MASTER MECHANICS

58 SIHH europa star
the numbers in the order of their creation, so
RM 018 was introduced way before RM 025,
but RM 025 is already on the market, while
RM 018 has not yet been delivered.”
The reason for the delays? “When you think
you have solved a problem, then you have ten
more problems,” Mille explains. “I love the
challenge and the problems. Taking seven
years to bring 30 watches to market sounds
like nonsense, but this is the way I love my
watches to be. In Formula One, it’s just like this
– a huge amount of work and research to
release only a few models, like the Richard
Mille brand. I don’t want to change this way of
working. Two years ago I made about 2,000
units, last year I did less than 2500, this year
maybe 2,800, my target for the long run is to
do 5,000 pieces and no more. This is exactly
the bracket where I want to stay.”
Mille wants to spend his time on research and
development and design, not in marketing,
which is what he would have to do if he
moved into higher volumes. “When you go
over those limits, you enter another world
where you spend more time in the commercial
realm, more time with artificial things and
less time to take care of technical and design
details,” he says. “My strategy doesn’t prevent
me from making money. The objective is
to have good economical results, but I invest
a lot in research and development.“
Richard Mille is seen as a provocateur in the
watch industry and he relishes this role. “My
friends in the art world tell me that the successful
artists were all provocateurs,” he says.
“What I do is very provocative, it is a rupture,
but at the same time, there is a lot of legitimacy
to the products. I compensate for my lack of
history with a pure, genuine product. Nowadays
when marketing talks very loudly, it is more
important than ever to be genuine and very
honest. I fight against marketing devices
because it doesn’t correspond to extreme luxury.
Today, we have final clients who are very
aware of what is happening in the watch
industry, they know the truth about all the
brands, and sometimes the clients know more
about the watches than the sales people in the
RM 017 TOURBILLON
retailers. They are passionate and they know a
lot about the brand, so it’s more important to
be genuine.You cannot lie.When you reach the
level of prices that I am at, it’s very important
that people understand why it’s so expensive.
They know that my watches are unbelievable
in terms of technique, every watch starts from a
blank sheet, and at the end of the day, they are
very complex and in only very limited series.”
The future for Richard Mille holds more of the
same. “We will continue to combine the best
of extreme technique and innovation with the
best of artistic and architectural dimension,”
Mille details. “Contrary to the people who are
obsessed by volume, trying to increase production
every year, I am more interested in
hearing people say that they were surprised by
our new watch, our new developments. My
only objective is to carry on surprising people.
We will still have limited production, limited
distribution, and we will work with friends and
we will enjoy developing crazy objects.” O
For more information about Richard Mille click
on Brand Index at www.europastar.com