FP: "I have always had a love for watches - in particular mechanical watches. I first came across Richard Mille when I was racing with Sauber in 2004, as Richard became one of my personnal sponsor.
The first watch that Richard and I collaborated on was the 005FM - I loved the sand blasted finish of the titanium and yellow inner bezel and green hands, the colour combination was a reference to my country of birth, Brazil. I couldn't believe the watch was so light and as a racing driver it was critical that I was able to drive unimpeded for long periods. It was on my wrist proving its 'champagne resistance' when I won the Turkish Grand Prix in 2006, an event watched by millions spectators in the world.
In 2006 while testing at the Canadian Grand Prix, I was wearing Richard's first ultralight tourbillon wristwatch, the RM006 when I had a very serious accident - fortunately I and the watch were unscathed which was amazing considering this was the most amazing watch as it weighed less than 48 grammes and is a full mechanical tourbillion. Richard was very interested to find out the effect of the 32G force on the timing of this watch and I was just surprised that it was still working normally after this crash!!
I wear a Richard Mille watch all the time now, even during racing days - which is very unusual as many of my colleagues on the F1 circuit tend to leave their watches to one side during racing. For the last couple of years I have been testing my namesake piece the RM011FM - this is the most practical watch so far for me and I love the big date - we travel so much on the F1 circuit it is sometimes difficult to remember details like date!! I will always let Richard know how my watch is performing and what I have been doing in it so that he knows the daily tolerances and if it is performing to my expectations.
I am always looking forward to the next test with Richard and I like the fact that he expects his watches to be "loved hard" which is his way of saying worn normally and not kept as a museum piece. When there is a problem with a watch it is just as interesting to him than when it works normally - which is very close to how we work in Formula 1 racing."
Ciao tutti,
Theodore Diehl
Richard Mille Forum Moderator
"The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once" -Albert Einstein
Do fórum da Richard Mille. O relógio foi submetido a 32 g de desaceleração e continuou funcionando. Puta propaganda para a marca, ainda mais se tratando de um turbilhão, que tem fama de não poder nem ser submetido a movimentos violentos de braço. Eu não achei o vídeo do acidente, alguém pode ajudar?
Flávio