Spirit of sportsmanship in carbon.

In December, the company Richard Mille launched a third version of their RM 35-03 model. This watch was first unveiled in 2021 as the result of a collaboration with Rafael Nadal. In this partnership, the watchmakers at Richard Mille have set themselves ambitious goals that take the brand ambassador's spirit of sportsmanship into account.

For instance, they created the lightest tourbillon watch at the time, which can be worn on court after activating the "sport mode" to disengage the rotor during tournaments. RM 35-03 is the watch with this feature, which houses caliber RMAL2.

This innovative movement is equipped with a "butterfly" rotor. This butterfly only spreads its wings (two segments made of titanium arms with heavy metal other metal) when "sports mode" is activated by pressing the pusher at 7 o'clock.

Spreading these elements prevents the movement from accumulating energy, eliminating the risk of excessive winding. Deactivating this dynamic mode forces the butterfly to fold its wings back into the shape of a traditional semicircular rotor, and launches it back into motion.

The pusher beside the winding crown serves as Richard Mille's typical function selector. Not only does the watch owner have control over the rotor, they also control the winding crown without pull-out positions, only functions: winding, neutral, and time-setting modes.

The third version of the RM 35-03 model is presented in black Carbon TRT in contrast with the airier versions in light blue and white Quartz TRT, and white Quartz TRT paired with Carbon TRT. The watch brand's proprietary material is composed of layers of carbon that are no more than 45 microns thick, which are impregnated with resin matrices. The case measures 43.15 mm × 49.95 mm × 13.15 mm.

Despite its bulky dimensions, the case remains light. Richard Mille likes to recount a prank played on Nadal, when their watch collaboration was still only a rumor. The watchmaker brought a heavy platinum model over to the tennis player's house, which left the athlete in shock.

Since then, there has been no uncertainty: these sporty Richard Mille watches have always been virtually weightless, and won't get in the way of Nadal's favorite activity — slamming his opponents on court.