|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
With 12 gem-set tourbillons, more than 1,300 precious stones and a new automatic tourbillon calibre, Richard Mille’s latest creation transforms its unmistakable technical architecture into a vivid expression of colour, craftsmanship and feminine creativity.
There are watches that tell time, and then there are watches conceived as miniature works of art. With the RM HJ-02 Automatic Tourbillon Maison, Richard Mille moves decisively into the latter category, presenting a collection where haute horlogerie and high jewellery converge through colour, sculptural design and extraordinary gem-setting.
The collection marks the second chapter of Richard Mille’s high-jewellery narrative, celebrating two decades of feminine creativity within the maison.
Comprising 12 individual timepieces, the RM HJ-02 explores four distinctive colour palettes—pink, purple, blue and green—while retaining the highly technical character that has become synonymous with Richard Mille.
A Kaleidoscope of Colour
The collection’s visual impact comes from more than 1,300 precious stones, carefully arranged across four distinct interpretations.
Violet Variations combines rich purple gemstones with contrasting green accents, creating one of the collection’s most dramatic compositions.
Pink Pursuit takes a brighter approach, bringing together vivid pinks with green and light-blue stones.
Blue Ballet introduces a softer palette, pairing blue gemstones with delicate touches of pink and orange.
Completing the collection is Green Gambit, where green and blue gemstones create a cooler, more harmonious composition.
Across the four designs, Richard Mille brings together an extraordinary selection of materials, including rubies, sapphires, diamonds, emeralds, Paraíba tourmalines, malachite, chrysoprase, turquoise and mother-of-pearl.
Nearly 700 Hours of Gem-Setting
The craftsmanship behind the watches is as remarkable as their appearance.
Each of the Art Deco-inspired designs incorporates different gem-setting techniques, including snow, grain and bezel settings.
Preparing and setting the stones required almost 700 hours of work, while the case architecture itself took more than a year to conceive.
Rather than simply decorating the familiar Richard Mille tonneau silhouette, the designers reinterpreted it through sharp transitions, layered surfaces and asymmetrical interruptions.
The result is a more sculptural interpretation of the brand’s distinctive architecture, with the gemstones becoming an integral part of the design rather than simply an ornamental addition.
Technical Beauty Beneath the Stones
Despite its jewellery-focused appearance, the RM HJ-02 remains unmistakably a Richard Mille.
The collection is housed in 34 mm and 36 mm white-gold cases, with each watch powered by the maison’s new CRMT2 automatic tourbillon calibre.
The skeletonised movement was developed alongside the case and dial, allowing the mechanics to integrate more naturally with the overall architecture of the watch.
The calibre contains 23 jewels, while its gem-set gold rotor and barrel extend the jewellery treatment deep into the movement.
A 50-hour power reserve completes the technical specification.
It is this combination of mechanical sophistication and precious craftsmanship that gives the RM HJ-02 its particular character. The gemstones may command attention first, but beneath them sits a serious piece of haute horlogerie.
Designed as a Complete Composition
The attention to detail continues beyond the case.
Each timepiece is paired with a matching strap, while the gemstone treatment extends to the buckle, ensuring that the jewellery language continues across the entire watch.
Rather than creating a single definitive design, Richard Mille has treated the RM HJ-02 as a collection of personalities, allowing colour to become an essential part of the identity of each timepiece.
The four palettes also demonstrate how dramatically the same technical architecture can be transformed through different combinations of gemstones and materials.
Michelle Yeoh Fronts the Collection
The collection has found an equally distinctive face in Michelle Yeoh, who appears wearing the RM HJ-02 in Richard Mille’s latest campaign.
Her association with the collection reinforces its positioning at the intersection of watchmaking, jewellery and contemporary feminine creativity.
For Richard Mille, however, the RM HJ-02 ultimately represents something deeper than decoration.
It demonstrates how the maison’s highly technical approach to watchmaking can be translated into an entirely different visual language—one where mechanical precision, architecture and gem-setting become part of the same composition.
The result is twelve watches that occupy the increasingly fascinating space between haute horlogerie and high jewellery.
And in true Richard Mille fashion, even when the watch is covered in colour and precious stones, the engineering remains at the heart of the spectacle.
