Richard Mille

RM 35-03 Rafael Nadal

Name: Richard Mille RM 35-03 Rafael Nadal
Brand: Richard Mille
SKU: RM35-03 RN
Availability: PreOrder

Ref. RM35-03 RN

On requestSourced to order

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Case43.2mm Carbon TPT

DialSkeletonised

MovementAutomatic

The RM 35-03 Rafael Nadal carries the butterfly rotor, letting the wearer change the winding geometry mid-match. It is built to be worn through a Grand Slam final.

Richard Mille's RM 35-03 Rafael Nadal in 43.2mm Carbon TPT.

Fun fact: The RM 35-03 introduced the butterfly rotor: press a pusher and the automatic winding geometry physically changes, so Nadal could switch the watch between court mode and rest mode.

The Nadal line automatic, with the butterfly rotor

ReferenceRM 35-03 Automatic Rafael Nadal

Case43.15mm by 49.95mm by 13.15mm, Carbon TPT

MovementRMAL2 automatic, skeletonised, butterfly rotor

IntroducedDecember 2021, current production model

Why this one matters

The 35 line is the non-tourbillon branch of the Rafael Nadal collaboration, manual winding at first and automatic from the 35-02 onward. The RM 035 came first in 2011 with a manual calibre, the RM 35-01 followed in 2014 with a Carbon TPT case, the RM 35-02 in 2016 brought the first automatic with a variable geometry rotor, and the RM 35-03 arrived in December 2021.

What changed with the 03 is the winding system. The variable geometry rotor had to be reset by a watchmaker with the movement open. The butterfly rotor moves that adjustment outside: a pusher at 7 o'clock folds two hinged weights in or out while the watch stays on the wrist. Richard Mille states the design took three years of development and is patented.

The movement

RMAL2 is a skeletonised automatic on a grade 5 titanium baseplate, with around 55 hours of power reserve. The two rotor weights sit joined as a half disc for normal wear, the efficient winding position. A press of the pusher deploys them to 180 degrees into the butterfly shape, a sport mode that halts the winding action during hard activity, and an indicator at 6 o'clock shows which mode is set. The butterfly rotor is patented. The rest is familiar practice, a free sprung balance and titanium bridges.

On the wrist

43.15mm across and just under 50mm long, so it covers a wrist, but Carbon TPT keeps the weight down and the strap does most of the work. The layered TPT gives the case its striped grain, and no two run the same way. Rubber strap, 50 metres of water resistance. At 13.15mm it is not especially tall, but the footprint is what you notice under a cuff.

Questions we are asked about this reference

What does the butterfly rotor actually do?

Deploying the weights into the butterfly position halts the automatic winding, which spares the winding mechanism during hard activity. Bringing them back together restores normal efficiency. Both are set from the outside with a pusher, and an indicator at 6 o'clock shows which mode is in use.

How is it different from the RM 35-02?

Same family and same broad case, but the 02 uses the RMAL1 with a variable geometry rotor that needs the movement opened to adjust. The 03 moves that adjustment to a pusher on the case and updates the calibre and case detailing.

Is Carbon TPT durable?

It is light, stiff and very resistant to scratching, but it can chip under a hard knock and it cannot be polished. A damaged case component is replaced rather than refinished, so edges are worth checking closely.

Automatic

The automatic side of Richard Mille, where the rotor is set to suit the wearer

Automatic Winding is the label Richard Mille puts on the models wound by a rotor rather than by hand, and it appears on tourbillon and non tourbillon references alike. Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat founded the house in 2001 and showed the hand wound RM 001 Tourbillon that year, with automatic calibres following. Most of these share a build: a barrel case held together by grade 5 titanium spline screws, a skeletonised grade 5 titanium baseplate, and a sapphire caseback over the movement. The rotor is where they separate, matched to how active the owner is, by weights that adjust the rotor geometry on some references and by a pusher on the case that switches the winding on others.

barrel case, spline screws visible on the bezel

skeletonised grade 5 titanium baseplate

rotor weights set to the wearer's activity

sapphire caseback over the rotor

Sizes in the family

Barrel cases, roughly 31 to 45 mm wide and 45 to 50 mm long

Who it suits

Suits a buyer who wants the movement in view from both sides and a winding system that can be set for an active wearer.

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