Richard Mille displays innovation, technique and design, together with a passion for fast cars.
Richard Mille, founder of his eponymous brand, gives us an insight into what sets the brand apart from everyone else, and the masterwork that goes into the mechanical marvels.
How heavy is the weight of looking after a brand that carries your name?
Hard but lots of fun and challenges all at the same time. I take our work very seriously indeed, and I never allow anything to slip from my attention, because I have very specific ideas about haute horlogerie coupled with how I perceive and experience true luxury. The brand is a very personal entity for me, so insuring the brand’s continuing success and rise to the top is a very intimate part of my everyday life, in that way it’s more than merely a business.
Tell us about the Richard Mille brand DNA and what sets you apart.
This ‘DNA’ connotation is so dated and overused these days. I would prefer to talk about the essence of the brand. Why? Because the word essence is also about essentials, and this underlines our approach, everything we do is because we find it absolute necessary and essential. For instance, when we create a design for any watch in the collection, whether basic or super complicated or jewellery piece, it must follow our vision and quality, as there is no cost cutting allowed. Even tiny things like torque screws that one might not notice are made to our exacting specifications. The use of more expensive to cut, mill and finish titanium is used for many movement parts instead of traditional German silver. ‘Naked’ movements show every detail to its owner, so that no defects can be hidden, and we offer the most ergonomic fit to the wrist with difficult to produce curved cases and matching straps. This is only a very partial list, I could fill pages, but I think you get the picture…..
It is said that with the RM 001 Tourbillion a new era of watchmaking started. What is it that Richard Mille added to the industry?
It was a shot across the bow of the ship so to speak. Here was a high end tourbillon, made in a titanium case, with many titanium movement parts, with the movement open from the front and the back, in a new style of tonneau case that hugged the wrist unlike any other. It had top rated chronometric results combined with a layout and design that used the mechanism and assembly of the watchcase as elements of a new and advanced yet subtle language of design in horology. There was nothing like it, before or after.
Why is the Richard Mille watch considered one of the most expensive watches?
Normally in the Swiss watch industry, you create a model with a projected price point and target audience planned in advance. The ‘ceiling’ on the projected price point dictates exactly how the execution of the final watch will turn out. In our case, it is the exact opposite condition. We create an uncompromised vision of how it should be, and that’s it. At the end of the day, all the production, planning, R&D and material costs involved are added up and the price point is calculated according to the real and direct costs incurred. Some people think I am in the market of creating so-called ‘Veblen goods’, attractive just because they are expensive. The fact is that I am simply being very accurate in calculations. Like I already mentioned, we will not stand for compromise. If that means that our watches are expensive and therefore fewer people can purchase them, then that’s how it has to be, we must stay true to our vision.
© Didier Gourdon
You’ve partnered with Formula 1. Such partnerships are a big commitment for the brand. What do you expect in terms of return on investment and in which markets?
You might think I am crazy, but I don’t analyse these aspects in the traditional business manner. First of all, I am a total car fanatic, I collect racing cars, work on restorations, read about their history and follow all the newest developments, also even those in the field of electric racing cars, which we also promote. So, I can say that I totally enjoy working with F1 drivers and cars for this reason, so my hobby and my work come perfectly together at such moments. Secondly, the connection with a car brand brings many complex forms of inspiration for our engineers and production team in Les Breuleux, Swiss Jura. Such partnerships give birth to new R&D ideas, new design inspiration and exciting concepts. These areas of the partnership cannot be given a direct valuation, they are priceless for us and for the brand’s development and future.
Tell us more about the RM 68-01 tourbillon that was created in collaboration with the artist Cyril Kongo, and why he was chosen?
Cyril fully understands the art world, yet he wants to do things his own way, and he does not like to follow the mainstream. So we both are tuned to the same wavelength. When you search for an artist, you have to realise that not every artistic possibility can be executed physically within a wristwatch, and not every artist is prepared to take up certain challenges. In addition, an artist must feel comfortable working with all the constraints, so it takes a lot of time and energy to research, initiate and execute projects like this one. Kongo took up the challenge and enjoyed it fully with a fantastic result. For the first time ever, an artist has transferred his universe of the tremendously large to the heart of a watch movement in a symbiotic way, making it bigger than life, a universe unto itself.
Last year the RM 19-02 Tourbillion Fleur was the showstopper at SIHH 2015, and it was our favourite. Tell us about this year’s novelties.
To get the fullest information, our website is really the best source, and we work very hard indeed to keep it perfectly updated and informative for this reason. I would need a whole page to go into every detail of all the new pieces here, but a quick list in any case would cover the new fountain pen, the S05, made of NTPT carbon with its retractable nib construction. The fountain pen took almost four years to research and develop before emerging as an exceptional, highly technological, one-of-a-kind object. The movement is based on a skeletonised baseplate and bridges made of grade 5 titanium. There is also the highly complicated RM 50-01 ACJ split seconds tourbillon, made in co-operation with Airbus Corporate Jets. This involved a combination of allusions to the materials, shapes, colours and visual aspect of the aircraft, and of course, most importantly the very high mechanical complexity of the movement, which echoes the complexity of the aircraft’s mechanical design. The latest Rafael Nadal watch, the RM 35-02 automatic is available in two versions of case, in Quartz-TPT Red or in carbon NTPT, it is a total showstopper! With the fabulous RM 67-01 extra flat automatic, we wanted to create an elegant everyday timepiece, and kept the classic, curved tonneau shape but we went to great efforts to keep the movement layout and design elements highly detailed, retaining our three dimensional approach. The aforementioned RM 68-01 Cyril Kongo Tourbillon and more coming soon…You see, I almost never sit still for long!
What do you think the high-end watch industry lacks today and how do you think it can be developed?
The tradition behind watchmaking should never be ignored and should be kept and cherished. However, that being said, if new materials, concepts and approaches for the future of the watch industry are not utilised and developed, then I believe there is a chance that the industry will be left behind or side-lined by other impulses. That is why almost everyone looking for very high-end Swiss timepieces are looking at small and privately owned brands, as well as independents, in order to find great examples of haute hologerie today.
FRONT: TOURBILLON SPLIT SECONDS CHRONOGRAPH RM 50-02 ACJ
RICHARD MILLE RM 67-01 AUTOMATIC EXTRA FLAT
Tell us about Richard Mille and women? What do you think of their interest in complex watches? Are there any best sellers among the Richard Mille watches that women love?
I have always said that the key to a woman’s heart is to offer her many possibilities and moods to choose from, and this is what I set out to do. The ladies’ collection has been greatly enlarged the last few years with different models as well as accessories like two types of precious metal straps as well as rubber and a variety of new colours of regular straps. Novel materials have made their entrance, such as different coloured ceramics combined with gold, or cases completely in pink sapphire, more technically inspired watches with function indicator and easy date adjustment to elegant automatics and high end jewellery pieces with extreme complications like the Fleur Tourbillon you mentioned. Literally, every base is covered, and every year there will more and more new ladies’ timepieces being launched.
How do you describe the brand’s performance in the Middle East and what’s your strategy to strengthen your presence in that market?
We have always been strong in the Middle East, because our distributor for that region is well equipped for, and in tune with this market, and the people and personalities there. In addition, one of the main issues for this region is to have lots of new and unique timepieces to offer.
What’s next for Richard Mille?
Our formula for success has been working perfectly since the beginning, so I have no plans to change anything really. That means several new and exciting timepieces being created every year, more new materials being developed and implemented in watches, more novel high level complications, more showstoppers for the women as well as the men, and more models to fit every occasion and every desire you could have for a timepiece.
Can we have a hint of what we can expect to see at SIHH 2017?
My lips are sealed shut on that topic. All I can say is, there will be lots more fabulous Richard Mille creations presented that will drive people crazy with desire!
September 2016 marks our 10-year anniversary for A&E, what was an objective you’ve set when you celebrated the brand’s 10th anniversary? And what do you still aspire to achieve?
When the brand was 10, I celebrated the fact that we had ‘arrived’ to a specific level of ‘adulthood’. That is to say, neither the watch industry nor the watch public could bagatellize us, we were established as a remarkable young brand that succeeded against all odds. We were proven to be serious and no-one could afford to ignore us or what we were doing. The years following are the years of consolidation and growth. All I want to do is slightly raise production by a few hundred units per year, at the same time keeping the brand absolutely exclusive, and concentrating on opening more flagship boutiques around the world to ensure that the Richard Mille brand becomes stronger and stronger. In addition, the opening of new boutiques allows us to provide even better service to our customers everywhere worldwide. Watches, like cars, need regular servicing and oiling, and we want all Richard Mille owners to have the best service possible for years to come. This kind of personal contact with a boutique is an essential part of what real luxury is about.
In your opinion what are 3 pillars of success in the haute horlogerie industry?
In my view there are four pillars for any serious brand that expects to be successful. Uncompromised quality of workmanship, excellent design, and exclusivity, combined with top-rate after sales service.
What is a motto you live by?
Even the best will never be good enough, one must always go further to the next level in order to grow and develop.
As you are answering our questions, tell us what watch are you wearing and why?
I am at the present wearing a prototype of one of the new Cyril Kongo timepieces for my own pleasure. He designed it so that as the watch ticks, the relationships between the moving parts create new patterns, and I enjoy seeing this subtle effect throughout the day. Our watches have always been inspired by a marriage of technique and art, exactly like a sexy sports car, but in this case, the art we create has art inside, the art of timekeeping!
By Lara Mansour Sawaya
