Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake has been a member of the Richard Mille family since 2012, and the new RM 61-01 ‘Ultimate Edition’ Yohan Blake, is the last model in the RM 61-01 series, bringing this 6-year stint to a close.
The RM 61-01’Ultimate Edition’ Yohan Blake takes all of its cues from the RM 59-01 tourbillon designed for the Olympic medallist. The watch is enclosed in a 50.2mm case, made from Quartz TP while the bezel, caseback and caseband are crafted out of Carbon TPT. Quartz fibres are generally used for very high-performance applications due to their resistance to high temperatures, their strength and their transparency to electromagnetic waves. Quartz TPT® is composed of parallel filaments obtained from separating silica threads, while the Carbon TPT® is obtained from carbon fibres. Silica layers, no thicker than 45 microns, are saturated in a white matrix developed specially for Richard Mille, then inserted between 30-micron Carbon TPT® layers, saturated in a black matrix, using an automatic positioning system that changes the orientation of the fibres between each layer by 45°. It is then heated to 120°C to a pressure of 6 bars in an autoclave similar to those used to make aeronautics components and machined on a CNC machine at Richard Mille. Machining unveils the various Quartz TPT® and Carbon TPT® layers at random, ensuring that each machined component is unique.
With only up to 150 pieces available, the RM 61-01 ‘Ultimate Edition’ Yohan Blake runs on a highly skeletonised calibre crafted from PVD-treated grade 5 titanium, delivering a power reserve of 55-hours. To adapt to Blake’s requirements on the field, the watch also boasts an exceptional impact resistance of 5,000 G’s.
