Richard Mille unveils a Le Mans inspired edition RM 72-01 Le Mans Classic

The racing circuits always fascinated Richard Mille and in 2002, it led to the brand joining hands with the biennial Le Mans Classic race. And since 2008, the brand has been designing timepieces according to the colours of the event for every edition without fail. Now, the two-decade long association has led to another exceptional edition, the RM 72-01 Le Mans Classic, which mechanically resembles the brand’s pre-existing iteration 72-01.

The RM 72-01 Le Mans Classic has a 38.4mm x 11.68mm x 47.34mm tonneau shaped case crafted with white and green Quartz TPT, a material composed of over 600 layers of parallel filaments obtained from separating silica threads. Additionally, the case is screwed with 20 grade 5 titanium spline screws and abrasion-resistant washers in 316L stainless steel, and has three Nitrile O-ring seals, making the tripartite case of the timepiece water resistant up to 30 metres.

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The black titanium skeletonised dial has lume-coated hand and hour markers that glows green. There are accents of green, white, and orange and the Le Mans Classic nameplate is showcased between 10 and 11 o’clock, along with a large date window placed in a vertical aperture at 7 o’clock. The watch is a flyback chronograph, displaying hours, minutes, and the small seconds at 9 o’clock. The 24-hours counter towards the bottom of the dial has a digit highlighted ‘16’ in red, indicating the 4 PM traditional endurance race starting time. The flyback chronograph has two oscillating pinions mounted on rockers, controlling the start, stop, flyback and reset functions.

Additionally, the dial features a function indicator placed like a car’s gearbox towards the center, and allows for the winding, neutral and handsetting positions.Inside the case beats an in-house calibre CRMC-1 at a frequency of 4Hz, visible through the caseback; the model’s serial number also appears here. Furthermore, the skeletonised baseplate and the bridges are made with corrosion-resistant rigid alloy ( 90% titanium, 6% aluminium and 4% vanadium) for smooth functioning. The RM 72-01 LMC has a skeletonized platinum rotor with ceramic ball bearings combined with a one way reverser system. The tech-forward chronograph timepiece comes with a matching white rubber strap, and offers about 50 hours of power reserve, and is water resistant up to 30 m.