Richard Mille

They have been providing in their early period (they started in 2001 so this is quite recent) one model after another. Aesthetically, they were mainly gold followed by Titanium when they could master the production of Ti for their cases (it wasn't as frequent to have Ti cases back then). Hence we had mainly Ti, WG, RG and a very few PT (some references had only less than 10 pieces in Pt).

With the market increase of the last decade, the brand has increased its production to around 3 000 pieces (and maybe around 3 500 recently).

From a long while there was only "classical" colours.

To understand what this brand is (even if it evolved with demand and success) you must know what the founder is. He is a very tasteful guy in terms of aesthetics (not only watches) and he is mainly a huge car fan. With the success of his brand he has been able to acquire racing cars among which famous old F1 cars that he has been able to resore. All came from this passion of Hi-tech engineered stuff.

And I must say I'm the same, this is maybe the reason why I like the brand. I see it differently. I'm not a engineer but I like planes, cars, boats, even talking about other mechanical stuff, science etc...

Hence, RM discovered that there was a place for a watch that would be like creating an F1 car. He brings Carbon when he can, Titanium for other elements than the case (baseplate) while trying to keep the watch resistant compared to what mechancial watches were known for. Like a kid.

Imagine that you say you want a movement with Ti inside, Carbon when we can (it wasn't available at the beginning) and let's play with all these Hi-Tech elements used in F1 but also planes, satelites etc... These materials have been developped by other fields so you only have to use them (and work the material which is not easy) after buying the right to do so of course.

These elements are good for communication and marketting of course but they are also very good for lightness, corrosion, wear and tear, shockproofness etc... Some materials they used were put in a very few watches only because too hard to shape with the available tools.

Here is a post I made about materials RM used if interested:  www.watchprosite.com

The result was the most confortable watches, very light, with very unusual materials and very resistant (for a mechanical watch of course). And the result was a huge cost because of the development needed and the volumes sold (sometimes 10 watches only).

Hence, the price, hence the technical choices. The price is a consequence of these technical choices and he felt at the beginning that their would be a market for this. So the problem of the price is not a problem for them. He someone thinks it is too expensive then he can look somewhere else. But there are people who have acquired already all kind of watches in the more traditional fields and who wishe to explore something else.

He was right and as in all luxury fields, the success brings success and high prices make a selection that attracts wealth as well.

It was a little long but, as time goes by, the materials have evolved, the demand has evolved and RM was able to introduce colors, especially with Ceramic.

The brand faced a problem with its low production volume and its low number of references (there were only around 20 different watches during the first 10 eyars). Indeed, the watches looked the same as they were recognizable from this tonneau-shaped specific case. Hence, it was alittle boring and he needed to bring more diversity.

Furthermore, as there were so many new materials, it was impossible to introduce all these versions in the standard collection.

Thus, instead of bring 100 watches in Ti or gold, you bring 70 in Ti or gold and the 30 remainings in something else (material or color). Hence, RM has a standard line (i.e. gold and Ti based cases) and adds from time to time models that are more difficult to produce or that they don't want to produce too much. Then, regularly, you have a different version with the Carbon NTPT case, or a Cermaic one (in different colors). Some are only available in some regions, other just for an event.

They are usual 10 to 50 pieces editions. The limit of their production capacity implies they have to limit the diversity.

I must say I like that. As a buyer, I wouldn't like that there are NTPT cases everywhere or blue ceramic cases only etc... Furthermore, I know there are many color combinations that I don't like, thus I'll have to wait for the Limited edition I like. It is better as you don't feel you have a watch produced at 100s of pieces, so you feel that you have something more personal.

If today RM remained only with Ti and gold cases I would think it is a lack of interest. If there were too many carbon cases, it wouldn't be interesting either and would become ordinary, in a certain way.

I'm glad to see there are different models and colors or versions of cars and I'm glad we can have a wider choice from RM.

However, you're not the only one and this is an observation that many express when looking at RM for the first times.

Best, Mark

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