Richard Mille dedicates three models bearing his name and favourite colours to his friend Jean Todt: the RM 11-03, the RM 050, and the RM 056 Jean Todt 50th Anniversary. The occasion is the 50th anniversary of the career of the current President of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile), years always characterised by a great passion for cars. At Chantilly Arts & Elégance 2016, the Swiss Maison therefore celebrated alongside Jean Todt the fantastic anniversary of the man who has written some of the greatest pages in motor racing history. Jean Todt and Richard Mille have forged a strong bond of friendship based on their shared passions: haute horlogerie, extreme technicality and the automobile. "I love the watches designed by Richard. I love their lightness, technicality and exclusivity,' confides Jean Todt. The two acknowledge each other's obsessive attention to detail in their respective fields, as this special series testifies. In particular, the RM 11-03 Chronographe Flyback is a resolutely sporty watch, totally inspired by the automobile and its history. Powered by a grade 5 titanium automatic calibre, the RM 11-03 Jean Todt 50th Anniversary is protected by a new blue and white Quartz-TPT case. Highly resistant and lightweight, this composite is obtained by interlayering 600 layers of 45-micron silicon impregnated with a blue resin exclusive to Richard Mille. The assembly is then heated to 120°C before being processed in the company's workshops. Quartz-TPT is also featured in the case composition of the RM 050 Jean Todt 50th Anniversary. This calibre offers split-seconds chronograph functions, additionally regulated by a tourbillon device. The extreme skeletonisation of the bridges and mainplate, combined with the use of titanium and carbon nanofibres, have resulted in a particularly light movement weighing a mere 9.5 grams and extremely high performance. This exceptional mechanism also animates the latest model in the collection, the RM 056 Jean Todt 50th Anniversary, protected by a sapphire case. Its construction and shape require human resources and long working times, indispensable to achieve this level of ergonomics and finishing, unique in haute horlogerie. Suffice it to say that the creation of this case requires more than 1,000 hours of work, including 430 hours of grinding and 350 hours of polishing. The RM 11-03, RM 050 and RM 056 Jean Todt 50th Anniversary are produced in limited editions of 150, 5 and 3 respectively.
