bezel).
But similarities between the car and the watch run even deeper. In 2022, the Richard Mille team, led by Creative and Development Director Cécile Guenat, was given exclusive access to the first clay mock-ups of the W1 to gather inspiration from its compact shape and powerful lines.
The crew decided to use an aerial view of the car and its gill wing doors as its starting point. As a result, the look of the RM 65-01 McLaren W1 incorporates plenty of technical tricks, such as a Carbon TPT bezel that sits atop a satin-finished and polished grade 5 titanium second bezel.
This bezel construction is an example of the advanced engineering that defines the watch’s contours while making it the slimmest titanium bezel Richard Mille has ever produced – a mere five-tenths of a millimeter thick (or the equivalent of five Post-It notes) at its thinnest point.
Tech Specs
Every engine needs a good cage. The Richard Mille RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph McLaren W1 features a 43.84 x 49.94 x 16.19mm crafted from ultra-modern materials such as Carbon TPT and titanium.
Open work dials are a Richard Mille specialty, and this time, the design team has developed a new skeletonized titanium dial design based on the McLaren’s wheel rim patterns and detailed with more of McLaren’s signature hues, evoking the feel of a supercar dashboard and more importantly, enhance the practicality of the watch in use.
The skeleton signature gets a little twist thanks to the grey electroplasma treatment of the grade 5 titanium baseplate and black PVD and grey electroplasma treated grade 5 titanium bridges.
Tower of Power
Despite its aerodynamic aesthetic, for this “race car for the wrist,” functionality is the real star.
The RM 65-01 McLaren W1 – powered by Mille’s high-performance RMAC4 automatic chronograph movement, which beats at 5Hz (or 36,000 vibrations) per hour – is now the manufacture’s most complicated automatic watch.
This high rate of oscillation allows the split-second chronograph calibre to record elapsed times down to just one-tenth of a second. Meanwhile, the movement’s vertical clutch and two six-column wheels provide fast and precise activation of the chronograph feature.
This movement sits on a rubber-mounted chassis instead of a conventional casing ring. It features a “rapid winding” system that quickly charges the 60-hour power reserve using the special pusher made from orange Quartz TPT.
The robust 480-part movement and its variable geometry winding rotor which can be adjusted to the wearer’s lifestyle, are in keeping with McLaren’s “performance everywhere” principle.
Other high-functioning features include Mille’s celebrated “function selector” crown, which operates along the lines of a transmission selector by giving the option to choose between three different positions: “W” for “Winding,” “D” for “Date,” or “H” for “Hand-Setting.”
Pricing & Availability
The RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph McLaren W1 is a 500-piece limited edition and priced at $388,000. For more information, check out the Richard Mille website.
