Editorial
Richard Mille built the RM 055 around a single question: what does a golf watch actually need to survive a golf swing? The answer was a skeletonized NTPT carbon case rated to 10,000g of acceleration, paired with a manual-wind RMAS7 movement that sits flush enough to not catch on a glove. It is an engineering brief written for a very specific moment, worn by people who can afford to make it a casual one.
The RM 055 launched in 2011 as a collaboration with Bubba Watson, then rising to the top of professional golf. Richard Mille had been building sport-specific watches since the Felipe Massa F1 pieces, and the golf program followed the same logic: find an athlete, identify the real mechanical problem, solve it. The 10,000g rating addresses the brief shock load transmitted through the shaft at impact, which sounds extreme until you realize that a driver head travels at roughly 100 mph and stops in milliseconds.
NTPT (North Thin Ply Technology) carbon was chosen for its layered fiber construction, which resists torsion better than woven carbon. Watson won the Masters in 2012 wearing a pink version of the watch, which cemented the reference in the public memory of the brand.
The skeletonized RMAS7 has no dust or debris protection to speak of, so a watch worn on a course accumulates grit faster than most Richard Mille movements. Servicing requires a certified Richard Mille facility, and the movement is proprietary enough that independent watchmakers should not attempt it. NTPT carbon is light and rigid but does scratch, and the surface pattern is unrepairable in the conventional sense.
Some early production pieces show slight delamination at the case edges under prolonged UV exposure, so condition of the carbon is the first thing to examine before purchase. The reference has run in multiple limited-edition colorways tied to Watson partnerships, and replica production is high enough that authentication against documented serial records is non-negotiable.
