While in Geneva for an afternoon, I decided to stop by and say hello to my old watch-buddy Rob Kitto, who manages the Richard Mille boutique at the Grand Hotel Kempinski. Never one to disappoint, Rob pulled out some insane pieces from the safe, many of which were unique pieces I had never seen before (or even known of their existence). But the one that stole my heart was the Richard Mille RM 056

I’ve seen countless photos of the crystalline machine posted by fellow bloggers and forum members and while impressive, I always thought it had a sort of plastic toy look to it. Boy was I wrong.

The watch looks more like a prototype testing case until you see it up-close. The sapphire case is much more transparent than I had believed. It is after all made of the same synthetic sapphire you find on watch crystals. I like how the parts that join and the screw threads are sandblasted and frosted, reminiscent of my grandmother’s crystal Lalique sculptures. The RM 056 also weights more than you would expect. Admittedly, the RM 056 feels more luxurious than the ultra lightweight alloys we’re used to seeing from Richard Mille.

To make the watch even more transparent, Richard Mille went with a transparent silicone rubber strap and crown element, also matte frosted so as not to making them totally see-though.

Alternative case materials like carbon-fiber and polymer resins are becoming ever more popular, but a sapphire crystal case is really thinking out of the box. To my knowledge at least, this was a world first. Not only is it visually spectacular, I can’t help but imagine the intricacy involved in making a complete case out of this unforgiving material. Lord knows making angular crystals is hard enough!

At $1.65 Million and with only 5 ever to be made (and all spoken for I believe), I consider my self pretty lucky just to have even touched it.

Special thanks to my friend Rob Kitto for allowing me to get my greasy fingers on this and snap a few shots with my G 15.