STYLE & BEAUTY THE
STYLE & BEAUTY THE VISIONARY his watches noticed and accepted by collectors was the quality of their finish and construction. There are not many in the watchmaking industry who would argue the distinction of “Before RM” and “With RM”. It is almost impossible to overstate his effect. What Mille brought to the staid and in many ways anachronistic world of horology was a design acumen that was unique, combining an extraordinary range of techniques and materials from other fields with a life-giving emphasis on innovation and progression. And even after more than a decade of new developments, Richard Mille remains the first name at the forefront of innovation and the application of cutting-edge science to horology. For all these innovations – from the new architecture of the wristwatch to the bleeding edge high-tech materials to the sporting world ambassadors – it’s notable that Mille has also never deviated from a few time-honoured watchmaking techniques such as black polishing, and in his creations frosted and brushed surfaces and chamfered edges are all to be seen. It is the mindboggling fusion of these hallowed traditions with the technologies of our modern age that raises the brand above all others in terms of mouldbreaking innovation. Before founding his own brand, Mille was managing director of Mauboussin, the French jeweller that dates back to 1827 and which he inducted into the watchmaking world. But Mille had a bigger revolution in mind: he wanted to create a new form of tourbillon watch, one in which there were more than two dimensions. As Mille explains: “When I arrived all the watches in the market turned towards the past. There was a contradiction to me. Modern tools – computers, CNC – were used, but the watch looked as it had for decades before. I wanted a new watch based on modern designs and new materials. A watch to live with – a companion for life.” Mille’s love and knowledge of racing cars laid the groundwork for the first design, which he then turned to Renaud et Papi SA to manufacture. Gone was the dial and the two plane approach to bridges and plates: the bridges were now structural and designed around suspension forks on a race car, while the back plate resembled the spokes of a race engine but was crafted using the traditional watch finishing techniques of black polishing and frosted plates. The shock of the design reverberated throughout the industry: Yves Mathys, now the managing director of Richard Mille, was introduced to the new aesthetic by Mille in early 2001. “It was an extraterrestrial,” he exclaims. “I was absolutely upset. That’s a watch! It was completely different from what I had known before, and I had worked in the watch industry for years.” Since that initial timepiece, the RM001, Mille has continued to confound expectations. “I was always interested in learning from one universe to bring concepts, ideas and new parameters to my watches to remain at the cutting edge in terms of performance and radical design,” he says. It’s no wonder the brand’s first sports ambassador came from the constantly innovative Formula 1 circuit: the young, promising driver Felipe Massa. The mandate was to manufacture a watch light enough that Massa would not feel it on his wrist. A number of firsts followed, including the use of carbon nanofiber (also used as brake pads for the Space Shuttle) as a base plate (RM006) as well as the use of Alusic, forged in a centrifugal furnace with pressure sufficient to force otherwise disparate materials (aluminium, silicium and carbide) together (RM009). In the RM021, Mille made use of orthorhombic titanium aluminide, a material normally reserved for the afterburners and wings of high-altitude aircraft. The brand’s association with Formula 1 has continued since the first creation as well, initially with Lotus Racing and the inclusion of a G-force meter into the watch, and with cases made of NTPT (North Thin Ply Technology) carbon, the same material used in the construction of Formula 1 cars. Most recently Richard Mille joined forces with Formula 1’s mavericks, McLaren Racing, to create a wondrous chronograph tourbillon – the RM50-03 – that includes parts made with the Nobel Prize-winning material: graphene. But merely integrating new materials isn’t enough for Mille: his watches also contain innovative engineering. For the RM27-01, a suspension cable was used to secure the movement in the case in order to strap the watch to the hardest hitter in the game of tennis, Rafael Nadal. In the RM38, latticework bridges supported the movement for the most forceful driver in the game of golf, Bubba Watson. While titanium carbide and lateral bridges combined for the wrist of the world’s greatest polo player: Pablo Mac Donough (RM053). This year, a new polo watch was introduced that integrated Mille’s research on cable tension, NTPT carbon, as well as new research on the structural rigidity of the sapphire crystal on the 46 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM
“I wanted a new watch based on modern designs and new materials. A watch to live with – a companion for life” PHOTO RICHARD BORD watch. Mille miniaturised the same technology that allows a bank teller to sit behind glass and tell the would-be robbers to take a hike. Indeed, the current concentration of sapphire crystal watches on the market can be traced back to Mille’s work, with Stettler, to produce watch cases and bridges made of the material (RM056). Because of the watch’s threepart case construction, across a curved plane, the pieces of sapphire crystal had to fit together within a micron or internal stress on the case parts would eventually lead to fissure and fracture. New techniques for sapphire crystal cutting and polishing had to be invented to deal with the problem. Beyond sport, Mille’s philosophy toward watches is equally at home with art and jewellery. In collaborating with Boucheron for the RM018, Mille developed a gear train made of semiprecious stones. What started out as a simple idea resulted in four years of research and new techniques to slice and polish semi-precious stones as well as how to adhere polished slivers of onyx, tiger‘s eye and lapis to metal gears. And with the RM68-01, Mille had the graffiti artist Cyril Kongo precisely measure the paint he used down to the hundredth of a gram to ensure that the paint was not too thick to alter measurements and balance for the watch movement. Taken together – the technique, the innovation and the imposition of the lifestyle on the design and function of the watch – it is clear that a Richard Mille watch is more than a watch: it is a life companion, made to be worn in all circumstances. As the curved case melds to your wrist, the activities for which the watch was designed and engineered seem natural extensions of the whole being, from motor racing or yachting to polo, golf and tennis. His design is about, in Mille’s words, the “total watch” – the mechanical choreography of a beautiful machine, one fully in harmony with the traditions of watchmaking as well as modern materials and manufacturing potential. The most futuristic of all watchmakers has a remarkably traditional view of the future. Above all, no gimmicks for their own sake: he insists on “a design that is adapted to the function, whether it be in sport or lifestyle”, just as he has always done. And wherever he goes next will be an extension of what he takes genuine interest in. “The core of the brand is a mixture of extreme technique and development linked to useful devices,” he says, eloquently summing up the ethos of the brand – and the man – who continues to redefine the possibilities of watchmaking with every new creation. richardmille.com Changing time: Mille‘s inventiveness continues to alter the boundaries of watchmaking CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 47
