Elite Traveler March-April 2018

INFLUENCE THE BIG INTERVIEW

RichardMille on paving his own way

Head of his own eponymous watchbrand, RichardMille has adventure inhis soul. Not only did this entrepreneur build one of themost successful independent timepiecefirms of the past two decades, but he alsopioneered theway tonewhigh-techwatchmaterials andwas the first to insist that all brand ambassadors wear his $100,000+watches while inplay on the tennis courts, golf courses andF1 circuits. Here, he shares his insights with EliteTraveler ’sRobertaNaas on howhemaneuveredhis way to the topwhen everyone said it couldn’t be done

It was in 1999, after a 25-year-long journey in the watch industry working for several brands, that the now-67-year-old Richard Mille broke from the mold and started his own watch brand. A businessman rather than a watchmaker, Mille’s plan, he says, was a cautious one in terms of numbers, but a very bold one in terms of product design and development. In fact, his avant-garde, architecturally inspired watches are still turning heads and

breaking records nearly 20 years later. “I always say that if I had been a watchmaker, I never would have made the type of watches I nowmake because I would not have thought it possible,” says Mille. “My watches are a synthesis, or symbiosis, of my love for cars, aircraft and anything mechanical and technical. I have always also had a deep love of architecture and design. So I combine them in my watches to give them a strong personality, a good identity and

ensure they are light and ergonomic so they will be a good companion to life.” According to Mille, when he started his company — teaming with Renaud & Papi for his tourbillon and high-complication movements — he was happy to be on the way to building something very different, despite the fact that most of his friends said he would not succeed. “At the very beginning, everyone was taking bets against me. Many of my friends thought that my ideas were just

too crazy and too pioneering in spirit and materials,” says Mille. “But while I had a bold plan for the watches, I also had a conservative business plan from the numbers side. I knewmy prices would be extremely high, so in the beginning I was content to sell a few tens of pieces a year. I thought that would be fantastic for me,” says Mille, further noting that his firm produced 4,000 watches in 2017. “From the beginning I always thought that the high-end watch business was a

Photo Richard Bond