Richard Mille’s latest cycling-linked watch isn’t just a colourway with a famous name attached.
The RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago is a 50-piece limited edition developed with the Italian bicycle maker, and it approaches the wristwatch like a racing frame, with weight, rigidity and exposed structure doing much of the talking.
Priced at CHF 800,000 before taxes, it sits firmly in Richard Mille’s world of extreme materials and openworked mechanics, but the Colnago connection gives the watch a sharper design brief than many brand collaborations.
At a glance
- Richard Mille has introduced the RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago as a 50-piece limited edition.
- The watch pairs a manual-winding tourbillon calibre with visual cues drawn from Colnago racing bicycles.
- It is priced at CHF 800,000 excluding taxes and continues Richard Mille’s long-running links with professional cycling.
A cycling partnership rendered in titanium
Richard Mille has spent years building a serious presence in professional cycling, with associations spanning riders such as Mark Cavendish, Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogačar, as well as UAE Team Emirates.
Colnago is a natural counterpart in that landscape, not only because of its racing pedigree, but because its best-known bikes are built around the same priorities that define modern Richard Mille watchmaking.
The RM 64-01 takes the idea of a high-performance bicycle frame and applies it to movement architecture.
Instead of hiding the mechanics behind a dial, the watch exposes the calibre as the main visual object, allowing the bridges, barrel, tourbillon and structural elements to create the entire face of the piece.
There is also a historical watchmaking thread here, as the RM 64-01 draws inspiration from the architectural language of the 2006 RM 012 Tourbillon, one of Richard Mille’s most recognisable exercises in structural openness.
A calibre shaped like a racing machine
The manually wound Calibre RM64-01 measures 33.0 mm by 30.8 mm and is built around an ultra-skeletonised Grade 5 titanium baseplate and bridges.
Its 274 components are presented with a deliberate sense of mechanical separation, helped by microblasted finishes, black and grey PVD treatment, hand-polished bevels and carefully applied lacquer.
The layout loosely echoes the logic of a bicycle drivetrain.
A fast-rotating barrel sits at 1 o’clock and delivers around 65 hours of power reserve, while the one-minute tourbillon regulator is positioned opposite at 7 o’clock.
That diagonal tension gives the movement a dynamic quality, as if the watch has been designed around a line of mechanical force rather than a conventional dial plan.
The upper titanium bridges are among the clearest Colnago references.
Their star-shaped profile nods to the tubing geometry of Colnago’s Master frames from the 1980s, which were designed to improve torsional rigidity without adding unnecessary weight.
The bridges are finished in white lacquer with hand-painted azure blue and 5N red gold accents, tying the calibre to the colour language of Colnago’s modern C68 bicycles.
The movement also uses Richard Mille’s variable-inertia balance with four regulating screws, beating at 3 Hz, or 21,600 vibrations per hour.
This free-sprung construction is intended to support chronometric stability over time while improving shock resistance, a practical point for a sports watch that takes its identity from cycling.
The fast-rotating barrel is another technical signature, developed to reduce internal mainspring adhesion and promote more consistent torque delivery during the running period.
Quartz TPT casework with Colnago colour
The case measures 43.21 mm by 49.94 mm and is 14.23 mm thick, giving the RM 64-01 the assertive tonneau presence expected from the brand.
White Quartz TPT forms the main case structure, while newly developed Azure Blue Quartz TPT inserts are integrated into the notched bezel.
The layered composite material is used for its combination of lightness and rigidity, qualities that neatly mirror the bicycle engineering theme without needing to spell it out on the dial.
A 5N red gold flange adds warmth inside the case and appears here for the first time on a Richard Mille sports watch.
The crown continues the collaboration’s more graphic side.
It is crafted from Quartz TPT with a 5N red gold core and carries a lacquered Ace of Clubs, Colnago’s historic emblem.
The hands are specially designed for the watch and take their inspiration from bicycle cranksets, another small detail that feels most successful because it’s integrated into the function of the watch rather than simply printed on top.
Anti-reflective sapphire crystals on the front and back keep the emphasis on depth, allowing the wearer to read the case, movement and finishing as a three-dimensional construction.
Water resistance is rated to 50 metres, which is appropriate for a technically minded sports watch of this kind, even if its natural setting will be collectors’ wrists rather than a wet mountain stage.
Details & Specifications
| Brand | Richard Mille |
|---|---|
| Model | RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago |
| Edition | Limited to 50 pieces |
| Case size | 43.21 mm x 49.94 mm x 14.23 mm |
| Case material | White Quartz TPT with Azure Blue Quartz TPT inserts |
| Flange | 5N red gold |
| Movement | Manual-winding Calibre RM64-01 |
| Movement size | 33.0 mm x 30.8 mm |
| Components | 274 |
| Baseplate and bridges | Ultra-skeletonised Grade 5 titanium |
| Complication | One-minute tourbillon |
| Power reserve | Approximately 65 hours |
| Frequency | 3 Hz, 21,600 vibrations per hour |
| Balance | Variable-inertia balance with four regulating screws |
| Water resistance | 50 metres / 165 feet |
| Price | CHF 800,000 excluding taxes |
The RM 64-01 Tourbillon Colnago will appeal to the small overlap of collectors who understand both high-complication watchmaking and the culture of elite road cycling.
It’s a Richard Mille in the unmistakable modern sense, but the best part is how convincingly the watch turns Colnago’s frame language into horological architecture.
