Monochrome Watches
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Spotted – Mille vs. AP, Nadal vs. Wawrinka, The Epic Roland-Garros 2017 Final

| By Brice Goulard | 4 min read |
French Open Roland-Garros 2017 Final - Nadal vs Wawrinka - Richard Mille vs Audemars Piguet

Epic… Simple as that. Indeed, this year, the final of the 2017 French Open is a must-see. On one side is the one-and-only Rafael Nadal, who will be fighting this year for the “decima”, meaning his possible 10th victory at Roland-Garros (something that has never been done before). On the other side is Stanislas Wawrinka, winner of the 2015 Edition and one that everybody knows to be quite a competitor. But this Roland-Garros 2017 Final will also see an incredible battle of watches, with Richard Mille and Audemars Piguet challenging for optimal visibility.

French Open Roland-Garros 2017 Final - Nadal vs Wawrinka - Richard Mille vs Audemars Piguet

Rafael Nadal and his Richard Mille RM-27-03 Tourbillon

As expected this year, two facts respect the tradition. The first one concerns the sport we’re focusing on today, tennis. No surprise again for this 2017 edition of the French Open, Rafael Nadal qualified for the final round. As such, he will be fighting to reach the stars, to get the “decima”, meaning his possible 10th victory at Roland-Garros – a title that no one ever reached and that would position him up there, at the Pantheon of sport, just like Micheal Schumacher and his 7 titles in Formula 1. Nadal is the boss of the French Open and the playing surface, clay, is his favorite one. Even Stan Wawrinka admitted in recent interviews that Rafa was almost unreachable in Paris…

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Roland-Garros 2017 Final - Nadal - Richard Mille RM-27-03 Tourbillon

On his wrist is the second no-surprise of this 2017 final round. Indeed, as expected, Rafael Nadal will be wearing the latest creation of Richard Mille, the RM-27-03 Tourbillon, a watch created specifically for him – and what a watch it is. The Richard Mille RM 27-03 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal features a Red and Yellow a carbon composite Quartz TPT case (which has already been nicknamed the “Ronald McDonald” watch by some…), with a crown shaped like a tennis ball. The case gets its colour from the resins used to bind the carbon fibres inside the material.

Roland-Garros 2017 Final - Nadal - Richard Mille RM-27-03 Tourbillon

Richard Mille RM-27-03 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal

The movement baseplate is made in carbon fiber and is part of the caseband, as a sort-of “unibody” chassis. The large angular titanium bridge on the front, which clearly differentiate this 2017 version from the others (as the 2015 Richard Mille RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal) is a stylised bull’s head, Nadal’s personal emblem. This tourbillon movement is produced by APRP (a manufacture owned by… Audemars Piguet). This incredibly complex and yet extremely light watch can also resist to shocks up to 10,000g. Its price: CHF 710,000, produced in 50 pieces only.

Stan Wawrinka and his AP ROO Chronograph Dream Team

On the other side of the court will be one of the greatest possible contenders for Rafa, another extremely powerful man, Swiss-born player Stanislas Wawrinka. Of course, Stan’s pedigree at the French Open is less impressive, with one semi-final in 2016, one final this year but also a victory. Indeed, Stan won the 2015 French Open, beating no less than Novak Djokovic. Stan is powerful enough to challenge Rafa on his favorite surface… But will it be enough to surpass the boss of Roland-Garros? We will see end of this afternoon. The “decima” for Nadal, but maybe the “segunda” for Wawrinka…

Roland-Garros 2017 Final - Wawrinka - audemars piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Dream Team

On Stanislas Wawrinka’s wrist, no surprise either. There will be an Audemars Piguet. Indeed, we already spotted him wearing one of the brand’s creations at the 2016 French Open (in that case, a Royal Oak Offshore Diver Chronograph). Stan is one of the brand’s “friends”, together with another tennis player, Serena Williams. If the brand of the watch that will be strapped on this wrist this afternoon won’t be a surprise, the model in question however is another story.

Roland-Garros 2017 Final - Wawrinka - audemars piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Dream Team

audemars piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Dream Team 26409CB.OO.A030CA.01

The watch in question is not commercialized and is a model specifically developed for the brand’s ambassadors. This is the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Chronograph Dream Team and it has the reference number 26409CB.OO.A030CA.01. It is based on an existing model (see here), however with a different color scheme. Indeed, while the white ceramic case is known, the blue ceramic pushers and crown (with a gold insert), the blue dial with 2 silver counters and the blue rubber straps are unique to this model. Just like Rafa, Stan wears his watch on his non-playing arm, however, unlike Nadal, he doesn’t need a watch with incredible technical solutions, proving that a good-old chronograph can resist quite some shocks too.

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3 responses

  1. Wow this orange Richar Mille is amazing! Want it so bad! <3 🙂

    My dream just come true and I opened my own watch store. Everyone feel free to check it out. Summer is great time to have an watch. 🙂

    PS. Keep up the good work with your blog. 🙂

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  2. you should check the article on Nadal’s watch on ablogtowatch and see the 754,568 insults it received :)))))))
    honestly its the worst facet of watchmaking. 760,000$ for this!!! it is incredibly ugly, ridiculously priced and it owes its existence to marketing only. I swear I won’t pay 100$ for it if I was forced to keep it. or else I would sell it immediately and buy lots of LANGE, GO, JLC, AP and the rest of real timepieces.

  3. That is my exact sentiments people are so stupid it reminds me of a story Donald Trump said he had a friend who was an artist and it was 10 minutes before 12 noon he said Donald the artist that is you want to send me make 2 million dollars before noon Donald perplexed said how he took some pain cans and threw it on a canvas that was laid out on the floor and looked at Donald at said with a smirk there I just made two million dollars no joke that is what happens when you develop a brand name and a cult following people think because it’s expensive and then they have a name to follow they will pay anything even if it’s worth $10,000 for example I don’t even think that watches worth $10,000 in my book I would much rather have an AP watch any day over that watch

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