Welcome to Watch Guy Watches, GQ’s monthly curation of high-end timepieces for the true watch nerds among us.
Last week, I was invited to the Richard Mille boutique on Rodeo Drive to check out an as-yet-unreleased watch that, frankly, I had zero desire to hold in my hand.
Not because it wasn’t cool—believe me, I wanted one. It was more the fact that handling a complex mechanical object worth nearly $2 million makes me kinda nervous.
So, what does $1,940,000 get you in a watch these days? In the case of the RM 41-01 Tourbillon “Soccer,” it quite frankly gets you one of the most compelling chronographs I’ve ever seen in the metal, or, in this case, the Dark Blue Quartz TPT. If you’ve never heard of a “soccer timer,” it’s exactly what it sounds like: In the heyday of the mechanical chronograph, brands including Heuer, Omega, and Breitling made watches that were calibrated to track a soccer game’s dual 45-minute halves. Much like yachting timers, they were colorful by virtue of necessity, using different hues to demarcate specific amounts of time (15 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.) within their chronograph totalizers.
The RM 41-01 takes things a step further (several steps, actually) by adding a suite of features that only Richard Mille could bring together in a single watch. Not only does the chronograph have flyback capability with central minutes and seconds totalizers, but there’s also a tourbillon—great for improving chronometric accuracy while you’re waving a giant flag in the ultras section—and two special soccer-related features. The first, a patented “match-phase indicator,” advances a small revolving display at 9 o’clock with each reset of the flyback chronograph to track the game (1st half, 2nd half, 1st overtime, and 2nd overtime). The second, visible at 5 and 11 o’clock, is a special goal tracker: Activated via the pushers on the right side of the case, it counts upwards to eight along a horizontal scale, allowing the wearer to keep score at a glance.
This being a Richard Mille watch, everything is turned up to 11. For one, the maison spent five years developing a brand-new hand-wound movement made from Grade 5 titanium, with dual column wheels, a 70-hour power reserve, and all sorts of protections against shock and magnetism (crucial if things get rowdy in the stands, or—heaven forbid—you accidentally drop it on the floor of the Rodeo Drive RM boutique). Finally, it’s skeletonized up the wazoo, leaving many of its 650 components on full view via the sapphire dial and caseback.
Of course, the movement and complications are only part of the story in any RM. The rest is in the wild material science that goes into crafting its tonneau-shaped housing, which in this case is produced from either Basalt TPT or Dark Blue Quartz TPT and paired with Carbon TPT accents. (The basalt color is more of a blood red, while the blue is actually more of a purple.) Paired to a rubber strap in black or white, respectively, the RM 41-01 Tourbillon “Soccer” is a mechanical timekeeper of the highest order, but it’s equally a piece of interactive mechanical sculpture. I might not be able to afford one, but after (very carefully) handling it, I’m glad that someone can.
You’d be forgiven for assuming that the company that once made a watch out of cheese had already made one out of ceramic. But no: The new Streamliner Tourbillon Concept Ceramic is Moser’s first foray into the wild world of this space-age material, whose lightweight, scratch-resistant, hypoallergenic properties make it an ideal material for a watch case. In contrast to an anthracite grey case and bracelet with both polished and satin-finished surfaces, this version of Moser’s distinctive Streamliner has a fiery red dial crafted from Grand Feu enamel, with a tourbillon visible at 6 o’clock featuring Moser’s signature double-hairspring. Paired to a matching ceramic integrated bracelet, it’s a distinctly 21st-century take on the classic luxury sports watch.
Speaking of modern riffs on the integrated-bracelet luxury sports watch concept of the 1970s, check out the newest version of Vacheron Constantin’s Overseas Titanium Tourbillon. Combining a lightweight titanium case with an ultra-thin automatic movement and a tourbillon regulator, it boasts a richly-hued burgundy dial that immediately sets it apart from its brethren. Measuring 42.5mm in diameter, this Overseas might seem like a large piece, but thanks to a case thickness of just 5.65mm—not to mention its titanium construction—it’s surprisingly easy on the wrist.
2015’s Slim d’Hermès was a revelation, proving once and for all that a brand known for crafting some of the world’s most covetable leather goods could also turn out some of the loveliest timepieces in the world. In 2021, the French maison expanded the lineup with a skeletonized moonphase-equipped model, the Slim d’Hermès Squelette Lune, with a titanium case, a platinum bezel, a white gold crown, and a grey dial. Now, Hermès is releasing two fresh executions of this handsome 39.5mm dress watch, one in polished platinum with a matching bezel and a blue dial, and one in bead-blasted titanium with an anthracite DLC-treated bezel, a grey dial, and a movement whose bridges appear in a cool vert d’eau (aqua green) shade. In either execution, it’s one of the most tastefully understated additions to the skeletonized watch genre we’ve seen in some time.