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The New Richard Mille RM 038 Tourbillon Bubba Watson

Ciaran  3 min read
Illustration: greatreporter

American golfer Bubba Watson is to join Felipe Massa and Rafael Nadal as part of the Richard Mille team of ambassadors.

This golfer stands out from the crowd with his unique physique and personality and he will wear the new tourbillion RM 038 in all future golf tournaments. The Richard Mille brand enters the world of professional golf, a domain that also portrays high performance and precision.

Bubba Watson, 32 years old, is making his mark as one of the best players of his generation. Born in Florida, he is fully self-taught and has never had a golf lesson. At a height of 1,91 meters and weighing 82 kilos, he is one of the most awesome-looking of the golfing circuit. He has one of the most powerful drives and has consistently been the longest hitter on the PGA tour since 2006. 2010 also represented a hallmark in his career as in June he won his 1st USPGA Tour event. Thanks to his excellent results, Bubba obtained a place in this year’s Ryder Cup in the American team. 2011 is looking to be a very promising year for Bubba Watson after an exceptional 2010.

Apart from being a big hitter, Bubba Watson is also one of the rare left handed players on the golfing circuit who likes to wear bracelets on his wrists when playing. A fantastic situation for Richard Mille who has undertaken the development of a specific tourbillon watch for the golfer. Following on from Felipe Massa and Rafael Nadal, Bubba Watson will also partner the brand. In 2011 he will wear a watch, the RM038, in real world conditions to test the technology and its shock resistance. As in Formula 1 racing and tennis, golf is a sport with no compromises and a perfect real world test for Richard Mille.

This time, Richard Mille decided to design and manufacture an innovative Tourbillon Watch able to work in Golf’s specific conditions with 3 obsessions: lightness, extreme shock resistance and comfort. The case, (48mm x 39.70mm x 12.80mm), encloses the caliber RM038, with 19 jewels and beating at 3Hz, has its bottom plate, bridges and balance cock made of grade 5 titanium. This allows the whole assembly to be given great rigidity, as well as precise surface flatness which is essential for the perfect functioning of the gear train. The skeletonized baseplate was subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to insure optimal strength requirements.

The RM 038 tourbillon caliber has a fast rotating barrel which provides significant decrease of periodic internal mainspring adhesion; which increases performance. Moreover it provides an excellent mainspring delta curve with ideal power reserve/performance and regularity ratio. Besides a central involute profile of the winding barrel teeth and third-wheel pinion provides an optimal pressure angle of 20°. This promotes effective rotary motion and allows for compensation of possible variations in the engagement of the going train, thus insuring excellent torque transmission with a distinct improvement in performance.

The RM 038 case is made of an extremely rugged and light alloy called Magnesium-Aluminium AZ91. This alloy is composed of magnesium 90% and aluminium 8.9%. Magnesium density is of 1, 74 g/cm3, which means it is one of the lightest metal used for construction. After a long and delicate machining phase, this alloy is given an electro-plasma oxidation treatment named Titalyt II®. The whitish color of the case is due to this treatment: it is a cristalline oxide ceramic with a high ratio of high resistant composites such as MgAl2O4 spinels. This improves both hardness and scratch resistance of this alloy, and also its wear resistance and corrosion resistance. This treatment applied to Magnesium-Aluminium is biocompatible. It is used in aerospace, automotive industries and medical sector.

The tripartite case is water resistant to 50 meters, ensured by two Nitril O-ring seals. The case is assembled with 12 spline screws in grade 5 titanium and abrasion resistant washers in 316L stainless steel.

The RM 038 is the new Richard Mille Tourbillon designed for golfers and sportsmen who appreciate haute horlogerie, cased into high-tech materials for extreme conditions.

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