A tourbillon strung like a racket
By Marco Bellini, Zurich ยท
The baseplate is a mesh of cable, pulled tight like the strings of a racket, and the tourbillon movement hangs inside it. That's the whole idea of the RM 27-04: Nadal hits a ball very hard and the movement survives.
Hand-wound tourbillon, 48 hours. 47.77 mm long and 5.75 mm thick in titanium, on a fabric strap with a hook-and-loop closure. 50 m.
I respect it as engineering. Shock is the enemy of every balance ever made, and suspending a movement so it can absorb impact is a legitimate approach. I'm less convinced the tourbillon adds anything here except the price. A well-protected balance would survive tennis without a cage around it.
1,050,000 to 1,100,000 USD. Basta. If you are Rafael Nadal, fine. If you aren't, you are paying a million for a story about somebody else's forehand.