MASTER MECHANICS

Richard Mille – the man, the brand
The image
Richard Mille the man and Richard Mille the
brand are nigh on indistinguishable, because,
unlike many other brands, all the ideas and creations
start in the mind of Richard Mille, then
make their way into the brand’s production.
For 2011, Richard Mille’s mind is set on North
and South America.
Richard Mille, in partnership with John Simonian,
President of Ildico, the United States distributor
of Richard Mille, opened the first boutique in
Beverly Hills in November of 2010.
“My objective is to have a presence in terms of
image - I am not obsessed with opening up
boutiques, I think of it as more of a showroom
for the brand,” Mille explains. “My ladies
watches are less successful, because most of
the retailers are watch technical people, they
are sharp and very macho, and 90 per cent of
their clientele are men. The boutique is to
enhance and promote the ladies versions, to
spread the word. My boutiques are not macho
temples. I have seen that the sales of the ladies
models are really booming in the boutiques,
and I like that. My objective was to launch a
ladies model without losing my soul and without
losing the technical image I have. I wanted
to combine both worlds in harmony.The watch
is feminine, but it still very mechanical.”
The Richard Mille boutique in Beverly Hills will
share the same DNA as other Mille boutiques
around the world, but with a distinctive
American feeling.
The current situation
Business is coming back after the downturn of
the worldwide economic crisis.“So far we have
nothing to complain about, despite the problems
one hears discussed daily,” says Mille.
“Sales this year have been higher than last
year, and even last year’s turnover was much
higher than the year before...so we are really
pleased. Nonetheless, we will not sit back and
relax because of that, we will work even harder
to keep this upward trend going strong.”
Mille sees the watch industry breaking up into
niches, with each niche existing on its own
and not necessarily impacting the others.
“The market is ‘splitting up’ into segments,
separate areas,” he details. “It used to be that
a general trend, like hemlines, caught on and
went worldwide. Now, you have to have
smaller, flatter watches, large watches, simple
watches, complicated watches … there are
no really general, broad trends anymore and
everyone follows their own taste, and as a
watch brand you have to offer everything to
the public.
“We are watching a few trends,” he continues.
“It is interesting to see that since I introduced
my RM 020 tourbillon pocket watch a few
years ago, pocket watches are getting more
attention from several brands than was previously
the case.Also, we are seeing more ultra
flat models being introduced, after we had
launched the RM 016, a few years ago.”
europa star SIHH 57
The Richard Mille brand has gone through some interesting transitions since its introduction in 2001. Then,
it was a boutique brand with severely limited production. As the years went on, Mille upped the production
numbers slightly and expanded his offering, while still focusing on his unique style and real watchmaking
values. Last year, Richard Mille debuted at the SIHH and took its place in the watchmaking pantheon, having
accomplished a great deal in the short nine years since its inception.
RKeith W. Strandberg
Richard Mille
The strongest markets for Richard Mille timepieces
are Asia, followed by the European
Union and then the United States, and Mille is
optimistic about the coming year.“We are feeling
totally confident about 2011,” he says.“We
believe it could even become better than
expected with the general market mood becoming
even more positive.”
SIHH
For SIHH, the Richard Mille booth has been
expanded to make more space available, and
the method of presentation has been tweaked
and improved.
“It’s hard to choose just one new product to
talk about for 2011, but for me, the most exciting
product would have to be the new RM 017
Tourbillon with its titanium base plate,” Mille
says. “I really love rectangular forms, and I
have always wanted to produce a tourbillon in
a similar case to the RM 016, keeping the look
of depth of the movement design despite the
fact that this watch is very thin. It was hard to
achieve, but now I’ve achieved the look I want
and it will be fantastic.”
“I am having fun because what I love is to
work on new developments,” Mille continues.
“It’s fun all the time, and for me it’s only pleasure.
I develop new models, I have fun, though
sometimes there are headaches with problems
and issues to figure out, but in the end, it
all works out. My only problem is to define the
proper planning for each model. You always
know when you start, but you never know
when it will end.”
A key case in point is the Richard Mille numbering
system which, believe it or not, was
supposed to be logical and in order. However,
once some watches were delayed, things got
out of hand. “It’s a mess,” Mille admits. “I put