Richard Mille does not lack celebrity endorsement—the line of athletes, musicians, Hollywood stars and other personalities associated with the watchmaker is long and, more important, properly A list. Sylvester Stallone, needless to say, is no minor star either. Plus, his role in helping propel the comeback of a certain Florence-born watch brand in the early 1990s gives him rightful cred among the horologically afflicted.
It therefore does not come as much of a surprise to see Richard Mille and Stallone embarking on a collab job—the star having a Richard Mille RM 032 strapped on his wrist in The Expendables 3 provided an inkling of this move. And the result of this tie-up between the two commanding personalities is the equally imposing RM 25-01 Tourbillon Adventure Sylvester Stallone.
The new piece, costing just south of $1 million and limited to only 20 examples, is whimsically pitched by Richard Mille as something that “could easily be imagined on John Rambo’s wrist”—well, if only the Rambo was not a down-on-luck drifter. But what Rambo also was was an outdoorsy, survivalist-type tough guy, and it’s this persona of the Hollywood character to which Richard Mille assured the RM 25-01 would cater.
Presented as a tool, the RM 25-01 mimics the round case of The Expendables 3 piece. This allowed the watch to house a compass—a piece of crucial kit Stallone himself had asked to be incorporated. The compass is made from grade 5 titanium coated with DLC, has both a fixed bezel and a rotating bezel, and a bayonet mount that makes affixing it on the case quick and easy. A carbon TPT cover has a mirrored back and a slot at 12 o’clock also make sightings with the compass needle precise while sapphire crystals get a multilayer anti-reflective treatment, as well as an antimagnetic coating, to prevent the watch’s calibre and the compass from interfering with one another’s functions. A spirit level located at 4 o’clock can guarantee the watch is perfectly horizontal, and so can help in getting better readings.
Undoubtedly proving the compass is no mere accessory but is an actual tool is that it could be detached from the watch and be affixed to a plate, also made from carbon TPT. This makes it ideal for orientating, a function further helped by a bezel that may be swapped for a bidirectional one with a 24-hour scale, a 360° graduated disc, and indications for the cardinal directions. Determining directions would only require that the hour hand point to the sun and turning the bezel to indicate the local time on the 24-hour scale—no calculations needed.
As tech-savvy as this is the watch’s movement itself. It’s no less that the calibre RM 25-01 tourbillon, which Richard Mille said has been updated with a new “competition” chronograph function. Using grade 5 titanium for its base plate and bridges meant the calibre not only became lighter, but also more precise—and for a longer period, at that. Thanks to lighter components (and thus, lower inertia), the energy required to spin the movement has gone down by 50 percent. This has led to a 70-hour power reserve, the reading visible via the coupling and function indicators.
Shielding this piece of engineering is another example of one; the RM 25-01’s case is fashioned from a combination of titanium and carbon TPT, a virtually indestructible composite that is also quite light, and whose damascene pattern has become a Richard Mille visual signature. It has two interchangeable bezels, and is water-resistant to 100 meters. Speaking of matters liquid, the watch has a hermetic compartment, also built from grade 5 titanium, that can hold purification tablets good for a liter of water. A natural rubber strap in camouflage motif, as well as a grade 5 titanium pin buckle, fasten the watch securely on the wrist.
Which, by the way, does not necessarily have to be John Rambo’s.
