Reiseberichte » Best Richard Mille RM011 Felipe Massa Flyback

rm 11-05 automatic flyback chronograph gmt

Richard Mille has added the latest addition to its most popular timepiece collection, the RM 011. First launched in 2007 as the RM 011 Automatic Chronograph Felipe Massa, this chronograph line established a rich legacy for the brand and earned several lifelong admirers.

In 2020, RM 011 ushered in its sixth chapter: RM 11-05 automatic flyback chronograph GMT. The first thing that should strike you about this watch is that compared to the more aggressive Richard Mille tonneau case we see now on the 11-03 and 04, the 11-05 has the The sleek case shape I’ve seen for the first time. Saw it on February 11th. Perhaps for good reason, we will return to this topic.

The movement powering the watch is the Caliber RMAC3 we’ve seen before in the 11-03. As is true of Richard Mille, the RMAC3's chassis and bridges are forged from grade 5 titanium and extensively skeletonized.

However, the movement here is distinguished by the inclusion of a GMT hand, a fourth hand with an orange arrow on the central pinion can be seen here. The GMT hand can be adjusted independently using a push-piece integrated into the watch at 9 o'clock.

In addition, the movement also includes hour hands, minute hands and small seconds at 3 o'clock; the 60-minute and 24-hour totalizers of the flyback chronograph are located at 9 o'clock and 6 o'clock respectively, and finally the annual calendar. It includes a large date display at 12 o'clock and a month window between 4 and 5 o'clock.

Now, die-hard followers of Richard Mille watches will notice that the material we see on the bezel of the 11-05 is not something we’ve seen before. After last experimenting with a completely new material for case construction, graphene (for the RM 50-03), the brand is now turning to cermets. Cermet is a composite material formed using metallic elements and ceramics. The metallic elements provide the lattice structure, which is then filled with ceramics to form cermet (ceramic + metal).

For the 11-05, Richard Mille uses a zirconium-based cermet as the bezel, officially known as: zirconium carbide (ZrC). The brand says the cermet they use "combines the lightness of titanium with the hardness of ceramic."

The production of ZrC requires starting from zirconium dioxide and reducing the compound using a carbon source to obtain ZrC in powder form. ZrC is a gray substance, which explains the color of the 11-05 bezel. The material is then obtained in solid form via flash sintering, where the material is subjected to temperatures of up to 2000°C while a direct electric field is applied using specialized electrodes. Sintering helps form a solid and its flash aspect helps significantly reduce the time required to complete the sintering process.

According to Richard Mille, the resulting solid has a “density of 4.1 g/cm3, which is lower than that of titanium, and its hardness is 2,360 Vickers, almost the same as diamond’s 2,400 Vickers hardness, making cermet a no-brainer for bezels. choice. Very susceptible to scratches while maintaining an overall lightness." This may explain why Richard Mille continued to use a sleeker tonneau-shaped case profile instead of later designs, which contained more facets, making it more difficult to work with a material with such extreme physical qualities.

As a result, the 11-05’s triple case features a cermet bezel, carbon fiber TPT® middle case, and titanium back, all held together by Richard Mille’s grade 5 titanium spline screws.