Richard Mille

for this thread to develop before commenting.

My reasons for this is i felt i might be biased since i met Mr Mille.

We had a lengthy discussion a few weeks back relating to watches , design , quality , reliability etc. If you meet THE MAN , feel his honesty and energy , you cannot help but love him and his watches more.

He clearly told me that when developing his watches , he did not budget ...........he wanted to introduce new technology , technique and design with traditional craftsmanship........he told me that the rejection rate on components are high...........to the point where other brand owners-leaders told him that he is crazy if he continues with demanding such high quality in his components.........as mentioned before..........a new brand .............vision...........there will be teething issues.

I believe we , the early buyers of RM are part of the development of thebrand.............yes....we all want our watches to work perfectly , however , hand made and assembled watches are at the mercy of the watchmaker...........his mood........his state of mind at the moment of assembly. I was very fortunate to visit Valgine , and witness the assembly of some watches...............what an amazing environment for watchmaking.........i could have eaten my lunch of the floor!

I know for a fact that if i have a problem , the RM company takes care of it.............there after service is one of the best out there.

Certain RM models like the 004 , if you send in for service or repair , the watch gets a free upgrade if new parts or compnents are introduced in to the model. Like a racing car, new parts and components are being developed and introduced all the time. The RM company are constantly improving and i am certain that they will be held in high esteem among enthusiasts.

Why sit back and critisize only............be a living part of watch evolution............you only live once.

Richard , if you read this.............you have made me change how i look at things........thank you my friend.

My 5c.

Your comments echo what I know and have spoken to Richard about.  I have said it before, and will again for the record, he is one of the truly creative people in the watch industry.  Not only the watches themselves, but also the business model that he inaugurated with Richard Mille watches. 

Personally, I remain stunned at the achievements in such a short time span (8 years at the outside) and what he has achieved.  The RM001, RM002-v2, the RM006, the RM009, the RM012, and now the RM018 are all innovative and original 'state of the art' for engineering and watchmaking.  Truly, first and nothing else like them.

Thanks - appreciate the comments.

Andrew H

for the response to my post.

Patek has been making watches for almost 200 years!.......I have been following the 5960p since release, there has been so many problems posted about the 5960p , i still love it , God willing , i will buy one one day.

I know it is a first for Patek in many ways , i do however believe that all problems with this piece will be sorted out............again..........the 5960p owners are part of the development and improvement of the watch.

We can see the glass as half full of half empty........................I certainly prefer the half full , my thirst is quenched with greater pleasure.

Dont let the seconds tick away with aggravation.....................let each second be pleasure.

Ciao.

are VERY much appreciated. As a fan of RM, having met him more than once and having sat next to him at a dinner sometime ago, I too was awestruck not only at meeting the Man himself but also of his creativity as well as his passion for his watches. Some might say he would be biased as after all, he has a motive but I beg to differ as I felt his emotions coming from somewhere deeper than just marketing speak.

While I have not purchased any new Milles lately, the four pieces that me and my wife enjoy are certainly enough to make us feel part of the RM family. If at all, I agree with you, Fomar that RM takes care of his watches and that his service is amongst the best in the entire industry.

The new models are not too much to my liking, but even then, looking back, I have no regrets to having what we have now. They are and will always be a part of RM. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Great post.

Just like what fomar said, you only live once.  If you have your eye on an RM, go ahead and get it.

My only RM is the RM11 and it did have teething problems with the crown, but when I sent it in for service, the watch came back very quickly (only 2 months or so).  RM must have also upgraded or tweaked the movement because the chrono secs hand no longer jumps at all too.  Whatever they did, I thank them very much for it.  Service was exemplary.

I'm not a perfectionist and expect things to break down because you can never have everything perfect and flawless, especially when the things are assembled and made by humans, no matter where you are in the price points IMO.

- AT

As I said in the post below, I'm actually happy with my RM004.
In understand that some times these sort of things happen
with a complicated watch.  I feel reassured by both my AD
and the US distributor that my RM004 will be working perfectly
when it is back in my hands at end of next month.  If there
have been improvements with the movement, it is nice to
know those improvements will be done at that time.

I will let everyone know how it goes.
Greg

I have every reason to believe that Richard Mille takes care of his customers, and find it admirable that watches that are serviced are upgraded with improvements.  My motivation was not to tear down RM, but rather to be emphatic that it is important to strive to build high quality watches for customers, not after some amount of trips to service, but on initial delivery.  I realize that this cannot be achieved all the time, especially with complicated watches, but it still needs to be the goal in order for the prices to be justified.  There are, for sure, lots of things a new brand needs to do to be successful.  Good marketing is a major part, and it's a part that RM has done especially well.  But, I wanted to emphasize that quality is important too.  I realize that all watch brands have problems, even Pateks, but Patek has less need right now to demonstrate it makes quality watches, since it has already earned a reputation.  Richard Mille is a newer brand, and it needs to try even harder than Patek.  I'm sure that any efforts to improve quality further will go as far, maybe farter, than all the clever marketing that has been done so far.
Eric von Schonberg

Your tone and intention in this post is welcomed. I agree with you , newer brands need to try harder in the first ten years.........

As an admirer of RM , i hope that there will be continuous improvements as the years go on.