Frankly speaking, in the past few weeks, while reviewing it, I shamelessly used every opportunity of every day to wear the Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Black Night NTPT Carbon watch-like how people drive it at the last minute The same (imagined so far)) If you finally have a chance, the convertible supercar parked in front of the house…The irresistible power of pure curiosity and excitement will not let you do anything else, you can only use it Such a charming environment. But what’s all the fuss about?
Because Richard Mille watches are notoriously expensive, quite complex, and often use some new high-tech materials, they become a difficult subject of review. There are many factors we need to consider-including those that can help us answer why Richard Mille watches require them to be so expensive, and why they can continue to produce more than 4,000 watches each year.
So, first, let us put this concept in context-you know, a six-digit number-pricing-annual calendar-calendar-chronograph-in-a-non-precious metal-case The incredible idea.
Since the beginning of the millennium, Richard Mille has been, I mean, the ultra-expensive and extremely successful avant-garde watch brand in the watch industry-this is the truth. However, for those who do not have oligarchs or have direct contact with the annual turnover of the refinery, understanding the demand price of copy Richard Mille watches may prove extremely difficult.
For comparison, the following are the basic elements of a normal luxury brand’s normal pricing procedure: Usually, a company first determines its specific market segment, target audience, and the corresponding price points required by these factors. Only after considering all of this, it will begin to develop and finalize the product itself. Needless to say, this approach imposes restrictions on the product itself, because it ultimately must comply with these pre-determined requirements related to cost and pricing.
As Richard Mille himself explained, the process of pricing his watches (and his brand) is different from most other pricing strategies, because what they do first is to come up with an idea for the product, and then they develop the idea so that in the end The product is as close as possible to the dream of him and his team. They will set the final price only when all of this has been achieved and the cost of all these efforts has been taken into account.
It sounds extravagant, but what brands say and what they actually provide are often two different things-so let’s see how (or if any) this becomes a reality.
Of course, when you browse the price tag, the Richard Mille watch does not have this cost-related restriction will immediately become apparent. In contrast, this might make some supercars suddenly look like low-budget alternatives. However, when you take a closer look at the products themselves and where and how they are manufactured, things will align with this approach. So let’s focus on the latter thing first, the origin first-very brief, because since my visit to the manufacturer of Richard Mille in Switzerland, we have already had a more in-depth article on this topic.
Like most modern, extremely complex and super expensive watch brands (there are actually more than a few these days), no single factory can perform all manufacturing processes at the same time. The reason is that there is no place where you can make copy watch cases with unknown materials at the same time under the same roof, process hundreds of different precision movement parts, make complex mobile phones and dials, and then assemble all these parts into a watch. After all, a watch like the RM50-02 worth US$1,050,000 will not fall from the sky—on the contrary, there are many specialized suppliers and facilities that need to be involved.
Richard Mille cooperated with Vaucher Manufacture to develop relatively simple movements, such as ultra-thin movements, annual calendar chronographs, etc.; and together with Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi to study complex movements with novel and complicated functions. For the watch case and some other components, they mainly rely on their own, only a few years old, the most advanced case manufacturing facility called ProArt in Les Breuleux, and the final assembly of the watch is mainly completed within a few minutes’ drive. From ProArt, at Richard Mille headquarters.
One of my key messages for visiting these places is their immediate and universally obvious “anything is possible” method. Anywhere I have seen, I have seen energetic (usually very young) engineers programming brand new machines and working on the development of new materials and high-tech composite materials (such as NTPT carbon, the subject of this review) The materials used, but more about this content) under). In other departments, they are working on reassembling super-complex movements with movements that seem to be perfectly calculated. All of this makes things so simple that I have to remind myself how they don’t mill simple steel cases or repair basic ETA movements. They make it look simple,
In order to find the missing puzzle, I will ask you to briefly endure mediocrity, because I am trying to illustrate my point: There are many people in the world who can and are willing to pay almost any amount of money they like and can appreciate. The real question is not whether there are enough of these people—because there are—but how do modern brands connect with them and convince them that their specific products are so valuable?
What these people really worry about is not to waste X or 100 times the money on something, but to be humiliated among their peers by paying for something that does not meet their expectations. Compared with the products of other competing brands, it proved to be inferior in a short period of time. Their cars, boats, helicopters, etc. must be the fastest. If they pay only for not delivering as expected, then the failed brand will soon close the shop. Some brands have failed to continue to promote their design and engineering design-today they are nowhere to be found. Therefore, the real challenge for best Richard Mille is to constantly push his limits through the use of new materials and continuously improve their designs. In short, never stop amazed by their customers.
In the parallel world of high-priced, well-designed supercars, the car manufacturer McLaren has perfectly achieved this hybrid-and, given their extremely similar positions and technologies, for some time, I have always thought that Richard Miller is the McLaren of watch brands. McLaren actually only recently started to build its own road car series, and had to beat the auto industry giants like Richard Mille did in the watch industry—their secrets of success are the same.
The two companies are able to cater to these customers so effectively because the number of designs they can immediately recognize is extremely limited, and they continue to use the latest technology to improve and upgrade them. This allows them to offer bold new options to those super rich, who are totally tired of getting another boring thing from the big names at this point, but are looking for the ultimate toy. They want it to be the lightest, fastest, and yes, also the most expensive-and they want it to be recognized immediately, at least in their own circles.
This is the secret they must follow: there are not dozens of different Richard Mille or McLaren designs, but only one trademark appearance, and these appearances will be tirelessly updated and improved with the latest technology.
Considering a brief introduction to its origins (not so), let’s see how all this translates into the subject of this review: Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Black Night NTPT watch. The RM 011 is without a doubt the most well-known and most successful model produced by Richard Mille to date. Its tonneau-shaped case uses an earless design, with 12 5-node screws on the bezel, plus curved sides and a clearly arched case outline… This bag is the appearance of Richard Mille.
Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa has been a friend of the brand for more than a decade, and his name has become part of every RM 011 model. He even wore a Richard Mille watch on his wrist during the race-look at the picture above. He crawled out of the wreckage after an unfortunate racing accident at the Canadian Grand Prix a few years ago. Here, we want to say that from the beginning of the 2016 season and lasting for at least 10 years, Richard Mille has established a formal partnership with the McLaren Formula One team.
Now, although as a fan of Formula One, I admire Massa’s famous sportsmanship and driving skills, I am happy to find that this special version of RM 011 does not spell out his name completely on the dial. Just salute him in a special way. In an almost unobtrusive way, by placing his initials in the model number, it is displayed directly below the 8 o’clock index. Although certainly not everyone will have this opinion, but I personally prefer to only see the name of the watchmaker/brand on the dial, and no one else.
However, the more attractive part of the name is the “NTPT” bit, because it refers to the special material of the Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Black Night NTPT case. While visiting RM’s so-called ProArt watch case maker, I could see with my own eyes how this unusual material ended up being one of Richard Mille’s barrel-shaped watch cases. The base material was developed by the company of the same name, NTPT, for the masts of racing sailboats-so it is not surprising that the material is very strong and very light.
This is largely due to its layered structure consisting of hundreds of layers of carbon fibers, which are fixed in a solid, thanks to some epoxy resin and a few laps in the oven that expose the substrate to some hell Normal temperature. But would you use your Richard Mille to repair the mast on your sailboat? Probably not, so we will look at how this material actually feels when it is used not for boat parts but for ultra-expensive timepieces.
Even for the untrained eye, the first thing that is noticeable is the very unusual surface. When the milling machine cuts hundreds of almost invisible layers of the case, due to the angle at which the machine cuts it, the material shows some charming and unique patterns in all cases, strongly reminiscent of seeing on the surface of wood Of those. When touched, NTPT feels warm, and under strong magnification, you can see its carbon-based fine fibers. It is always very smooth.
Although the rectangular cutouts on the upper part of the strap look cool, they have proved to be very practical as they do allow quite a bit of ventilation and prevent my wrist from sweating under the rubber strap fit. There is no doubt that Richard Mille offers this type of strap in a variety of colors-this may make buyers want a quick strap release system that allows them to easily switch between straps without having to use Special screwdriver.
So, what can Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Black Night NTPT provide for those who seek the ultimate experience in modern brands that have been pursuing the limits of design and technology? This NTPT iteration is an unexpected-in other words, novel-development of the established RM 011 series. It uses a fascinating new material that is very light, has some unique aesthetic properties, and should prove to be very durable in the long run. It is matched with the common attributes of Richard Mille watches: complex movement, excellent wearing comfort, limited edition.