Richard Mille: Founder of the Richard Mille Watch Company and Why Are They So Expensive?

Richard Mille is the founder of the luxury watch company under the Richard Mille brand. He is a businessman from France. Since its inception in 2001, Richard Mille watches have become a watch brand that is synonymous with luxury, exclusivity and toughness.

His watches are considered examples of high quality watches. The design inspiration for the watch takes a lot of inspiration from racing cars. What’s the story?

Richard Mille Biography

Richard Mille was born on February 13, 1951, in Draguignan, France. At the age of 20, he then moved to England. There he studied English and literature.

He studied at IUT Besançon-Vesoul, France. He completed his studies in 1974 and obtained a bachelor’s degree in marketing. Check out more news at Deltsapure.

Works at a Watchmaking Company

After graduating, the founder of Richard Mille watches worked at Finhor. Finhor is a watch manufacturing company from France. There he worked as an export manager.

In 1981, Matra, a famous jewelry store in France, bought the Finhor company where Mille worked. Mille’s position was then appointed as export director for all watch brands owned by the Finhor group, including the Yema and Cupillard Rième brands.

Not long after, Matra then sold its watchmaking business line to Seiko, a Japanese watchmaker. He then decided to join the Mauboussin jewelry company. There he established a watchmaking business for Mauboussin.

When he left the Mauboussin company, Mille had become one of its shareholders. Afterwards he served as general manager of the watchmaking division of the Place Vendôme jewelry store.

Richard Mille chose to leave Mauboussin for two reasons, the first was because he clashed with several members of the Mauboussin corporate family regarding marketing strategy. And the second is that he wants to build his own watch brand.

Founded Richard Mille SA

Thanks to his solid experience in dealing with luxury jewelry and chronograph watches, Richard Mille decided to establish his own watch company. He then met Dominique Guenat in 1998. The man Mille met was the owner of the Montres Valgine watch.

Because both of them are interested in racing cars, aeronautics and mechanics, they finally agreed to collaborate. Then Lucien Tissot, a lawyer with experience in the watch industry, joined the project.

Mille finally founded his own watch company under the name Richard Mille SA in 1999. He founded this company with a Swiss watch manufacturer, namely Audemars Piguet.

The following two years, they collaborated to design a watch with concepts from the world of automotive, aeronautics and shipping. The watches they design have high accuracy, the latest innovations, and very durable materials.

Launching the RM001 Tourbillon

The watch prototypes they design are tested very rigorously. The result was that the Richard Mille RM001 Tourbillon watch was launched in 2001.

In the same year, Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat founded Horométrie SA, the parent company for the Richard Mille watch brand. They then registered it in the Swiss trademark register, namely watches and jewelry.

The following year, he launched the RM 002 type watch, which is the latest version. This watch he made has a base made of titanium. This is the first material used for a watch.

In accordance with the principle of wanting to present watches made from the best and most durable materials. Then after that appeared the RM 003 with a tourbillon engine with dual time zones. In 2003, the RM004 flyback chronograph was released.

Richard Mille’s head office is located in the Swiss town of Les Breuleux. The company operates several subsidiaries including Horométrie SA (distribution), Guenat SA Montres Valgine (conception and assembly), ProArt (components), VMDH (decoration), and Cercle d’Art (publishing). In 2018, this company had 148 employees.

The RM 031 type appeared which was considered the most accurate watch at the time of its launch. Richard Mille currently makes watches for men and women. Most of his watches are square tonneau shaped and some are round.

He designed his watch so that it could be worn for everyday activities. They design very complex designs consisting of many complicated components.

The design is very specific and very luxurious. This watch made by Mille has been tested for its toughness, for example by simulating shocks, being dropped, waterproof testing, and even testing resistance in magnetic fields.

Richard Mille Watch Marketing Model

With a design that is so complex and consists of the best quality materials, this watch is much liked by the upper class. The marketing of these watches takes advantage of many sporting events and sports figures to market their watch products.

Richard Mille sponsors racer Fernando Alonso and tennis player Rafael Nadal. The aim is to show the toughness of the watch. This watch is also widely used by famous artists and public figures in the world.

The cheapest Richard Mille watch, namely RM005, is priced at around 1.2 billion. And the most expensive is the RM 56-02 Sapphire version with a price of around 30 billion.

Why is Richard Mille So Expensive?

Futuristic and Revolutionary Design

Richard Mille watches are famous for their special designs. The inspiration comes from Formula racing car concepts and futuristic watch concepts. Made very light and ergonomic with maximum comfort.

Richard Mille’s iconic tonneau-shaped watch movement box. These engine boxes are known to be very expensive and very complicated to produce.

High Tech Materials

It’s not just the design that makes Richard Mille watches so futuristic and revolutionary. The materials used are also high-tech. They use materials that have never been used in the watch industry. The watch materials they use are found in many Formula 1 cars, the aerospace industry and racing yachts.

It could be said that Richard Mille uses ‘radical’ and high-tech materials in making watches. They also spend millions of dollars and years on research and development of watches. Especially how to use high-tech materials in watches.

Very precise movement

The durability and durability of Richard Mille watches is known to be extraordinary with an average weight of only 40 grams. This watch not only uses high-tech materials for the casing construction, but also for the movement. Richard Mille movements are made from approximately 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium.

Richard Mille uses a tourbillon movement or machine. They redesigned the tourbillon movement comprehensively and with high-tech materials. This makes the tourbillon perfect with a high level of precise timing.

Limited and Rare Production

Richard Mille watches are quite complicated and take a long time to make. Most of the manufacturing is done by hand, not by machine. This watch company only makes less than 5,000 watches per year. Production quantities are small, making it very exclusive and rare.

Richard Mille watches only adorn the wrists of the elite or very rich. That’s why a term emerged, namely “Billionaire’s Handshake” for those who use Richard Mille.