Richard Mille

After studying marketing in Besançon, Richard Mille (born 13 February 1951, Draguignan, France) started work at Finhor, a local watchmaking company in 1974. The company was bought by Matra in 1981, and Mille rose to manage Matra's watchmaking business, which then included the brands Yema and Cupillard Rième. Matra's watchmaking activities were sold to Seiko; Mille left in 1992 to start a watchmaking business for jewellery firm Mauboussin.

Development

Following a disagreement about commercial strategy at Mauboussin, where he was a shareholder, Richard Mille left his position as general manager to launch a range of watches. In late 1998, Mille presented his plans to his friend Dominique Guenat, owner of watchmaker Montres Valgine.

In early 1999, Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat drew up their plans for the Richard Mille brand in partnership with Montres Valgine and Swiss watchmaker Audemars Piguet. Over the next two years, they defined their brand concept and began designing watches. They then founded Horométrie, their operating company for the new Richard Mille brand as equal partners, which was registered in Switzerland by October 2001, and created the Richard Mille watchmaking brand in collaboration with Audemars Piguet, which then owned a stake in Richard Mille brand in 2007. After three years of research and prototypes, they exhibited their first watch, a manually-wound RM 001 Tourbillon, at the 2001 watch and jewellery exhibition Baselworld in Basel, Switzerland. The watch, which featured an exhibition caseback and visible parts, had a tourbillon calibre, a power-reserve indicator, and a torque indicator.

Richard Mille joined the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie in 2007.

In April 2013, Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat acquired a 90% stake in Prototypes Artisanals SA, founded by Marco Poluzzi; former director Alain Varrin retained a 10% share. The company became ProArt and moved to a purpose-built 3,000 m² building in Les Breuleux. Following the sale of case supplier Donzé-Baume to Swiss luxury group Richemont in 2007, the Richard Mille company started machining its cases and some components, with ProArt as a subcontractor.

In 2013, Richard Mille turned down a proposal by the French group Kering to acquire a 51% stake.

In 2018, Richard Mille withdrew from the Salon international de la haute horlogerie in Geneva.

In late 2018 the RM 71-01 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman was launched, designed by women's collection director Cécile Guenat. It was described as being made by a woman for women.

Technologies

Richard Mille teamed up with North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT), producer of lightweight pre-impregnated materials used in sailing and Formula 1, to produce the RM 27-02 Rafael Nadal in Carbon NTPT and Quartz TPT, and the RM 11-03 McLaren.

Technical innovation

Development of gem-set ceramic

Invention of laminated sapphire crystal (RM 53-01)

Invention of new watch complications: Oracle (RM 069).

Criticism

Richard Mille has been criticised for creating "tasteless" watches and following the ugly sneaker trend. In 2021, American rapper Sean Combs described Richard Mille watches as "ugly" and likened them to Timex watches, saying he had two or three but never wore them.

In 2021, the magazine of watch reseller Chrono24 labelled Richard Mille watches as "not worth the hype," noting that one such wearer was robbed in Beverly Hills of the watch and suffered four gunshots and a trip to the hospital, and while such incidences were rare, they were another "unwanted aspect" of the watches.