Richard Mille and Colnago Unveil RM 64-01 Tourbillon Inspired by Bicycle Frames
Creatrip Team
25 days ago
Swiss high-end watchmaker Richard Mille collaborated with Italian bicycle maker Colnago to launch the RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago, a limited-edition (50 pieces) wristwatch whose movement mirrors a bicycle frame’s structure. The hand-wound tourbillon caliber RM 64-01 uses a “tubular architecture” with tube-shaped bridges inspired by Colnago’s Gilco star tube design to achieve both stiffness and lightness. The skeletonized movement exposes 274 parts and arranges components—barrel at 1 o’clock, tourbillon cage at 7 o’clock—so the power flow resembles a bike drivetrain. Materials include white and azur blue Quartz TPT® (a layered composite developed with North Thin Ply Technology) for the case, red-gold accents, and a clover motif on the crown referencing Colnago. Richard Mille emphasized shared engineering philosophies with cycling—weight reduction, rigidity, material optimization—pointing to past sports collaborations and rider feedback (e.g., kilometer totalizer in the RM 70-01) as part of its development process. The watch combines high complications (tourbillon, variable-inertia balance, high-speed barrel) with aesthetic cues drawn from Colnago’s historic models like the Master and modern carbon C-series, aiming to blur the line between fine watchmaking and racing-bicycle engineering.
