We often find ourselves talking about watchmakers that have been around for ages, with rich histories and traditions. Today however, we flip the script. We’re going to be talking about how in Richard Mille revolutionised the watch market in 2001 with their debutant watch, the Richard Mille RM001 Tourbillon.
The birth of the brand
Everything blossomed from a professional relationship between two colleagues, which turned into a true friendship.
Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat met each other in 1988 for business reasons. At the time, Richard Mille was the CEO of the horological division of the French jeweller Mauboussin.
During Mille’s tenure, he had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with Dominique Guenat, owner and director of Guenat SA-Montres Valgine, where they designed and developed a few of Maoboussin’s watches.
As well as watches, the two shared a passion for sports cars, sailing and flying. They were like Peas and Carrots (if you know, you know). These were the foundations of both their business partnership and friendship that would lead them to launch a project in 1999: to design and create their own watch.
Thus, a formal partnership was created between Richard Mille, Dominique Guenat and APR&P (Audemars Piguet, Renaud and Papi), and, less than two years later a brand was born, capable of changing the luxury watch world forever.
The agreed goal was to build a watch that combined the most avant-garde technologies with the greatest respect for the classic traditions of Swiss watchmaking.
The most influential inspirations for the design of Richard Mille’s watches come from the aforementioned passion for fast cars and aviation.
But how did this translate to a watch? The idea was simple, yet so effective that it became an iconic phrase associated with the brand. A racing machine on your wrist, forged from the most avant-garde materials and driven by movements that are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.
Another winning strategy employed by Richard Mille was to mirror their workforce to the of a Formula 1 team. Each group is dedicated to perfecting and fine-tuning their own production process, and operating synergistically for the common goal of creating a winning racing machine.
Partnerships as a means for expansion
Naturally, the sporty DNA of the brand would see them make fundamental partnerships, collaborations and sponsorships of elements in the sporting world.
Richard Mille, right from the very beginning, had their eyes set on the athletes who were at the peak form on the world stage. The strategy was to help them find a solution to the technical problems that the athletes would sometimes encounter. (Not only from a horological point of view!)
We couldn’t go a full article on Richard Mille without mentioning the RM027-01. This legendary timepiece was in fact designed and developed to the exact specification of tennis phenom Rafael Nadal.
This watch was made so that it would cater to ay and all of a tennis player’s needs, particularly when it comes to lightness and shock resistance. And yeah, it has a 70-hour power reserve Tourbillon, too. But how much does this watch weigh, you might ask? 19 grams – strap included.
Let’s take it back to home turf:
Richard Mille has maintaned a significantly lengthy partnership with Roberto Mancini, technical director of the Italian Football Association and in that time, have developed two watches with him since 2013. These are none other than the RM11-01 and the latest being the RM11-04 Roberto Mancini.
These two highly sophisticated pieces are kitted out with various tools to help manage phases of play on the football field. (You can read all about it in our article on this link here)
Although Richard Mille is synonymous with famous athletes, the fans, followers and the ambassadors of the brand are plentiful out of the fields’, courts’ and pitches’ bounds. Many high-profile characters choose a Richard Mille as their wrist companion, most likely because they are fascinated by the blend of comfort, aesthetic and unparalleled technical prowess.
One of these celebrities is artist, musician and singer, Pharrel Williams. For a long time now, he’s been linked to the maison by wearing the most rare and sought-after Richard Milles.
In fact, recently, the artist was heavily involved in the design and creation of his personal watch, the Richard Mille RM52-05 Tourbillon Pharrel Williams, which we explain here.
The Genesis of Richard Mille: the RM001 Tourbillon
The debutant watch of a new watch brand is crucial in determining their success and longevity, especially when going against the “old” giants of Rolex, Patek Philippe and Omega. But this certainly was not a problem for Richard Mille, who burst onto the scene with the RM001 Tourbillon. This watch quite clearly book-ended everything that came before Richard Mille, and opened up a new chapter to preview what was to come after the birth of this icon.
The grand first presentation took place in the 2001 edition of the Baselworld exhibition.
During that presentation, just to demonstrate to the public and prospective partners how light, technically marvellous and shock-resistant this watch was, the good folks from Richard Mille literally threw the watch on to the floor of the stage.
When they picked it up and showed the crowd that the watch had taken no damage whatsoever (both the case and the movement), they were in awe. And it was at that moment when the legend was born.
Case and Dial
The Richard Mille RM001 Tourbillon came in an 18kt white gold tonneau case, a shape that would be forever associated with the brand.
It measures 38mm wide and has a lug-to-lug length of 45mm, with lugs hooked onto a black alligator strap.
The body of the watch is built from three distinct elements. The bezel, the case and its caseback are all sandwiched together from an arragnement of 8 titanium screws. This provides mecahnical properties that allow for this incredible shock resistance and create the “flexible” nature of the watch.
A sapphire crystal is present both in front and behind the movement, so that technical marvel is on full display.
The sapphire is also used on the dial itself, creating a transparent effect, allowing the wearer (and admirer) to be captivated by the caliber, with only the white arabic numerals “getting in the way”.
Caliber
Simply put, the caliber RM001 is a technical and innovative masterpiece.
It is a perfectly symmetrical manually wound movement which sits right in the middle of the dial
At the 12 o’clock position we find two indicators. The 70 hour power-reserve is on the left, and a gauge that indicates the torsion in the spring of the balance wheel on the right.
The latter of these indicators helps to constantly monitor the crucial torsion levels sent to the balance wheel.
If the gauge falls below 53, it does not have enough drive, whereas if it rises above 65, the user risks overloading the spring, which will damage the movement.
At the centre of the dial we find the hour and minute wheels, and as our eyes gaze downwards, at the 6 o’clock position is the very peculiar minute Tourbillon.
Richard Mille (successfully) tried to arrange the cage’s bridge in such a way to replicate the front suspension rods of a Formula 1 car, both visually and functionally.
Yes, you read that right. This is because, like the suspension rods, this horizontally constrained bridge allows for ever-so-slight vertical displacements, dampening their “shock” effect, ultimately protecting the jewel that is the Tourbillon.
The caliber is mounted on a titanium-clad plate, coated with a black PVD finish to contrast the mechanism’s gears. It is visible from both in front and behind the watch.
Price and aftermarket
When first released, the Richard Mille RM001 Tourbillon was marketed at around €145,000, far more expensive than anything in the same sort of watch tier. (Also remember that we’re only in 2001, too!)
This model is now extremely sought-after by collectors worldwide, for a multitude of reasons.
Other than being the first watch in ranks of the now legendary brand, the Richard Mille RM001 Tourbillon was inherently a rare breed: only 17 pieces were made.
There is another, albeit lesser-known factor behind the demand for this model.
The first examples donned a silver plate (and not Titanium), which then was PVD coated. These early models were used to undertake the initial destructive tests. It worked out cheaper to physically test it with Silver and then model it with the properties of Titanium, avoiding unnecessary scrap.
This means that within the first Richard Mille line, there are two different variants of the watch: 11 with a Silver separation plate, and only 6 in Titanium, rendering the latter far more rare and researched.
Despite the very few owners of this watch not wanting to part ways with their RM001s, those who do, find themselves at high-profile auction houses and make a fortune out of them. The Richard Mille RM001 is one of the few watches in the world whose aftermarket price can nearly double the ones it was originally sold as: auction prices range between €250.000 and €300.000.
Translated by Patrick R.
