RICHARD MILLE - AN ULTRA LUXURY WATCH

After resigning from his post as general manager of the Place Vendôme jeweler's watchmaking section, Richard Mille made the decision to start his own watch line. In 1998, he presented his plans of starting his own watch company to his friend Dominique Guenat, owner of Montres Valgine.

In 2001, the world of Swiss watchmaking welcomed a new company of luxury and ultra-luxury watches. Richard Mille and his friend Dominique Guenat are the founders of Richard Mille. Less than two years after forming a formal collaboration, Richard Mille, Dominique Guenat, and APR&P (Audemars Piguet, Renaud and Papi) gave birth to a company that has the potential to transform the luxury watch industry forever.

Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat

Richard Mille did not make this decision on the spur of the moment; rather, it was the result of years of experience spent assisting prestigious jewelry and watch businesses in the conception, administration, and development of numerous high profile projects. Because of his intense curiosity with technology, his knowledge of and love for racing vehicles, as well as his extraordinary sensitivity to design and ergonomics, no watch at the time could ever truly live up to his expectations.

Richard Mille's love of fast automobiles and aircraft served as the primary sources of design inspiration for his timepieces. A racing machine on your wrist, powered by movements light years ahead of the competition and crafted from the most cutting-edge materials.

At Baselworld, the international watch and jewelry expo held in Basel, Switzerland in 2001, the Richard Mille brand debuted its first timepiece, the RM 001 Tourbillon, following three years of study and prototypes.

When it was introduced in 2001, this exceptional timepiece, with its ergonomic tonneau case design, distinctive torque screws, and enticing six-digit price tag, instantly elevated the budding brand to the top of the whole luxury watch market.

RM001 Tourbillon

The 18kt white gold tonneau case that housed the Richard Mille RM001 Tourbillon is indelibly linked to the brand. It is 38mm wide, 45mm long from lug to lug, and has lugs attached to a black alligator strap. An arrangement of eight titanium screws holds the bezel, case, and caseback together. This offers mechanical characteristics that enable this extraordinary shock resistance and produce the flexible quality of the watch. The caliber RM001 is a technical and innovative masterpiece.

The movement is fully visible thanks to the sapphire crystal that is present both in front of and behind it. Additionally, the sapphire is employed on the dial, giving it a clear appearance that enables the wearer to be enthralled by the caliber.

Richard Mille successfully made RM001 Tourbillon to visually and practically reproduce the front suspension rods of a Formula 1 car using the cage's bridge arrangement. The watch was priced at €145,000.

Richard Mille timepieces are devices that have been created to withstand the motion and duration of life. They withstand impacts, temperature changes, city living, every type of climate, whether tropical or marine, UV radiation, corrosion, and all the other challenges that life throws at us. These watches are among the most expensive timepieces on the market. These little technological wonders that are painstakingly created in limited quantities are for people who truly appreciate the great art of fine watchmaking.

Here are some celebrities who spent fortunes on Richard Mille watches:

Rafael Nadal, Spanish professional tennis player (wearing his $2.52Million RM watch)

Michelle Yeoh, Hollywood Actress (wearing her $900,000 RM watch)

Ed Sheeran, English singer-songwriter (wearing his $882,000 RM watch)

Kevin Hart, Hollywood Actor (often wears his $1.05Million RM watch)

John Malkovich, Legendary American Actor (wearing his $118,000 RM watch)

Jay-Z, American Rapper (wearing his $2.5Million RM watch)

Jackie Chan, International Legendary Actor (RM 057 Jackie Chan watch estimated at $1.7Million)

Richard Mille has long wanted to create an exceptional timepiece for Jackie Chan himself, inspired by his Chinese name meaning ’the one who will become dragon’.

RM 50-04. This watch is named after Kimi-Matias Räikkönen, an F1 driver from Finland. (Estimated at $1.063Million)

December 2022. The Richard Mille RM UP-01 Ferrari was awarded the Technical Achievement Award. This is the world’s thinnest watch, it is 1.75mm hyper thin.

RM UP-01. World’s Thinnest Watch ($1.888 Million)

Some awards given to Richard Mille:
2007 : Awarded the Prestigious ‘Aiguille D’Or” for the RM 102 model in Geneva.
2016 : Richard Mille and North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT) received the JEC World 2016 Innovation Awards prize in the “Luxury” category for the Quartz-TPT used in the case of the RM 27-02 Tourbillon Rafael Nadal caliber.
2017: Richard Mille received the 2017 Prix Gaïa award in the “Esprit d’entreprise” (entrepreneurship) category from the Musée international d'horlogerie in La Chaux-de-Fonds.

Today, 20 years later, the Richard Mille watch collection comprises more than eighty models, each designed and produced with the same passion and uncompromising principles that guided Richard Mille’s first creation.

Richard Mille is undoubtedly a racing machine on the wrist. An ultra-luxury timepiece that changed the world of Luxury Watch forever.