New Release: Richard Mille RM 30-01 Le Mans Classic Watch | aBlogtoWatch

I have the distinct impression that Richard Mille, well within the top 10 highest-revenue watch brands even with production figures as low as around 6,000 pieces per year, does not need to care much at all about anything anymore. Beyond the very occasional press release and the gigantic RICHARD MILLE texts splattered over high-end race tracks and racing cars, I do not recall recent captivating events or groundbreaking collaborations. What we are looking at today is the Richard Mille RM 30-01 Le Mans Classic watch and it does its part in continuing this pattern.

It is true that Richard Mille has taken good care of its privileged position where it is around 3,000 times more efficient than Swatch — it sells fewer than 1/1000th as many watches and earns about three times as much revenue in the process. RM, as those who own one call it, has taken its foot off the gas and lingers comfortably around an estimated 6,000 annual production capacity, hence keeping the market happy and historic (now decades-old) resale values high.

When things are going like this, brands have more to lose than they have to gain, and so they find a relaxed rhythm and surround themselves with suppliers, collaborations, partnerships, and events they trust. In perfect alignment with that, Richard Mille has been a sponsor of the biennial Le Mans Classic race since 2002 and, wouldn’t you know, 2025 marks another time when Les Breleux has to come up with a non-upsetting, mildly interesting piece to celebrate the occasion.

Behold, the Richard Mille RM 30-01 Le Mans Classic, a watch that looks as though it could have debuted at virtually any time between 2002 and 2025. The familiar and incredibly successful barrel-shaped case with a labyrinth of a dial and generous splashes of colors is a proven Richard Mille recipe. The dial was actually inspired by and designed to look like a race track, and if you squint really hard, you might just be able to see it as such.

A mix of odd features and functionalities is also a “must” for virtually any Richard Mille, and this, the RM 30-01 Le Mans Classic edition, is no exception to that rule. The RMAR2 caliber was modified to have a 24-hour counter with a green 16-zone to mark the start time of the race; there is a “clutch engagement indicator” at 11 o’clock to show whether the self-winding system’s rotor is operated in the winding phase or is disengaged; then there is a function selector at 3 o’clock. If you didn’t know, Richard Mille watches tend to have a crown function selector as opposed to a traditional crown that you pull out in different steps.

Last, there is a power reserve indicator between… around 6:20 to 12:05? The colors are admittedly cool on that and seem to represent the various states of wind and the correspondingly ideal/suboptimal torque delivery. Oh, and there is a “digital” date display with two co-axially mounted, openworked discs to go with the heavily skeletonized hour and minute hands, which certainly won’t assist with legibility much. The central seconds hand has a large green area on its counterweight for some reason, but I wonder how many would ever register that.

In the usual fashion, the technical extravaganza reaches atomic levels in the Richard Mille RM 30-01 Le Mans Classic watch. Its baseplate and bridges are crafted from grade 5 titanium that is actually 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% aluminum, and 4% vanadium. I urge everyone to never settle for anything less than 8% vanadium in their baseplates, so that is a compromise RM 30-01 owners will have to live with for the rest of eternity. Nevertheless, Richard Mille claims that “the skeletonized baseplate and bridges were subjected to separate and extensive validation tests to ensure they met rigorous strength requirements.”

I admire Richard Mille for identifying the importance of incomprehensible technical gibberish that an unquestionably substantial portion of its customers cannot even pretend to understand — but nevertheless appreciate and consider (or at some point have considered) a major validator of these products. For our own entertainment, I will list a few:

Do I want a patented and, indeed automatically (!), declutching variable-geometry rotor in my watches? Yes, all of them. Is most of this largely or entirely unintelligible technical nonsense shared with the intention of being mildly intimidating and impressive to foster a product purchase while offering little to no basis for comparison with competitors? Probably that is also true.

Before I get too worked up on what actually is a beautifully made, highly engineered, and mighty impressive example of miniaturization, let us recompose ourselves and regain our focus on what is truly paradoxical here, which is the dissonance between what this product “knows” how to perform and how little the folks wearing it “know” about it. As a test, over the last decade, I randomly asked people wearing or owning one or more RM011/RM 11 watches if they knew what the little display at 04:30 on their watches showed — absolutely not one of them ever had any idea that it was the month display for the annual calendar, without which the date display can erroneously be set and will change from the 30th to the 1st of the month or vice versa when it should not do that.

Do I care that they did not know about how their six-figure-priced and, indeed, prized possession fundamentally functioned? I do, because I find it hilarious — but it must also be said that these fortunate people cannot be expected to know all the functionalities of all the things they owned (yachts, cars, racing cars, bikes, helicopters, watches, ultra-high-end Hi-Fi, etc.). So, sure, we watch enthusiasts can make snarky comments, but the fact remains that Richard Mille watches are worn for their comfort, for their beautifully technical (and wilfully overwhelming) nature, and for their status. Which is all well and good — but when folks are oblivious to a calendar, then listing “INCABLOC 908.22.211.100” on the product page is so paradoxical it boggles the mind; and this is worth discussing here, among ourselves.

Richard Mille seems to have gotten a lot slower and more comfortable in its pace, presentation, events, and collaborations. A decade ago, I was in Les Breleux, holding a solid gold RM 057 Tourbillon Dragon that felt like it weighed roughly one pound (half a kilogram) in one hand, and the featherweight RM 27-01 (among my top three favorite watches ever made) in the other. One had solid gold, hand-carved dragons weaving through its movement, the other had a movement suspended on the smallest and thinnest-ever braided steel cables. One was for Jackie Chan, the other for Rafael Nadal. Certainly, those are much more expensive (still) watches than this RM 30-01, but the vibe is different, too.

A brand like Richard Mille has a lot more to lose than it has to gain from every decision it makes. It has gained all the momentum, all the appeal, and all the demand it could have ever dreamed about. From the perspective of watch enthusiasts, Richard Mille (and any top-10 revenue watch brand, if you ask me) is tasked with delivering awe and amazement — and this tame, odd Le Mans Classic watch will probably not be what we are looking for.

And yet, all that said, as a car and motor racing enthusiast, I would be delighted to wear it because in my twisted mind it is a bit like a race track, and Richard Mille as a brand does have a genuine connection with motor racing (classical or otherwise). It is well-made, comfy-to-wear, and genuinely unique in its functionality, dial layout, and execution. There is a lot to love here, and some underlying dissonance to think about.

The Richard Mille RM 30-01 Le Mans Classic watch is priced at 220,000 Swiss Francs. You can learn more at the brand’s website.