Slim and ultra-slim movements have always been–outside of highly complicated ones such as chronographs and minute repeaters–a true hallmark of prestige and virtuoso achievement in the realm of fine watchmaking. Scaling down bridges, miniaturizing gear trains and escapements, to create ever thinner timepieces–all while dealing with the engineering obstacles of ever smaller margins for error, as well as the inevitable “Just where do we put all of this in this much space??”–has produced some stunning watches over the long decades, typically in the dress (or formal watch) segment, where the discretion of the resulting product has been a style point, as well as a bragging right for the wearer’s taste in haute horlogerie. But it has been the last several years that we’ve seen this peaceful arms race of sorts achieve entirely new heights of “Holy shit, how the HELL did they do that?“
First it was Piaget with the 2mm tall Altiplano Ultimate Concept in 2018, still an amazing feat. Then, last year Bulgari stepped up the game with the Octo Finissimo Ultra, besting the latter for the title of Piaget by nearly a quarter millimeter, at 1.80mm. Now, the hyper-coveted Richard Mille brand has trounced both of its competition with the so-called RM UP-01 Ferrari, which sniped Piaget at a full quarter millimeter. Yes, the entire watch, complete with its handwound movement, is a breathtaking 1.75mm in height! Even more remarkable than the sheer feat of producing a mechanical movement of this baffling wispiness, is the fact that Richard Mille were able to do it within a fully encased watch. Consider that the Piaget and the Bulgari both were aided by making the mainplate of the watch from the caseback, and the achievement notches up to pretty-near Olympian heights.
Some of the most impressive technical feats of the caliber, beyond the razor thinness, include a cool function selector to toggle between handwinding and setting features, and a relatively long power reserve of 45 hours, notable for so diminutive a mainspring barrel. Richard Mille’s UP-01 Ferrari possesses a remarkable resistance to shocks, thanks in part to the use of strong materials like titanium, and weight reduction through thoughtful open working. How shock resistant, you ask? 5000Gs is claimed, and that’s no mean feat for any mechanical watch, let alone one so impossibly thin, a construction that normally militates against durability. Then again, Richard Mille has made a point of producing high complications that perform in demanding applications like golf and tennis, activities that can be quite brutal on even the toughest of basic sports watches, let alone the heady stuff like tourbillons, split second chronographs…and now, the ultra, ultra, slim movement. Only this time, the partnership has shifted from the tennis court or golf course, to the race track, and the legendary Italian car manufacturer who has been dominant there. And, much like a high performance Ferrari engine, the escapement in the RM UP-01 Ferrari is innovative too, to allow for integration into basically nonexistent space, a proud product of AP’s prestigious movement partner Renaud & Papi, in conjunction with the Richard Mille brand.
Whether one might choose it so as to avoid detection by eager thieves–as it’ll be much less likely to draw notice, or even be seen at all, such is its razor slimness compared to any other Richard Mille timpiece–or, out of sheer obsession with bending horological engineering limits (and bank account bleed-out) to the breaking point, it’s clear that the RM UP-01 is very, very special indeed. Only close inspection reveals signature Richard Mille constructive elements, such as the unmistakable spline screws familiar from other models in the elite collection, as well as the overall exceptional attention to detail, but those who truly know will need no explanation. The production run of 150 pieces, and the price tag of over 1.8 million dollars certainly affirm that proclamation. Will the RM UP-01 be bested by another ultra-slim watch anytime soon? It scarcely seems possible…but we’ve said that before!
