The Unofficial Start of Summer: Richard Mille Drops a Trio of Colorful RM 75-01 Flying Tourbillons

The official start of summer is still about six weeks away, but for me, the season has come early. I can always mark the unofficial start of summer when Richard Mille drops its first ultra-fun, bright, and bold models of the year.
 

In 2024, this moment came with the introduction of two beach-ready split-seconds chronographs housed in yellow and blue Quartz TPT bodies.
 

This year, we get the new RM 75-01, a trio of flying tourbillons in three colorful sapphire flavors.

The tourbillon is near and dear to Richard Mille. The RM 001 was the Maison’s first-ever model back in 2001, and it highlighted none other than the tourbillon. This watch was shortly followed by the RM 002, yet another tourbillon enhanced with two features making their world debut: a movement baseplate in titanium and a function indicator with winding, neutral, and hand-setting positions.
 

Since those early days of the brand more than two decades ago, the tourbillon has continued to be central to Richard Mille’s designs.
 

In fact, this year alone, we’ve already seen the Maison give us two takes on the complication with the RM 74-02 Automatic Tourbillon in Gold Quartz TPT and the brand’s latest collab with Ferrari, the RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph.

When you’ve iterated on the tourbillon so many times, you have to start getting creative – and, of course, creativity is where Richard Mille shines. That is why, for this collection, the brand gave itself a challenge: to design (for the first time) a movement specifically for a sapphire case.

The fully skeletonized RM 75-01 calibre was conceived as a sculpture to be fully displayed, using a sapphire case construction as its frame. Each component stands out, from its precision to its finishing, with the flying tourbillon and flying barrel taking center stage.
 

While Richard Mille may be considered a maximalist brand in many respects of innovation and aesthetics, this calibre aims to take a more minimalist approach, strengthening the visually pleasing appearance of the model.

For example, the titanium “baseplate” looks more like a lattice than a plate as it firmly holds the wheels with their involute-profile gear teeth, the tourbillon, and the barrel. The notable absence of upper bridges, which makes the tourbillon “flying,” further accentuates the skeletonization of the movement.
 

The sapphire construction, extending to all three case components (the bezel, caseband, and caseback), allows the movement to be fully appreciated. While each offers transparency, we also get a healthy dose of color in three different versions. The most neutral of the three is rendered in clear sapphire and gets some pops of brightness thanks to a sea-green strap and accents throughout.
 

The other two iterations take on a bolder approach with colored sapphire casebacks, one in lilac pink and the other in deep blue. The rosy lilac version is definitely the most playful, with the color extending to the bracelet, whereas the cool blue with its white strap is slightly more subdued.