Richard Mille Go Rectangular with RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat

Back in the autumn of last year Richard Mille announced they would be discontinuing the RM 032 with a swan song edition, which would remove the final circular case design from production. What that meant at the time is that once the 32 disappeared, it would be tonneau or bust when it comes to Richard Mille’s watches. However, before the age of tonneau supremacy could even begin, RM have announced the revival of a different non-tonneau model, the RM 016, with a new edition called the Richard Mille RM 16-02 Automatic Extraflat.

Jumping right to the case, it’s rectangular. Specifically, it measures 36mm x 45.65mm, making it 10% smaller than the previous RM 016, improving its wearability. Which is a good thing too because it still carries a lot of wrist presence thanks to the long flanks and integrated strap, which makes the whole piece look like a continuous block of material. It’s as if an Apple watch has been genetically enlarged and turned mechanical – if that idea sounds like fun to you, check out the H. Moser Swiss Alp.

The case itself is available in a choice of two materials. There’s the titanium edition with its sleek metallic surfaces or the terracotta quartz TPT edition. Quartz TPT is a silicon composite material that’s both incredibly tough and lightweight, great for dramatic cases like this. The terracotta colour is a little hit and miss, on the one hand I like the architectural vibe it gives to the piece, like a Boston Brownstone Mansion, on the other it’s a little hard to get excited about the colour of a brick.

However, while the case is the thing that first draws you into this watch, what really captivates is the dial. It’s a fully skeletonised display that reveals the new CRMA9 Calibre that was developed specially for this watch. What’s interesting about it is the regularity of the skeletonization, as each small window through the plate is rectangular or square. It makes for a striking and unique appearance, like an angular maze.

Describing the hour markers of this watch is incredibly difficult. Each numeral is made up of two parts, a traditional Arabic numeral index and a twisting line that runs around the edge of the dial, passing through each of the numerals. For example, at 12 o’clock, the 1 is entirely made of the line while the top part of the 2 is a traditional numeral but the horizontal line at the bottom is again the twisting line. 2 and 5 o’clock are in fact only made up of the line. It feels like someone’s played a game of Tron across the display, which makes me wish we had bright neon colours instead of the grey and brown we do have.

Digging into the CRMA9 Calibre a bit more, it has a 50-hour power reserve with a baseplate and bridges made from titanium. It’s wound by a new platinum rotor with titanium weight elements that has a similar architectural angularity to it as the rest of the watch. It looks like a sci-fi steering wheel from a spaceship.

I think without question this is one of the most interesting watches Richard Mille have produced in a while, certainly since the RM UP-01. It’s a crazy mix of ultra-modern and futuristic design presented in a very traditional, grounded set of colours. It runs the full gamut from architectural foundations to sci-fi oddity in a nonsensical way. It’s not committed to being any one thing and I kind of love it for that. As with virtually all RMs, it’s price on request.

More details at Richard Mille.

​Oracle Time 

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