At first glance, Richard Mille’s RM 88 watch represents a bit of a departure for the company. A full-on dose of whimsy defines its face and tourbillon, seemingly displacing much of the technical flash that distinguishes Mille designs.

The rigorous visuals are still there, though. They’ve just been rendered cryptically. At the bottom of the watch’s mechanical prowess is Mille’s in-house CRMT7, a skeletonized tourbillon pushing a slightly psychedelic parade of incongruity around a central smiley face in micro-blasted yellow gold. As people used to say in the 1970s: ‘have a nice day!’

Grade 5 titanium — micro-blasted, with a PVD treatment — is used to create the baseplate and bridges. Red gold, white ceramic and rhodium are also used in the build; interestingly, tools employed to create the RM 88 include the smallest beading tool in existence. It is used to give the flamingo’s eye its remarkable detail.

The Mille RM 88 has a roughly 50-hour power reserve, and is water resistant to fifty meters. Only 50 examples will be produced, each one tagged at CHF 1.1 million, or roughly $1.1 million.