A flying tourbillon that weighs almost nothing.

Following Nadal's first-round defeat at the 2024 French Open, journalists began to acknowledge that 37-year-old Rafael Nadal's career won't last forever. The Spaniard is still the only tennis player with fourteen French Open titles to his name, but now he's making way for the younger athletes coming through.

He may be past the prime of his sporting career, but the tennis legend's long-term partnership with the watch brand Richard Mille is still paying record dividends. The latest result of Mille's first fateful meeting with Nadal way back in 2008 is their RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal watch.

The model weighs a mere 11.5 g. So it's overtaken the RM 27-01 released in partnership with the tennis player in 2013 by a long shot. It weighed in at 18.83 g. The RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal has set its own records.

The model is now the lightest watch in the brand's history and one of the lightest tourbillon watches on the market. In order to achieve these unique specs, the watch uses ultra-light materials for all components in the brand's standard tonneau-shaped case, which has an unusually modest case size of 37.25 mm × 7.2 mm.

The case is made of Carbon TPT B.4. The same method is used to make this material as Carbon TPT, which fans of the brand will be familiar with from other models.

What sets TPT B.4 apart is the increased angle at which the special machine modifies the direction of the weft in carbon fiber layers (from 45° to 70°), and the use of a new resin to impregnate all the layers.

The company promises that this results in a better strength-to-weight ratio. Carbon TRT itself is also present here — it's been used to make the V-shaped gear-train bridge in caliber RM 27-05.

This movement with a flying tourbillon has a power reserve of approximately 55 hours, and can withstand a g-force of up to 14,000 G. Titanium has been used for the mainplate. Availability of the RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon Rafael Nadal is limited to 80 pieces.