Richard Mille rarely sees the paradisiacal side! RM 88 Smiley Automatic Tourbillon Watch You must have seen this yellow smiley face "Smiley". To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of this world-famous logo, Richard Mille released this RM 88 Smiley self-winding tourbillon watch, limited to 50 pieces. The white ceramic and rose gold case, the hollow face plate is decorated with a huge smiling face, as well as the decorative details such as clouds, rainbows, umbrellas, pineapples, and cactuses. Clockwork craftsmanship.

RM 88 Automatic Winding Tourbillon Smiley Watch information ATZ white ceramic, rose gold material / CRMT7 automatic winding movement / hours, minutes display / sapphire crystal mirror, transparent case back / watch diameter 48.15x39.74mm

After 3 years of research and development, a watch of extraordinary craftsmanship and innovation has come out. The self-winding tourbillon watch with RM 88 in-house movement and every decorative component it incorporates come from the joyful world of Smiley: Blooming flowers, warm sun, delicious pineapples, thriving cacti, pink flamingos, brightly colored rainbows... This colorful masterpiece is like a cheerful cocktail in the scene, and needs to be sipped every sip.

The RM 88 Smiley has seen many technical and aesthetic challenges overcome. Carver Olivier Kuhn's karat gold micro-engravings are quite small in size and weight, so special care needs to be taken, each of these decorative components is less than 1 gram, and they are also subjected to various shocks. Next, how to arrange these components in 3D space around the central Smiley theme and achieve the best results, and also easy for the watchmaker to assemble, requires scrutiny. To solve these problems, the RM 88 is equipped with two baseplates: a technical baseplate, which supports the movement, and an auxiliary baseplate, which holds the decorative components on the left side of the dial. Auxiliary baseplates are then mounted on the movement, and decorative components are presented on this sloping baseplate to add volume.

The second challenge we faced was to ensure that there was enough space in the movement to best represent the many highly decorated “protagonists” of the scene. The new CRMT7 brand in-house movement is a skeletonized self-winding tourbillon movement with hours, minutes and function indicators. The bridge plate and the micro-blasted bottom plate are made of grade 5 titanium alloy, which guarantees its hardness and flatness. The bridges of the tourbillon are micro-blasted, chamfered and brushed with a dual black and gold PVD coating, and the back of the base plate is treated the same way to accentuate the lightning bolt pattern. The small seconds hand alternates between rain and rain every minute, and the sun and lightning patterns pass over the ARCAP® cloud fixed on the tourbillon, and take turns to hide behind the micro-blasted and satin-finished white gold cloud. This little cloud floats at the bottom of a cheerful rainbow made of 4 different colors of K gold and treated with a 25-hour micro-blasting and brushing process.

The small seconds hand combines sun and lightning patterns, alternating between rain and rain every minute, and passes over the ARCAP® cloud fixed on the tourbillon; other decorations include a small white gold cloud and a rainbow made of 4 different colors of K gold .

The Smiley pattern, made of micro-blasted and hand-painted gold, is mounted on another wheel mechanism bridge, which is particularly striking, overlooking the entire dial set; this bridge is made of micro-blasted ARCAP with polished bevels and brushed edges ® material. This large rainbow echoes the Smiley pattern vividly, and the hand-applied coloured lacquer radiates a touch of brilliance, contrasting with its grey-black rhodium finish.

In terms of finishing touches, every little detail on this piece is meticulously crafted. The cocktail glass consists of four karat gold structures. Umbrellas, olives (1.7mm high), straws with curved creases with a diameter of 0.4mm (all polished), and wine glasses; the lower half of the wine glasses are micro-sandblasted, showing the cool feeling of condensation. The total weight of the cocktail glass is only 0.4g. The golden flowers above the glass are mirror-polished, and each petal is brushed and rhodium-plated.

The pink flamingo is made of 0.2g red gold and has also undergone various processes: the base is micro-blasted, the eyes are made with the smallest beaded wire planing tool in existence, and the parts depicting grass and water are polished. The flamingo's wings are similarly polished, and the feathers are finely traced with the tips of the Dégussit grindstones. The flamingo parts were coated in metallic pink PVD, then the beak was painted black with a brush.

Green PVD-coated blades of grass, micro-blasted and polished pineapples, golden cactus spines that were micro-blasted and polished to remove PVD coating one by one, and micro-blasted golden suns surrounded by polished light, all embody the quest for perfection everywhere. The RM 88 Smiley follows the watchmaking tradition and all the finishing touches are done by hand.

A feast of colour and beauty, both front and back, presented in a well-placed composition. The case is made of white ATZ ceramic, known for its scratch-, impact-, and abrasion-resistant properties, and its white color that never fades, and red gold for the middle case. The crown bears a lovely Smiley smile carved out of gold.

The RM 88 Smiley self-winding tourbillon watch, with its 3D aesthetics and brilliant colors, presents a vivid and magnificent awakening dream. This is a colorful, poetic and energetic watch. This captivating masterpiece infuses positive vibes into the world's universal language - the smile.