Natalie Portman will be the latest name to join hands with Richard Mille's watches in his collaborations with celebrities and athletes.
Although founder Richard Mille is tight-lipped about Portman's project, he says it will be different from watches he has created with other celebrities. "Every watch has its own objective," he says. "Every time it's a new development, a new concept and a new philosophy." His philosophy is to be functional and interesting. This year, he is launching seven novelties, five in co-operation with high-profile names and two with revolutionary technological advancements.
Jean Todt, president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, has the honour of being the first person with links to two watches from the brand. "Jean Todt is a very demanding guy," Mille says. "To have someone like him developing things with you, it's pure pleasure. The minimum I could do was to devote two models to my friend."
Designed to display the number of G's accumulated by wearers during rapid deceleration, the mechanical G-sensor is a new complication on the skeleton base plate of the Tourbillon G-Sensor RM 036 Jean Todt Limited Edition. It was developed and patented by Renaud Papi exclusively. It visualises G-forces by translating the movement of a small internal mechanism to an indicator. It can withstand decelerations of several tens of G's. The RM 58-01 Jean Todt World Timer is a limited edition of 35 pieces. Time is set by rotating the bezel anticlockwise and positioning the name of the city the traveller has arrived at to 12 o'clock. Local time and the time of 23 world cities, representing the 24 time zones, are then set automatically. A black and white disc distinguishes between day and night.
