Richard Mille partners with F1 Lotus driver Romain Grosjean

Richard Mille fake teamed up with one of Formula 1’s most famous drivers. This week, the luxury watchmaker announced a partnership with Romain Grosjean, who joined the Lotus F1 team in 2012 after upgrading from GP2 and F3 Euroseries.

Grosjean takes over as official Lotus driver from Kimi Raikkonen (who switched to Ferrari this year), following in the footsteps of Felipe Massa and Sebastian Loeb as Richard Mille one of the test drivers.

Richard Mille’s announcement coincides with the first Formula 1 testing session for the new E22 Lotus. Grosjean will use the test course and the upcoming 2014 Grand Prix season to put the new automatic flyback chronograph RM 011 Lotus F1 Team-Romain Grosjean to the test with carbon fiber NTPT®.

As the name suggests, the watch’s case is made of NTPT® carbon, a material exclusive to Richard Mille that consists of 600 layers of carbon fiber. This corrosion-resistant, exceptionally hard, impact-resistant material will withstand incredible speeds, vibrations and weather when F1 drivers wear their watches over their coveralls on the track.

50mm x 40mm (widest point) x 16.15mm (thickest point) black NTPT® carbon fiber case and gold buttons, crown and numerals represent the colors of Lotus’ historic black and gold livery. The pusher between 1 and 2 o’clock starts and stops the chronograph function, while the pusher between 4 and 5 o’clock resets the flyback function.

Skeleton dial with hours and minutes, central chronograph hand for tachymeter scale, oversized date display below 12 o’clock, 60-minute countdown timer at 3 o’clock, month between 4 and 5 o’clock Displays ‘clock, 12-hour totalizer at 6 o’clock and small seconds at 9 o’clock. There is also a Lotus F1 Team logo decal below 12 o’clock, while the RM 011 R. Grosjean is indicated in gold between 7 and 8 o’clock.

While the RM 011 in NTPT® was designed exclusively for Grosjean, Team Lotus fans will be able to purchase the same new RM 50-01 Tourbillon Chronograph G-Sensor Lotus F1 Team Romain Grosjean.