Rafael Nadal Rocked an Insane New Richard Mille Watch at the French Open 2024

Imagine your entire career hinges on the ability to swing your arm with the force and precision of an eight-inch howitzer. You probably wouldn’t want anything impeding the trajectory of said hand cannon, right?

Things are different when you’re Rafael Nadal, of course. His longstanding relationship with Richard Mille—whose RM UP-01 was, for two years, the thinnest mechanical watch in the world—has resulted in some of the most mind-bogglingly advanced timepieces ever seen. Since 2010, when he first strapped on the RM 027 Tourbillon, Rafa has proven that watches and tennis can indeed go hand in hand.

RM’s newest creation, the RM 27-05 Flying Tourbillon, is the latest fruit borne of the Swiss firm’s 14-year relationship with Nadal. Seen on his wrist at the French Open this past long weekend—where he was unfortunately eliminated in the first round—the RM 27-05 builds upon the legacy of the RM 027 but adds even more advanced features: Weighing just 11.5 grams (excluding the strap) and constructed from a new composite, it can withstand g-forces up to 14,000 and required 4,000 hours of design work. Working with fellow Swiss company North Thin Ply Technology, Richard Mille built the case from Carbon TPT B.4, which is denser, stiffer, and even 30% stronger than Carbon TPT—an advanced material constructed of multiple layers of carbon filaments.

And this is to say nothing of the fact that the RM 27-05 is a hand-wound watch with a flying tourbillon—the type of complication typically reserved for elegant dress or everyday watches, and certainly not for pieces worn on the courts at the French Open. Boasting a power reserve of 55 hours and a 3 Hz frequency, the movement is constructed on a PVD-treated titanium baseplate that has been skeletonized and hand-finished, incorporating Grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT bridges for lightness. Rather than being screwed into the watch case, it’s positioned 5/100ths of a millimeter from the caseback on six support points, with the flange and bezel pushing down upon it from the opposite side.

The dial, which reveals the skeletonized movement ticking away below, allows one to view the flying tourbillon positioned at 5 o’clock, opposed by the mainspring barrel at 11 o’clock. Admittedly not the world’s most legible design, its charm is most certainly in its incredible light weight, advanced materials, and the fact that one of the best tennis players in the world actually plays with its on his wrist, rather than simply straps it on for a photo opp while hoisting a trophy once a match is finished.

The lightest and most resilient hand-wound tourbillon watch ever made, the RM 27-05—limited to 80 pieces—is a watch with material characteristics (and looks) similar to that of a Formula 1 car, formulated for a man who has won 22 Grand Slam titles. Impractical for most given its astronomical price (unclear at press time but likely well over $1 million) as well as its minimal water resistance, its material advances are nevertheless exciting for any self-respecting watch guy—even if most of us will never get to wear one on the court at Roland Garros.