Why it matters: Swiss luxury watch mater Richard Mille has unveiled what it claims is the world's thinnest mechanical watch. The impossibly thin RM UP-01 Ferrari is a manual winding ultraflat measuring just 1.75mm from dial to caseback, narrowly edging out previous record holder Bulgari and its Octo Finissimo Ultra by 0.05mm.
For comparison, an Apple Watch Series 7 is 10.7mm thick. You could stack six of these together and it still wouldn't be as thick as one Apple Watch.
The watch's skeletonized baseplate and bridges are constructed from an alloy that is 90 percent titanium, six percent aluminum and four percent vanadium. The combination, which is frequently used in advanced aerospace applications, boosts the material's strength compared to commercially pure titanium.
The RM UP-01 Ferrari can withstand accelerations of more than 5,000 Gs and is water resistant to 10 meters. Its movement - the internal components that make the timepiece functional - were co-developed with Audemars Piguet Renaud & Papi. Richard Mille also collaborated with Ferrari on the project, and collectively logged more than 6,000 hours of development and lab testing.
I'm far from a watch aficionado but I can appreciate the level of craftsmanship on display here. As a lay person, however, I can't say that this creation is all that pleasing aesthetically. The Bulgari piece is far more stylish IMO.
The RM UP-01 Ferrari is being limited to just 150 examples and will retail for a staggering $1,888,000.
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