The world of luxury goods is such that customers of McLaren Automotive’s recently announced $2.6 million W1 hypercar can now order a matching watch.
The fourth watch produced as a result of the long-term partnership between McLaren and luxury watchmaker Richard Mille, the RM 65-01 “McLaren W1 Edition” It was announced this week at a press conference at the carmaker’s headquarters in Woking.
Billed as something akin to a hypercar for the wrist, the watch, which will cost 320,000 Swiss francs plus taxes ($373,300) is a tribute to the car’s design language, which was revealed to the world last Sunday. With a split-second chronograph movement and a couple more tricks up its sleeve, it houses what Richard Mille says is the most complicated automatic movement he has ever produced.
The movement, which consists of 480 components, beats at a frequency of 5 Hz, allowing intervals to be measured to the nearest tenth of a second. The split-second feature allows the user to time two events simultaneously, so you’ll know with pinpoint accuracy how much faster you are than any other car on the road (or race track). Pushers at 2, 4 and 10 o’clock, designed to mimic the W1’s escapements, control the chronograph, with its functions detailed in McLaren’s “papaya orange” and a high-contrast shade of baby blue, but it’s the fourth pure orange push button that will catch your attention. .
Get me going
This controls a very different function, unique to the RM 65 line. We could call it a “start” button, something we hope the W1 never needs. It is an instant winding mechanism, designed so that in the rare event that the watch runs out of power, you can restart it with a few presses of your thumb.
It activates a rack and pinion mechanism that winds the mainspring without removing the watch from your wrist. Richard Mille says that 125 beats would fully wind the watch, but it is intended to provide a quick boost rather than being a substitute for the automatic winding system, which itself is very complex, with a variable rotor that can be adjusted to suit to the lifestyle of each person. the user, depending on the brand. Basically, if you are an active person, it will be configured to deliver less energy per rotation, and vice versa if you are more sedentary.