WATCHES
Words Darren Styles
THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE
You might expect the first fruit of a collaboration between supercar maker McLaren and Swiss watchmaker Richard Mille to be pitched high, to the extent it’s inaccessible for many. But for it to be actually inaccessible, well that tugs at the heart strings…To explain: the RM 11-03 McLaren Automatic Flyback Chronograph is a limited run of just 500 pieces, and each will first be offered to buyers of the equally limited McLaren Senna, the latest in McLaren’s Ultimate Series. Only if the owner of the car with the corresponding chassis number turns down the option of buying the timepiece that retails for 180,000 Swiss Francs (£133,000), before taxes, will that watch be offered for general sale. We had the chance, on a brief visit to the Richard Mille laboratory-come-factory, to see the watch assembled, and such is the intricacy of the titanium-rich monolith that you leave wondering quite how they do it for the money!