Dear Mr. Rambo, your watch is ready. Richard Mille has built some unique creations over the years, but this latest is… Well, it’s something alright. Featuring a similar profile to the brand’s austentations dive watch—the RM 32—the RM 25-01 Tourbillon Adventure not only includes a time display on a 24-hour scale, a 60-minute chronograph, and a power reserve indication, but it also has a few other obscure tricks up its sleeve.
The RM 25-01 is sold with two bezels, one of which has a built-in compass and top cover. This top cover is of course made of a combination of titanium and NTPT Carbon, which has become a signature material of the brand over the years. There is a sight level hanging off of the 4 o’clock position of its case to assist in maintaining compass accuracy. The hermetically sealed “pod” at the 2 o’clock mark is not a pusher, but a chamber used to keep up to five water purification tablets. You know, should you be stuck out in the jungle somewhere without a reasonable source of drinking water. By contrast the pushers used to operate its chronograph (located at 8 and 10 o’clock) are barely noticeable, finished in black to match its case.
On one hand, I’ve got to give it to Richard Mille. He has a knack for creating ridiculously fantastical creations for the uber wealthy, and because only 20 of these are hitting the market, odds are they’ll sell just like everything else he cooks up. On the other hand, this monstrosity is priced at $983,000, and measures 50.85mm across. It’s BIG, and absurdly expensive.
Frankly there are a plethora of other watches I’d be prone to spend my money on, even if the sky was the limit. Want a Richard Mille at that size? Try the RM 63-02 World Timer for only 14% of the Tourbillon Adventure’s asking price. Want a Richard Mille chronograph? Find any version of the RM 11-03 and you’re golden. Want to join the exclusive club of owners of $1M RMs? Either the RM 50-02 ACJ Tourbillon Split Seconds Chronograph or the newly launched RM 53-01 Tourbillon Pablo Mac Donough are perfectly respectable offerings without having to go the Rambo route. Someone will buy it, and someone will love it, but I just can’t get behind this one.
