Richard Mille and Ferrari reveal $1.8m wristwatch

It was only in March when Bulgari launched the Octo Finissimo, hyped as the world’s thinnest watch at just 1.8mm in thickness. Priced at more than $400,000 to reflect its groundbreaking achievements it is a fine piece of watchmaking indeed, but it hasn’t taken very long for the record to be broken.

That’s because Swiss luxury firm Richard Mille has just revealed the new RM UP-01 Ferrari, at just 1,75mm thick officially the world’s new thinnest watch. The 0,05mm difference that won Richard Mille the record is about the same as the thickness of a human hair.

The astounding achievement is the result of 6,000 hours of painstaking laboratory work, and the only way to achieve the thinness was to incorporate case elements into the mechanical workings of the watch. The manual-winding movement weighs a staggering 2,82 grams, and still boasts a power reserve of 45 hours. Everything Richard Mille knew about watchmaking had to be cast aside for the development of RM UP-01 since it’s never been achieved before, and the company’s experts used the highest quality titanium for the minuscule inner components.

For a highly coveted and collectable piece like this, Richard Mille and Ferrari are limiting production to 150 examples worldwide, each priced at $1.8 million.