Citing Bushido, the Japanese, as a primary design inspiration, the manual-wind tourbillon Richard Mille RM 47 features the crest of a famous 19th-century Japanese clan, and may be an instance of a watch having to keep up with its own marketing backstory.
There’s an interesting story there, one that packs in honor, sacrifice, conflict and even what appears to be a mass instance of seppuku as a testament of respect, moral right-mindedness and act of final unimpeachable loyalty on behalf of a particularly beloved employer. And Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso, who represents the brand and is a devotee of Japanese culture.
As a result, the watch’s spirit is one of meditative simplicity and interactive functionality—it’s a manual wind. The watch’s overall look is the familiar Richard Mille aesthetic, which bridges formal elegance with the tough; the case material is a particularly resilient titanium alloy familiar to the aerospace industry, although there’s carbon and gold in the build as well. It has a power reserve of 72 hours.
Just 75 examples will be produced.
