An Extraordinary Gentleman

Richard Mille designs the most expensive watches on the planet, with unparalleled passion and precision. Now, as he presents his new range of watches for women, he enjoys an even bigger fan base. We meet the free spirit of the luxury watch industry.

Life is a complicated sum of our interests, likes and feelings. And in order to be happy, we need to make all these aspects meet. A few years ago, Richard Mille put down all his interests, likes and feelings on a blank sheet of paper with two vertical columns. On the left, he wrote the pros, on the right, he wrote the cons. Needless to say, there were a shockingly small number of pros as compared to the long list of cons, and this is what pushed him to make a life-altering decision.

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He wanted to make the most of his life. The years he spent as chief financial officer at Matra and as MD and CEO at Mauboussin had already drained him of any creativity. He had reached a stage where no marketing targets or financial constraints could rein him in anymore. This was in 2000: Richard Mille was to become the name of a brand—making the most expensive watches in the world. But let us get this clear: Richard Mille’s fearlessness is not swashbuckling. This native of south-east France, who now lives with his wife and kids in a gorgeous country house at the heart of Brittany, is unpretentious and unabashed. His watches cost as much as they do not because of a well orchestrated strategy, but because they involve extremely high technical standards and unprecedented design savoir-faire. To take on this uphill task, Richard Mille had to muster up courage, loads of conviction and believe in his philosophy that, “Clients who are discerning, know how to identify quality. Shallow marketing and artificial concepts will not get you clientele that truly recognises exceptional quality.”

His clients understood his approach from the very beginning. And this left many people puzzled. At the Basel Fair in the month of March 2000, Richard Mille did not have a stand. However, he did have one prototype watch, which he carefully kept at the bottom of his pocket. He only pulled it out to show to the big names of luxury watchmaking. Everybody was mesmerised by the charm of the titanium body of the RM01, which did not feature engravings or diamonds, but showcased exceptional finishing. This at a time when watchmakers only swore by heavy or precious metal. He recalls, “People laughed at me because my watches were light. It is actually quite funny because I sometimes make limited edition watches in platinum and my clients complain that they’re too heavy. Once they’re used to something, they don’t want to go back to wearing heavy watches.” The price of his first model was enough to intimidate many buyers—1,70,000 Euros. However, success was quick to come by. Soon after, he began to design women’s models, which broke away from any form of stereotyping. “My first female clients were the wives of my highly placed and professionally established clients. Today, women across the board have begun to understand the spirit of my work, my passion for elegant lines, my obsession with ergonomics, and my love for contrasts. They approve of my aesthetics and take pleasure in buying and wearing my creations, which they find extremely sophisticated.” Does his female clientele reflect the spirit of his brand ambassadors? “Not brand ambassadors, they are our partners”, he quickly points out. “We worked hand in hand with our brand ambassadors like Natalie Portman and Michelle Yeoh. Michelle is intelligent, sensitive and delightful. Natalie is a woman of stunning confidence, with whom you can have hard conversations. I love women who you can confront and who are not transparent. Natalie and Michelle are not your regular million-dollar-smile brand ambassadors. They are women with values.” And they are generous, too. Richard and Natalie are working on a limited edition watch, whose benefits will be donated to Free the Children, an international NGO.

Richard Mille does everything in his own way and always swims upstream. He designs up to five models in a year, while the usual trend of luxury watchmakers is to release one model every five years. His secret is the pleasure he takes in creating every single piece. “Nothing is too good for my watches. No matter what the designing cost is, no matter how long the process takes, no matter the delay in releasing a model... everything needs to be perfect.” He sums up his success with this affirmation, “I have made my dreams come true.” Almost as if to remind us that time and liberty are the only true luxuries.

From the January 2014 issue of L’Officiel India.