Like its cars, Ferrari’s merchandise is expensive. For instance, Ferrari sells a variety of baseball caps. The cheapest ones, which use synthetic materials and have embroidered logos, cost $180. That’s very much on the low end of Ferrari gear. At the other end, you have items such as the new Richard Mille RM43-01 watch. The watch brand is an official sponsor of Ferrari’s F1 team, and this is the second Ferrari collaboration in its lineup. It’s certainly a fancy watch, but it costs more than any regular production Ferrari car, from the Roma to the SF90. According to watch media outlet and retailer Hondinkee, the base one starts at $1.3 million, and the more expensive one is $1.535 million.
A Carbon-Infused Chronograph
The RM43-01, which seems like an odd name when multiple F1 champion and new Ferrari driver Lewis Hamilton’s number is 44, is a very limited-run model. Richard Mille is building a total of 150, with 75 featuring a “more affordable” titanium case, and the other 75 getting a fully carbon fiber case. Richard Mille says that the case, which to us looks pretty similar to other Richard Mille products, has a bezel that “features grooves reminiscent of the hood of the Ferrari Daytona SP3.” The company also says that the pushers (the buttons to operate the stop-watch functions) “echo the rear lights of the SF90 Stradale.” On the carbon version, you can see the many layers of carbon fiber stuck together and then milled down to the desired shape and size.
Sandwiched between the display caseback and the top crystal is a manual-winding chronograph movement. It also features a tourbillon. The structure of the movement is also constructed from carbon fiber and titanium, and the geartrain is skeletonized. The chronograph’s stop watch function measures in split seconds and can measure for up to half an hour. The power reserve is around 70 hours and a meter on the dial indicates how much is left.
Richard Mille’s Other Ferrari Watch Is Cooler
As we mentioned, this is not the only watch from Richard Mille with Ferrari branding. The other is the RM UP-01. What makes this watch special, is that it’s designed to be one of the absolute thinnest watches in the world. It measures just 1.75 millimeters thick, or 0.07 inch. It’s made of titanium, and has some unusual features to make it so small. The strangest is that it has two flat crowns for winding and adjusting the time, and they have to be adjusted with a little key, since they’re tiny and flush with the case. It’s a remarkable technical achievement, and the simple titanium finish looks clean and purposeful. It’s another limited edition at 150 units, and according to Barron’s, it cost $1.88 million. Now, you can find used examples on Chrono24 for a little more or less than $1 million. We think we’d still rather buy a Ferrari car, but of the two watches, this seems like a cooler one to us.
Source: Hodinkee, Barron’s, Chrono24
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