Watch and car brand collabs are well-trodden territory, but in 2022, the playbook was serious rewritten by Ferrari and the Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille. The debut RM UP-01 Ferrari was sculpted in a record-breaking, ultra-thin 1.75mm case – think the thickness of a credit card – with the all-titanium, ultra-flat watch featuring a radical design that notably broke away from Richard Mille’s signature tonneau shape. 

If the RM UP-01 was extreme in all ways possible – design, performance, innovation, even its eye-watering $1.8m price tag – the duo’s latest follow-up goes back to both brands’ roots, and with proper crowd-pleasing appeal. The new RM 43-01 Tourbillon Split-Seconds Chronograph Ferrari oozes all the instantly recognisable touchpoints of the Swiss house and Prancing Horse marque. There is titanium and carbon galore – two materials that both brands regularly push to their limits – with the watch limited to 150 pieces in total: 75 in microblasted titanium and 75 in Carbon TPT. Richard Mille’s tonneau shape and skeletonised dial are back in full force, showcasing a rakishly offset tourbillon escapement that features a titanium carriage that matches the grade 5 titanium baseplate, and bridges crafted from titanium and carbon TPT. The 514-component, manual-winding calibre powers an active seconds display that’s designed with five radial blades set against a 12-second index, while the hallmark Richard Mille function indicator recalls a car’s gearbox. As the crown is pulled out, winding (W), neutral (N) and hand-setting (H) are indicated by a striking red arrow, naturally.

Die-hard Ferrari tifosi meanwhile can now delight in clear nods to their favourite models: the Daytona SP3 and the SF90 Stradale that inspire the watch case, pushers and indexes, while the head-turning angles of the 488 Challenge Evo are also paid homage to. Ferrari’s distinct dashboard tachometer informs the skeletonised 30-minute totaliser on the dial. And prominently located between 7 and 8 o’clock is a titanium plate that’s sculpted into the shape of the rear wing of a 499P – a Le Mans Hypercar – and which houses a striking, laser engraved Cavallino logo.

With its tagline, “a racing machine on the wrist”, Richard Millie is often considered the Formula One of horology. That dedication and devotion to motorsport is now further impassioned as the Ferrari ties deepen. ‘Richard Mille is very similar to Ferrari: their bloodline, their strong passion and their very loyal customers,’ says Tim Malachard, Richard Mille’s global marketing director. ‘We have the same with RM and customer loyalty.’

And there’s bona fide motorsport cred. Its Ferrari partnership is not yet five years old, but Richard Mille’s link to the Italian marque in fact dates back to 2004, just a few years after the brand was founded. That was when Richard Mille teamed up with its first ever partner, the Brazilian racing driver Felipe Massa, who wore an RM watch throughout his F1 career, most famously as a Ferrari driver – making the Formula One track the ultimate test bed for RM watches. ‘The watch was part of my life racing in F1,’ said Massa at the revealing of the new RM 43-01 Ferrari in Paris in March. ‘But there was also the connection between what’s happening inside the car – the vibrations, G-force, crashes – everything was a part of it.’

This latest collaboration coincides with the news that Richard Mille and Ferrari will extend their partnership for another five years. A decade feels like aeons in marketing tie-ups, but not here – we had to wait nearly two, and then three years for each new watch, as they were put through their paces via dozens of prototypes and thousands of hours of research and laboratory tests. The sky’s the limit now for collab number three.  

richardmille.com