Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Flyback Chronograph

A chronograph for a Formula 1 cockpit

Richard Mille launched the RM 011 in 2007, out of a friendship between the founder and the Brazilian Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa, then racing for Ferrari. The brand calls it a watch 'developed in collaboration with Felipe Massa,' and its full name, RM 011 Felipe Massa Flyback Chronograph, has never been shortened in the catalogue. One auction catalogue dates its introduction to 2008, but the brand and most other sources give 2007.

It was the firm's first automatic chronograph, and the first Richard Mille chronograph with an annual calendar shown through an oversize date at 12 o'clock and a month indicator near 4 and 5 o'clock. The chronograph is a flyback, meaning it can be reset and restarted with one press, and it adds a 60-minute countdown timer at 9 o'clock and a 12-hour totalizer at 6 o'clock. All of it sits on a skeletonized movement that leaves the wheels visible through the dial.

The case defined the look of the brand for the next decade: a curved tonneau, wider at the middle than at the ends, with a curved bezel, sides and caseback held together by exposed spline screws. It measures about 50 by 40 mm and 16.15 mm thick, and the first edition came in titanium. Gold, ceramic, carbon composites and silicon nitride versions followed.

Richard Mille and Felipe Massa

Richard Mille, born on February 13, 1951, came to watches from the business side. He studied marketing in Besançon, joined the watch company Finhor in 1974, ran the watch division of the French group Matra after it bought Finhor in 1981, and later worked for the jeweler Mauboussin. In 2001 he and Dominique Guenat founded the company that bears his name, and its first watch, the RM 001 Tourbillon, appeared that year. Audemars Piguet had collaborated with Mille since 1999.

Felipe Massa, born in São Paulo on April 25, 1981, raced in Formula 1 from 2002 to 2017 for Sauber, Ferrari and Williams. He won 11 Grands Prix, took 41 podiums and 16 pole positions, and came within a single point of the 2008 world title, losing it to Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix on November 2, 2008, a race Massa himself won by thirteen seconds. One auction catalogue links the RM 011's number to his eleven Grand Prix wins.

Massa wore Richard Mille watches in the car. On July 25, 2009, in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix, a spring from another car struck his helmet and he crashed head-on into a tire barrier; he needed emergency surgery and later had a titanium plate fitted to his skull. He was wearing an RM 006 at the time, and the watch came through the crash unscathed.

Ferrari's year

The RM 011 reached the market in a strong year for Ferrari. On October 21, 2007, Kimi Räikkönen won his first Formula 1 title for the team at the Brazilian Grand Prix. A watch tied to a Ferrari driver could hardly have had better timing.

It was also the last year of easy money before the financial crisis. On August 9, 2007, a major bank blocked withdrawals from three funds heavily committed to subprime lending, an early signal of the downturn. Richard Mille, still a young brand, kept growing through it; the company sold some 32,000 watches between 2001 and 2017, with sales growing about 15 percent a year and production reaching about 4,800 watches by 2018.

The RMAC1 and how to identify one

The caliber RMAC1 is an automatic skeletonized movement whose bridges are machined from titanium. It beats at 4 Hz and uses a variable-geometry rotor. Auction catalogues count 68 jewels. Its base movement comes from Vaucher in Fleurier, which has supplied Richard Mille's simpler calibers for years, and the chronograph module comes from Dubois-Dépraz. Sources disagree on the power reserve: one review gives 50 hours, a collector guide gives 55.

The standard titanium RM 011 is satin-finished, with a carbon-fiber flange carrying the tachymeter scale. The dial layout is the giveaway: an oversize date in two windows at 12, the month near 4:30, running seconds at 3, the 12-hour counter at 6 and the countdown at 9, all over an open movement. Auction catalogues have measured examples at 50 by 40 mm and 50 by 41 mm.

Reference codes after 'RM011' identify the edition and material. 'AK TI', 'AH TI' and 'AJ Ti' all denote titanium versions. Warranty papers, often double-signed, are an important part of provenance.

A model of many editions

Few watches have been reissued in as many special versions. Richard Mille made 50 black DLC-coated titanium pieces with red and white accents for the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix. A black-coated titanium edition of 30 pieces was made for a single authorized dealer. A titanium 'Le Mans' version ran to 150 pieces, and the 'Americas White,' a DLC-coated titanium edition of 30, was released in 2010 for the Vancouver Winter Olympics and sold only in U.S. and Canadian boutiques. A 2015 edition, the 'Black Night,' came in Carbon NTPT, limited to 100 pieces, and a Jean Todt edition ran to 150 pieces in carbon TPT.

Variants spun off too. The RM 011-01 for the football manager Roberto Mancini added timing for a match, and the RM 011-02 added a GMT hand without making the case any thicker. After about nine years the original was retired with a Last Edition in blue ceramic, and in the second half of 2016 the RM 011-03, with a slightly wider case and a more openworked movement, took its place. In 2020 the RM 11-05 introduced a grey cermet case in a run of 100.

On the secondary market, the editions spread widely. A titanium RM 011 AK TI from about 2011, with its original warranty, sold at auction in New York in June 2024 for $152,400 against an estimate of $90,000 to $180,000. An Americas White, number 13 of 30, sold there in December 2025 for $215,900. A pink-gold and titanium example from 2008, sold by its original owner, brought $157,500 in December 2022, and a Black Night, number 38 of 100, with warranty papers signed by both Mille and Massa, brought $352,800 in June 2022.

In Switzerland and Asia, the dealer-exclusive black edition, number 12 of 30, sold in Geneva for CHF 214,200, and the first Le Mans piece, number 001 of 150, sold in Hong Kong for HK$1,260,000, more than double its high estimate.

The numbers

Reference

RM 011 Felipe Massa (e.g. RM011 AK TI)

Caliber

RMAC1 automatic, titanium bridges, variable-geometry rotor, 68 jewels, 4 Hz

Power reserve

50 hours or 55 hours, depending on source

Case

Titanium tonneau, about 50 x 40 mm, 16.15 mm thick

Functions

Hours, minutes, seconds, flyback chronograph, 60-minute countdown, 12-hour totalizer, annual calendar with oversize date and month

Production

2007 to 2016, then succeeded by the RM 011-03

Timeline

1. 1999

   Audemars Piguet begins collaborating with Richard Mille.

2. 2001

   Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat found the brand; the RM 001 Tourbillon appears.

3. 2002

   Felipe Massa makes his Formula 1 debut with Sauber.

4. 2006

   Massa joins Ferrari.

5. 2007

   The RM 011 Felipe Massa Flyback Chronograph is launched in titanium.

6. 2008

   A 50-piece black DLC titanium edition marks the Singapore Grand Prix.

7. Nov 2, 2008

   Massa wins the Brazilian Grand Prix but loses the world title by one point.

8. Jul 25, 2009

   Massa is injured in qualifying in Hungary while wearing an RM 006.

9. 2010

   The 30-piece Americas White edition marks the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

10. 2015

    The Black Night edition in Carbon NTPT is limited to 100 pieces.

11. 2016

    The RM 011-03 replaces the original after about nine years.

12. 2017

    Massa retires from Formula 1 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

13. 2020

    The RM 11-05 introduces a grey cermet case, 100 pieces.

14. Jun 2022

    A Black Night sells for $352,800 at auction in New York.

15. Jun 2024

    A titanium RM 011 AK TI sells for $152,400 at auction in New York.

16. Dec 2025

    An Americas White sells for $215,900 at auction in New York.

The world in 2007

• Jan 1, 2007

  Bulgaria and Romania join the European Union.

• Jan 9, 2007

  Steve Jobs unveils the iPhone; it goes on sale June 29.

• Apr 16, 2007

  A gunman kills 32 people at Virginia Tech.

• Aug 9, 2007

  A major bank freezes three subprime-exposed funds, an early sign of the financial crisis.

• Oct 21, 2007

  Kimi Räikkönen wins the Formula 1 title for Ferrari in Brazil.

• Dec 13, 2007

  The Treaty of Lisbon is signed.

• Dec 27, 2007

  Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Richard Mille RM 011 Felipe Massa Flyback Chronograph is number 27 of 100 in the watches entries of the FLOAT 100. 54 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (73 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Massa was wearing a Richard Mille RM 006 when he crashed in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, and the watch came through intact.
• Massa lost the 2008 world title by a single point, on the last lap of a race he won.
• The Americas White edition was sold only in U.S. and Canadian boutiques, to mark the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
• The RM 011-02 added a GMT hand without making the case any thicker than 16.15 mm.
• Richard Mille sold about 32,000 watches in its first 17 years combined.