Richard Mille’s technological emotional Watches

There is a rainy winter day in Paris. 2018 starts romantically in the City of Light, but I am not here to find my love. Now I am a bit nervous while preparing to jump from the taxi to the bourgeois entrance of a quiet building. I was fortunate to receive the chance to discover the watch legend everyone is talking about. The one and only Richard Mille made time to talk to me. So I start the new year with the mission to understand his style and explain to myself how it is possible to build such a fame in only 20 years. Down to the basics of his story, it looks more of a courage challenge then to a watchmaking lesson. Indeed, his watches are one of a kind as materials and techniques but I feel his secret is in another direction. When looking at the decisions he made since the beginning of his business, there is too much heart connected vision to include him in the watchmakers’ class. My watches represent a lot of my personality. My watches are my babies and when I say it, I really mean my babies. It’s everything I have in my guts. It’s all that I like about the size, about the design and about technique. It’s everything! And it must be because otherwise it’s artificial. And I hate everything that is artificial! Until here, I think I have heard this kind of speech in the watches industry. But it is the way he says it that is truly unique. I know the person Richard Mille since only a few minutes but I can swear already Richard Mille is as real as the fascination of the watches that carry his name. He entered the room where I was waiting inside his Paris office and needed only a few seconds to turn me into his number one fan. Naturally wearing jeans and a turtle neck sweater, the great Richard Mille talks and smiles to me like he has been my friend since ever. For sure the human touch that took me where I am now in my life is appreciated. I ask him which elements build the first impression and the answers comes straight and natural like all the answers of Richard Mille: The smile. Definitely the smile. The way people behave. More than anything else.

The full story in MISTERWATCH No. 1 printed June edition 2019.