“I’m doing it too” means someone else is already doing it.
Innovation, on the other hand, means being the only one doing it. And you are truly innovative when you can afford to be very wrong.
Andrea Pontremoli, CEO of Dallara explained the concept of innovation in motorsport this way. And it is hard to find a more apt definition for understanding Richard Mille as well.
Because behind the radical aesthetics of its watches there is more than marketing or extreme luxury. There is a technical development process built through real-world testing, prohibitive environmental conditions, and people capable of taking these watches beyond normally unthinkable limits.
And that is where Charles Dubouloz comes in.
The association between Richard Mille and the racing world could take up entire pages, but here it serves primarily as a starting point for understanding two fundamental concepts: uniqueness and experimentation. Because much of technical innovation comes precisely from mistakes, testing and continuous exposure to reality.
It is also why Richard Mille has built a special relationship over the years with its partners-Felipe Massa, Rafael Nadal, Bubba Watson, and even less media-exposed figures such as Charles Dubouloz.
At a superficial reading it might seem like simple marketing. In reality, their role is much deeper.
Real world testing according to Richard Mille
Richard Mille’s goal is not simply to show a watch during a sports competition or on a tennis court. The goal is to subject the product to real, unpredictable, extreme conditions.
What they call in the company, in fact, real world testing.
The process really works like this: the athlete uses the watch in its natural environment, stresses it, takes it to the limit. Then the piece returns to the manufacture, where it is analyzed in detail. Reactions, criticalities and room for improvement are studied in an ongoing process that Richard Mille has been carrying out for more than two decades.
When you understand this approach it completely changes your perspective. And everything becomes even more interesting by looking at a partner like Charles Dubouloz.
Charles Dubouloz and extreme mountaineering
Much less publicized than Nadal or other better-known “brand partners”, Charles probably represents one of the most radical expressions of the Richard Mille philosophy. He is one of those people you probably only meet in the mountains: humble, smiling, completely off the scale of normalcy.
During our stay in Chamonix we had the opportunity to see. From Shade to Light, the film about one of his most incredible feats: the solo ascent of the Rolling Stones route on the north face of the Grandes Jorasses in the Mont Blanc massif.
Six days and five nights completely alone. Sleeping on the wall, carrying about 35 kilograms of gear and supplies, alternating between progression, fixing ropes and retrieving gear along more than 1,200 meters of elevation gain in temperatures near -20 degrees. Often even with bare hands, because in certain conditions gloves do not allow precise work on rock or ice.
Our time together was brief, but it was enough to understand how distant his approach to the mountains is from the common perception of risk.
“If you want to climb, you already know you are taking a risk. It’s a fair choice,” Charles says. “It ‘s like building a business plan: you prepare, you organize everything, then you take off.”
During the interview I kept almost unconsciously seeking confirmation, as if I really wanted to understand to what extent he had accepted the idea of death.
“If you don’t accept this possibility, you don’t leave,” he says with an almost disarming naturalness. “The mountain is hard.”
I ask him whether this is a fully conscious choice.
“Yes. But it’s all extremely rational. Preparation, experience, feeling: I control everything I can control. Then there are variables that do not depend on me. Weather, wind, snow. You have to accept that .”
What about fear?
“I’m always afraid. And that’s right. The problem is not having it, but not having it at all. Fear keeps you lucid. It helps you .”
And it is this constant exposure to controlled risk that makes figures like Charles Dubouloz crucial to Richard Mille’s technical development process.
Even today I still struggle to really understand this mentality. Probably because it is too far from my normalcy. For Charles, however, this is natural.
Why Richard Mille chooses determined “brand partners”
Richard Mille chooses people like Charles not only because of what they represent, but because their environment becomes a real laboratory. Atmospheric pressure, extreme cold, temperature changes, continuous shocks, and altitude help test the limits of the watch under conditions impossible to fully replicate in the laboratory.
Even during the simple ascent to the Aiguille du Midi, going from about 1000 to almost 3800 meters, we immediately felt the change in pressure and temperature. Imagining these conditions for days on end, suspended on a wall, helps to understand even better the meaning of this approach.
On his wrist Charles wore his Richard Mille RM 67-02 Extra Flat.
Richard Mille RM 67-02 Extra Flat: materials and engineering
The case combines Quartz TPT for the bezel and case back and Carbon TPT for the case middle. The manufacturing principle is the same: very thin layers of fibers are oriented and impregnated with specific resins to create an extremely light and strong structure.
In the case of quartz, the fibers are derived from silicon dioxide (SiO₂), a material known for its dimensional stability, thermal resistance and ability to withstand large temperature changes without significant deformation.
Translated into practice: the case maintains rigidity and precision even in aggressive environmental conditions, protecting the movement from mechanical stress, seepage, and structural changes.
The fully skeletonized CRMA7 movement is made of grade 5 titanium with DLC treatment. A key choice not only because of its low weight, but also because of the material’s stability under temperature changes.
The oils used inside the gauge are also designed to work under extreme conditions, maintaining proper viscosity and performance even below zero and avoiding thickening that could impair movement operation.
Complementing this are nitrile gaskets, designed to maintain elasticity and tightness even in intense cold.
The end result is a watch weighing just 32 grams, including the strap, designed to withstand conditions that would challenge many traditional technical instruments.
Richard Mille’s technical identity
Behind an instantly recognizable, and often divisive aesthetic, there is an almost obsessively functional approach. “Brand partners“ are not simply advertising faces: they become an integral part of the technical development of the product.
Charles Dubouloz does not wear an Richard Mille for a summit photograph. He carries it with him as cold, pressure, fatigue and risk turn each climb into a test of life.
This is probably where Richard Mille’s technical identity is really born: not in a laboratory isolated from the world, but in the moment when a watch is exposed to reality.
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