Richard Mille unveils $370,000 McLaren W1 tribute watch

So you’re beguiled by the new McLaren W1 supercar, the mighty 1275-hp successor to the McLaren P1 and F1, but you have neither the $2.6 million on hand nor the clout to have been one of the 399 folks offered this halo vehicle from Woking.

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Not to worry! You can dig around in those couch cushions and buy Swiss horologist Richard Mille’s new tribute to the W1, the RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph W1, resplendent in McLaren orange and other high speed touches.

What $370,000 buys you (beyond a supercar)

Of course, for the approximately $370,000 required to purchase this - in Mille parlance - “racing machine on the wrist,” you’d be able to buy a new McLaren 750S and have enough left over to pick up a Rolex. But enough with such proletarian talk. Let’s dive into these rare air details.

Richard Mille has been a fan of fast cars for decades and is known for his connection to Ferrari, with his space-age UP-01 timepiece going for more than $2 million. But Mille has also been in the collaborative pits with McLaren for some time, producing now four such tribute pieces that aim to reinforce the Mille brand’s hyper-focus on high tech. No one better to do that with than McLaren, whose F1 team has been surging of late after a few low-speed years and whose street cars seem to be the chariot of choice in tech-obsessed Silicon Valley.

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Inside the movement — 480 pieces of precision

Powering the RM 65-01 is the company’s RMA4C automatic chronograph movement that features a 480-piece movement that beats at - watch geeks rejoice - high 5Hz or about 36,000 vibrations per hour. That movement rests comfortably on a chassis mounting rubbers and boasts a “rapid winding” system that allows wearers to charge its 60-hour power reserve by using a special pusher made from Quartz TPT.

Best of all, the company says this wizardry allows the RM 65-01 to keep a tally of two active chronographic movements simultaneously to the nearest tenth of a second. Never mind that if you’re really hammering away at the track in a seven-figure car, you likely have someone else doing the track timing for you.

The watch truly dazzles, especially if you’re a McLaren fan. While the standard non-McLaren RM 65-01 already is quite the looker, the W1 goes out of its way to tips its hat to the storied British racing firm founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren in 1963.

That means distinctive Papaya Orange and light blue hues dancing across the face of the handsome 43.8 by 43.9 by 16.1 mm TPT carbon case, while its skeletonized titanium dial shares its intricate pattern with the W1’s wheels. To hammer the color palette home, the rubber strap latching the watch to your wrist is wrought in Papaya Orange.

Salvador Arbona, technical director for movements at Richard Mille, says the W1 project “perfectly illustrates (our) philosophy of constantly pushing technical boundaries to create innovative watches that include the latest watchmaking developments with a functional, practical and high-performance approach.”

Only for the few — limited run of 500 units

The RM 65-01 will be produced in a limited run of 500, with the four-wheeled owners of the W1 automatically getting a chance to purchase their companion wristwatch, leaving 101 units for the merely W1 hypercar aspirational.

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