Richard Mille RM 61-01 Yohan Blake 'Grey Limited Edition of 150
Richard Mille RM61-01 Yohan Blake Grey Limited Edition
For those of you who are fans of the brand, the RM61-01, which was first released in 2015, is instantly recognisable thanks to its flashes of green and yellow through the bridges and rehaut in a homage to the Jamaican flag that sprinter and RM ambassador Johan Blake runs under, at eyewatering speed.
Blake first started working with RM in 2012 and previewed his first RM Yohan Blake prototype at the Olympics in London. This was fettled and released in a 50 piece limited edition for the public - The RM59-01 Tourbillon Yohan Blake which was a vision in green and yellow and featured a translucent green case made from a composite injected with carbon nanotubes.
It also featured a retail price of $620,000 dollars.
The four bridges crossing the dial space of the 59-01 were supposed to be indicative of “claws” which was a homage to both Blake’s outstretched hands when running, and also his nickname “The Beast” (given to him by Usain Bolt) and if you take a look at the watch, you can see that the bridges do have a hint of wolverine about them.
In 2014, a new Yohan inspired watch was unveilled - the RM61-01 which is sometimes called the “Baby Blake” and is a smaller, more accessibe, and more restrained, as in infinitely less green on the case front.
The “new” Blake was no longer a tourbillon and was released with a black ceramic case.
The bridges crossing the movement remain the signauture of this particular model but have been reduced from the four to two, which I must confess to preferring quite significantly as it allows a clearer view of the movement.
Over the 6 production years of the 61-01 a few variations of the Baby Blake have been produced ranging from the OG with green and yellow bridges a white quartz TPT version with white bridges, an all black, and this, the grey edition RM61-01.
The Grey Blake is an 150 piece limited edition exercise in stealth with a light but tough TZP ceramic top and rear case with a mid-case made from NTPT carbon to keep the weight down.
Its a 42mm piece with a length of 50mm so perfect for pretty much any wrist size.
As this is a Mille, the three part case is held together by splines which re identified by a series of “star” shapes around the top case and protruding columns which contain the splines passing through the mid case to the rear. A very tightly controlled “sandwich” construction.
Black strap, grey rehaut and bridges, and grey titanium crown guards finish the look with the only vivid colour on the watch coming from the red tip of the seconds hand which is a welcome dash of colour that elevates the watch away from monochrome and works exceptionally well.
Sporty, but subtle.
So far, all fairly standard fare, but here is where it starts to get interesting.
The case is asymmetrical in size and depth, almost in a wedge shape that starts slim and compact on the left side and flares in both height and width towards the crown side of the watch.
This is a deliberate design feature made for Blake, who wears his watch on his right wrist (good man).
As speed and power is the name of the game with sprinting, the RM61-01 has been built to be as aerodynamic as possible, hence the slimmest side of the watch being the first thing to come into contact with the air during the forward motion of sprinting.
It is the horological equivalent of a lean bonnet flaring towards a low windscreen on a sports car and with the weight of the watch being kept to a minumum, it’s unlikely to create any drag that could affect performance.
Plus, as it’s been tested to endure forces of up to 500G’s, its safe to say that the watch is small but mighty.
The dial (or lack of) and handset are perfect for this watch, I love the double AR coated sapphire which affords a view of the movement without any glare. The hands have thick luminova tips for easy reading at a glance and at a distance.
The strap is an aerated black rubber which slots into the watch as opposed to being a spring bar and lug set-up and is secured using grade 5 titanium splines (echoing the case architecture) and is secured using the typical RM leaf spring clasp which snaps shut with the vigour and precision of an alligator on a burger.
The movement powering the watch is the 24 jewel calibre RMUL2 which is a Vaucher based grade 5 titanium movement which has been duly skeletonised to remove any additional weight.
Vaucher Montres Fleurier are the movement arm of Parmigiani Fleurier. They are highly respected having been in the business of powering watches for over 300 years and supplying to some seriously prestiguous brands, RM being one of them.
You can spot a Vaucher movement in a watch if you search the calibre for their star logo which tends to appear somewhere subtle, in this case it is on the bottom left edge of the calibre as you look through the caseback.
RM has never hidden their relationship with Vaucher, so their input is also noted with a V engraved into the ceramic rear case in between Swiss and Made on the left.
It’s a manual wind time only movement that offers a 44 hour power reserve and is also found in the RM055 Bubba Watson - another watch that is designed with shock resistance in mind as belting golf balls and running like the wind can create similar forces on a watch.
It is, to my mind an incredibly attractive movment which is compact, pared down, and suspended within the inner frame in a manner that gives the impression of it floating, a touch ive always enjoyed on both the Blake and Bubba which happen to be my favoirite RM variants pretty much of all time.
For RM’s, they appear to be deceiptively simple which I find appealing.
In truth, I find the 61-01 grey edition appealing in its entirety - The case is a perfect size, I love the visual interest of the asymmetry and the red seconds amongst monochrome just looks superb for something so simple.
I’d wear it in a heartbeat.