Richard Mille

kkhazen
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it was love at 1st sight...

... around 5-6 years ago. A friend and business partner was wear an RM tourbillon. Don't recall the exact reference. But i recall very well my 1st impression. It was waaaooow, felt like AP released a new model ... then he told that its a new watchmaker that used to collaborat with AP, etc... For me it was THE nicest watch i've seen since a long time. Watch industy need a serious shake up, with such innovations. Later on, i was in Paris, and passed by my AD, there was a big media campaign about the launch of the RM005.
It was supposed to be the "affordable" entry level model. I was very excited in the beginning, but i was a bit turned off that price was fixed and maybe a mark-up. The AD made me feel that because only a few will be made, i should be thankfull if i could put my hand on one. Being very hard headed and proud, i left the shop, cold blooded, and thought of taking a step back, and see how all this will make it through time. I knew that every hype about a new thing had 50%  chances to resist the "TIME" factor )

And in my opinion, it didn't. Hype went down. Among my entourage, when we were talking about watches, we would almost all agree that RM watches were not up to what we expected. Focus went more to brands like A. Lange and Journe. Its really a revealing coincidence that someone brought it up here today in this forum. Maybe we expected too much in the 1st place. Maybe the hype around it in the media, lead to a disapointment. It back fired in a way. But bottom line, the flame slowly estinguished. While i am appreciating more and more brands like A. Lange.

 I will reply to ur comment :

1- Forget about my friend, i was jst pointing that not all RM disappointed owners are posting in this forum.

2-  I don't know how seriously RM watches are tested, but it seems its not enough. U must understand that when a watchmaker insist on marketing, the moment small flaws appear ( i won't name them again ), we naturally think that we have been victims of advertising. 1st reaction is that RM should have put more time and money on testing her innovations, rather than focusing on marketing its watches. Again, some serious brand do very little marketing, but are seriously recognized as being top watchmakers.

About felipe massa wearing an RM and showing how its tested in extreme conditions. Personally, i give much more credit to the posting of some respectable passionned members in this forum that i read daily, and i learn with time that they are honest in their opinions. But then again, that's me...

3- About Eric, you cannot blame him... you must see it as a cry for help to RM ... he loves the watch obviously.

4- About the auction, i shouldn't given you this example ( which is true btw) Its a good thing to see watches being sold at auctions for a good price. Unlike PP that beats records everytime. In the end, we are all on the other side of the border ( the buying side ).
Jst a little word about the link u sent. Its a unique limited series of 35, specially designed by Philippe Starck for the charity auction held in Monaco for the boatshow in 2007. Gathering the richest ppl that will buy boats that cost from 10mil to 150mil euro, not hard to sell unique pieces, that looks amazing btw. But it doesn't give the right idea of how the 2nd market of RM watches in general. I must reply to you that the exception doesn't make the rule

5- I must admit that you are indeed enthousiast about RM. Theodore is doing also a gr8 job talking about RM. I learned from reading his posts, and feels good to know that someone from RM is so involved in RM owners problems.

if we had all the same opinion on things, we wouldn't be debating i guess.

I want to add  that personally, i find some models being really SEXY ( like the RM016, that i saw in a shop for the 1st time this summer )

K.