Exclusive interview with the Sales Director of Richard Mille: Alexandre Mille (Part 1/3)

Portrait of Alexandre Mille

Richard Mille has been pushing the boundaries of fine watchmaking for 20 years. With its ultra-limited quantities and remarkable innovations, the Franco-Swiss brand has established itself in the luxury landscape as one of the most striking successes of recent years. Alexandre Mille, Sales Director and son of Richard Mille, agreed to answer our questions for Swiss Luxury Magazine.

Swiss Luxury Magazine: Richard Mille recently celebrated its 20th anniversary and its success is remarkable. In your opinion, what are the highlights of the brand and its rise?

Alexandre Mille: Very good question! I think it's complicated to pinpoint a precise moment, there have been many. I am thinking in particular of the start-up, of what my father went through during the process of creating the brand. There were many disappointments and difficult moments. One of the turning points was when the first Mille watch was to be launched in 2000. At that time, the development of a function that was very important to him was missing.

My father had promised himself that he would stop at nothing and make the watch exactly as he had imagined it, so the launch was postponed until the following year to present the watch with this function to the public, both amateurs and professionals. So this year was extremely difficult - a lot of investment but no profit. It was a big risk, and it was taken.

The first Richard Mille watch: RM 001 Tourbillon, in an initial series of 17 watches.

Another key moment of course was the way he promoted this first piece, the RM 001: with no real budget! A rather atypical anecdote is the way he presented the RM 001 for the first time, at the Basel watch fair, Baselworld. In order to prove the resistance of the watch, he had fun demonstrating it by throwing it against the floor and walls! Other moments have been outstanding such as the release of the first automatic watch RM 005 (2004), and technically outstanding launches, including the RM 009 (2005) or RM 018 (2008) from which we learned a lot.

Another milestone was the release of the RM 027 (2010), the first tourbillon watch for Rafa Nadal, which had a worldwide notoriety impact on the brand! The Aiguille d'Or for the RM 012 (2006) was also a milestone, and of course, our entry to the SIHH in 2010. We will never forget the support of the FHH, and we will be eternally grateful for the trust they placed in us then. This was important as an independent brand, it was recognition from our peers. I also want to talk about the arrival of Cécile Guenat as Creative and Development Director. One of her first projects for the brand was the Bonbon collection. A collection that was a great success and that we all enjoyed working with. Fun, daring, and highly technical watches that combine traditional watchmaking, craftsmanship, and innovation with the brand's exclusive materials and unique colors.

In fact, each moment, in different aspects, whether technical or human, has marked the history of Richard Mille to bring the brand to where it is today. I don't think you can reduce it to one specific moment, it's a whole series of things... and a lot of questioning, of limits constantly being pushed back, of great challenges being taken up. That's my father's philosophy, always questioning yourself and making sure that every day can be an important moment for the brand.

Swiss Luxury Magazine: The brand has never stopped innovating with the use of new materials, apart from the innovation and the exceptional complexity of Richard Mille watches, what other essential elements are taken into account when creating new models?

Alexandre Mille: There are no real specifications when creating a new piece. We are all together, the people on the board and the people working in the development department. We do brainstorming sessions where we share our inspirations without limits in order to be really open to everything.

The RM 012 launched in 2006 led to Richard Mille being awarded the Aiguille d'Or at the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie de Genève as well as the Grand Prix de l’Horlogerie – Asia Edition due to its revolutionary concept.

Swiss Luxury Magazine: You have opened up more and more to the worlds of art and culture, what is your vision of this link between these worlds and Richard Mille?

Alexandre Mille: We have a very broad vision of the art world. Whether it is "classical" or contemporary art, but also architecture, the automobile (which for my father has always been an art form in its own right), or the cinema... When you see the architecture or the complications of our pieces, you can find a lot of inspiration from these different artistic worlds (F1, Kubrick's films with 2001, A Space Odyssey for example). Our ambition is also to work closely with artists, to help them develop, for example through our various multi-year partnerships with museums or contemporary art fairs (Le Palais de Tokyo, Desert X, Louvre Abu Dhabi...).

First watch to bear the name Pharrell Williams, the RM 52-05 is a masterpiece conjuring the visions, fantasies, and other imaginary projections of this multitalented person into a pure contemporary and technical tourbillon calibre.

Useful Links

Richard Mille Official Website

Richard Mille Instagram

Address: Richard Mille Geneva, Rue du Rhône 78, 1204 Geneva, Switzerland

Phone number: 022 810 85 73