Back in November 2024 Richard Mille discontinued the RM 032 with a final swan song edition, the final circular cased watch in their entire collection. Less than a year later through and circles are back on the menu with the debut of the new RM 33-03. While the 032 was first and foremost a dive watch, the 33-03 very much is not. It’s an integrated strap sports watch in keeping with the style and designs of the broader Richard Mille collections.
The case is available in two versions, either full titanium or a rose gold and carbon TPT mix. Both are classic RM material combinations, celebrating high performance materials alongside prestigious precious metals. Its shape is completely new with dimensions of 41.7mm x 9.7mm, making it substantially slimmer than the old RM 032. It’s consequently much more appropriate for daily wear with greater comfort on the wrist. It’s water resistance rating though is only 30m.
Breaking down the new shape in more detail, it features a tripartite construction with the caseback, caseband and bezel held together by visible screws giving the piece an industrial aesthetic. There are six screws in the bezel, each situated in a pronounced notched area that reminds me of the claw decoration on the Maurice Lacroix Aikon or the diving bezel grip of the Delma Decompression Timer. The lugs also overlap the bezel and lead into the integrated rubber strap, which itself has a raised central line pulling down from the central screw to create a dynamic shape.
Looking to the dial, the big news here is it reveals a brand-new skeletonised movement, the RMXP3. By Richard Mille standards it’s relatively understated, featuring your standard time and date with central hours and minutes, small seconds at 6 o’clock and the date between 4 and 5. The skeletonization adds a lot of character to the piece with large apertures revealing the inner workings of elements such as the power barrel around 1-2 o’clock. My favourite detail is the exposed ring just on the inside of the lumed hour scale through which you can see the date disc with its strange, complex structure that occasional resolves itself into numbers.
Specs-wise it’s a very thin calibre measuring just 3.28mm in thickness. That’s largely due to the addition of a platinum micro-rotor, reducing the size of the rotor and eliminating the need for additional weight through bulk. It operates at a 3 Hz frequency with a power reserve of 42-hours. Plus, thanks to four adjustable weights around the balance wheel, the watch is easy to regulate without having to alter the length of the hairspring, ensuring better accuracy.
Ultimately, the RM 33-03 feels like Richard Mille have taken one of their classic tonneau timepieces and squashed it into a circle design, offering a different look at their signature concepts and styles. It’s not so much of an outlier as the previous dive watch and sits alongside the rest of the models much better. Though that also means the prices are also in line with what you expect from Richard Mille at CHF 115,000 (approx. £106,750) in titanium and CHF 145,000 (approx. £134,600) in carbon TPT and gold. That’s excluding tax.
Price and Specs:
145,000 CHF- Carbon TPT® (approx. £134,600)
More details at Richard Mille.
