Author: William Boyd

Richard Mille began his career during the 1970s with Finhor, a French watchmaking company.

Subsequently after the company was bought by Matra in 1981, Mille rose to prominence until he oversaw the entire watchmaking operation. This specifically focused on brands like Cupillard Rieme and Yema.

Mille eventually left Matra’s watchmaking operations, which at that time it had been bought by Seiko, a decade later to make watches for Mauboussin.

This jewelry firm was recently new to luxury watches. Seven years later, Mille collaborated with Audemars Piguet and began his own brand.

He had nearly three decades of watchmaking experience by the time he began his own brand.

Within two years after, Mille released his first watch, the RM001 in 2001. This was a tourbillon watch that was specifically designed to bring watchmaking up to speed with the 21st century.

The RM001 was a pioneer in the industry and instantly and created buzz around this new company.

Mille was daring enough to create a new segment in the industry, which it monopolozied and didn’t want to compete against others.

The brand can didcate the price since there are no brands that sell similar designs, materials, construction, and execution.

Why is a Richard Mille Watch so expensive?

The brand produces an estimated 5,000 watches per year. Watches are crafted using materials that are rarely utilized e.g. silicon nitride, gold fused with carbon and quartz, and other materials that are usually only found in the aviation and racing industries. 

Exceptional shock resistance – Sports players have been seen wearing Richard Mille watches such as Rafael Nadal and Bubba Watson.

Richard Mille’s mission is to push hand-made and high-end watchmaking to the very limits of technical innovation with exceptional engineering and quality movements.

The size, shape, and design is instantly recognizable due to its unapologetically bold and automotive inspired design.

It’s analogous to buying a miniature sports car for the wrist. The revolutionary watches and cases have a featherweight feel and are extremely comfortable.

Nicknamed the “Billionaire’s handshake”, it adorns the wrists of the most exclusive circles. It is the ultimate expression of wealth in horology.

Through it’s brilliant marketing campaigns and exclusitivity are main reasons why it has a high price. Due to its name and reputation and name, wearers pay a premium.

The brand partners with ambassadors such as Flipe Massa, Pharrel Williams, Robert Mancini, Fernando Alonso.

Inside a Richard Mille Watch

Richard Mille watches are constructed with expensive materials such as gold, titanium, onyx, and sapphire. They also use several materials for their baseplates, such as carbon fused with gold and sapphire.

Sapphire crystals are refined for 1,000 hours so each watch has a gorgeous case. Additionally PVD treated baseplates and coatings or Titaly, which is a type of innovation takes many years to accomplish. 

Each piece is unique and some, such as the Tourbillion Panda RM 026-1 features diamonds. You don’t only pay for the materials, but the several months it takes to assemble them to make a watch.

Richard Mille watches are well known for their movements and function as style! It uses hi-tech materials for the case, but the movement as well.

Movement parts are usually made of a special alloy that consists of 90% grade 5 titanium, 6% titanium, 6% aluminum, and 4% vanadium.

Each watch has a maximum daily variation of 8 seconds. The brand crafts most of their movements in-house. There are manual winding as well as self-winding models.

PVD treated baseplates and coatings or Titalyt. This type of innovation takes many years to accomplish.

The finishing techniques includes Anglage and hand-polishing, satin finishes on bridges, burnished pivots, wheels, and more. 

Execution is to the highest degree, which leads to a sporty technical movement. Richard Mille was a pioneer for modern watchmakers.

Watches are intuitive and designed for high impact reliability, unwavering accuracy, precision, and reliability with beauty and sophistication.

Best Richard Mille Watch Alternatives

1. Fiona Kruger Petit Skull Celebration Eternity

44mm x 34mm stainless steel case with sapphire crystal covers a hand-decorated 3-layer dial that is finished with hand-polishing and has PVD coating.

It has luminous blue hands, indices, and skull outline, and a multi-colored stone-set bezel with 7 colors of precious stones and diamonds.

The exhibition case back displays the Swiss automatic Soprod M-1000 caliber that has a guilloche rotor and 42 hours of power reserve. 

• It has 30m of water resistance.
• Fitted with a leather bracelet strap.
• Limited to 18 pieces.

2. Louis Moinet Spacewalker 18k White Gold – Approx $210,000.00

47.4mm 18k White Gold case with sapphire crystal that covers a cosmic dial that has luminous hands and indices and a tourbillion at 12 o’clock that represents Alexi Leonov floating in space outside his craft.

A diamond revolves around the tourbillion that represents Leonov floating in space outside his spacecraft. Also, “Almaz-2” was Leonov’s code name during the mission and in Russia, “Almaz” means diamond.

The exhibition case back displays the Caliber LM48 the world’s first “satellite tourbillon” that beats at 21,600 vph and has 72 hours of power reserve. 

• It has 50m of water resistance.
• Fitted with an alligator leather strap with an 18k white gold double folding clasp.
• Limited to 12 pieces.

3. Manufacture Royale Androgyne Royale Bespoke Light Blue Rose Gold – Approx. $72,500.00

43mm x 10.20mm case from a rose gold case with sapphire crystal and exhibition case back that has 8 screws and an alligator strap with pin buckle.

It has an MR02 manual mechanical tourbillion caliber with a frequency of 21,600 vph and a power reserve of 108 hours. Has azure blue CVD finish, Geneva Stripes, Edges chamfering, and polishing.

• Water-resistant to 30 meters.
• Skeleton Dial color, gold hands, tourbillion at 6 o’clock, mechanical manual movement. 
• Alligator leather strap with blue stitching and gold pin buckle.
• 17 jewels
• The case is sandblasted and high-polished surfaces
• Skeletonized movement and dial. There are no indices and the 12 screws of the bezel serve as indexes.
• The main plate and bridges are chamfered.
• Limited edition – 28 pieces per model.

4. Pierre DeRoche TNT Royal Retro Gold TNT100050RAC0-003CRO – Approx. $90,190.00

47.5mm rose gold black PVD-coated titanium middle, steel bezel, and sapphire crystal that has an anti-reflective coating on both sides.

On the grey dial there are golden hands and indices, contrasting blue screws, and 6 retrograde seconds hands-on gears with strip-spring return and date aperture at 6 o’clock.

An exhibition case back displays an exclusive mechanical automatic Dubois Depraz caliber that has 58 jewels. It has a decorated and engraved 22k gold rotor with a central bridge.

• It has 100m of water resistance.
• Completed by an alligator bracelet strap with 18k pink gold and titanium safety folding clasp. 

5. Angelus U30 Tourbillon Rattrapante – $72,400.00

Five years of intensive research and development secured by several patents. 47mm grade 5 titanium with black coating on the case band with a box sapphire crystal.

On the skeleton-colored dial, there are luminous hands, dial markers indices, a one-minute tourbillon, fly-back double column wheel chronograph.

There is a 30-minute sub-dial chronograph at 3 o’clock, split-seconds function at 4 o’clock, twin central chronograph seconds hands, power reserve at 8 o’clock, and tourbillon cage between 10 and 11 o’clock.

There also is a split-second (rattrapante), a self-winding mechanism, and a power reserve indicator is picked out in bright highlights of red and green.

Complications were re-engineered based on structural optimization and skeletonized to reveal as much of the movement as possible on the dial side. 

Its exhibition case back displays an automatic A-150 caliber that beats at 28,800 vph, has a power reserve of 45 hours, 

A one-minute tourbillon, a fly-back double column wheel chronograph, a split-second (rattrapante), a self-winding mechanism, and a power reserve indicator.

Complications were re-engineered based on structural optimization and skeletonized to reveal as much of the movement as possible on the dial side. Maximum legibility of the time chronograph functions. 

• It has 30m of water resistance.
• Completed with a matte black alligator leather strap with titanium folding buckle engraved with the Angelus logo.
• Limited to 25 pieces.

6. Armin Strom Dual Time Resonance White Gold – $206,000.00

Unconventional oval case 59.00 mm dual time resonance model in 18K White Gold.

Sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment covers a blue hand guilloche dial with founded appliques and two watch movements that stabilize one another are connected by a resonance clutch spring.

There are polished steel hands, contrasting roman numerals indices.

• Manifesting abstract resonance theories of Christiaan Huygens in horological form.
• Dual Time Resonance will accurately indicate GMT or a second-time zone. 
• The exhibition case back displays the ARF17 movement that beats at 25,000 vph and has 110 hours of power reserve
• It has 50m of water resistance. 
• Completed with an alligator leather strap bracelet with a double-fold clasp in stainless steel.

7. Christophe Claret DualTow Limited Edition – Approx. $510,000.00

48.20mm titanium case with sapphire crystal that protects a black dial. It has luminous hands, Arabic numerals for dial markers, and a single-pusher planetary-gear chronograph. The exhibition case back displays a mechanical manual CC20A caliber. 

• Limited edition of 68 pieces
• It has a water resistance of 100m.
• Completed with a rubber strap with a folding clasp.

8. HYT Moonrunner Supernova Blue H02758-A – Contact Us For Special Offer

52.30mm technological sandblasted grey & blue coated titanium case, has black side grids with blue background and sandblasted crown in black & technological grey coated titanium.

Domed sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating covers the black coated brass and sapphire black dial, 3D black coated appliques, green luminous numbers. It has green and transparent liquids inside a borosilicate capillary tube.

You get black mat minute hands, white SLN, black mat day of month disk, white SLN, black mat months disk, White SLN, all SLN in lumicast.

The exhibition case back displays the manual winding mechanical 601-MO that beats at 28’800 Hz with 72 hours of power reserve. It has a finely sandblasted and sating finish with a black coating.

Technological sandblasted grey & blue coated titanium case, black side grids with a blue background, exhibition case back, 52.30mm, sandblasted crown in black & technological grey coated titanium, domed sapphire crystal (box) with anti-reflective coating, black coated brass & sapphire black dial, 3d black coated appliques et green luminous numbers, black coated titanium grid, green and transparent liquids inside borosilicate capillary tube

• It has 50m water resistance.
• Limited to 27 pieces. 
• HYT – Exclusive owners of mecafluidic technology. 

Completed with a black rubber strap and has a black coated titanium and satin and sandblasted finished buckle. Blue microfiber décor and stitching contrast.

9. Hublot Spirit of Big Bang Tourbillon Carbon Blue – Approx. $100,000.00

42mm carbon-fiber case with black or blue occlusions. This barrel-shaped watch has carbon fiber with blue composites and an anti-reflective sapphire crystal that covers a gray sapphire dial…. And it has luminous dial hands and white indices.

It has a bezel that is held by 6 H-shaped titanium screws while the case back is also in carbon and surrounds a sapphire crystal. The bezel is held by 6 H-shaped titanium screws.

An open-worked dial has contrasting white and black coloring similar to the case aesthetic. The hours and minutes are off-centered.

The white inclusions are made from glass microfibers created as a non-woven fabric. The movement can be seen through the dial side of the exhibition case back.

HUB6020 movement reveals an hours and minutes dial-off-center at 3 o’clock, the tourbillon at 6 o’clock, and the 5-day power indicator at 8 o’clock.

Its exhibition case back displays the manual winding HUB6020 tourbillon movement, which was specifically designed for this model. It has 115 hours of power reserve.

For the first time, Hublot equipped it with a “One-Click” fastening system, which allows the strap to be changed easily and quickly.

Black and blue structured lined rubber straps with black ceramic and black-plated titanium deployment buckle clasp.

• Limited to 100 pieces.
• HuB6020 manufactures manual winding power reserve skeleton tourbillon movement. 115 hours of power reserve, 
• It has 30m water resistance.

10. Kross Studio Death Star Ultimate Collector Set – Approx. $150,000.00

Eminent design object with an immersive visual experience Faithful to the film storytelling, Kross Studio conceived an official reproduction of those containers, made of wood and aluminum. Inside the container is divided into nine storage units. Three interior sections secure three removable capsules, 

The watch honors the death star’s fine architecture down to each smallest component. The hour hand embodies the Imperial-class star destroyer while the minute hand appears as a Super-class star destroyer.

Death Star-shaped tourbillon cage represents the northern hemisphere of the Death star. The watch honors the Death Star’s fine architecture down to each smallest component, with hand-finished decoration techniques such as drawing, polishing, and satin-finishing.

45mm black DLC coated grade 5 titanium case has a dome-shaped sapphire crystal that protects the intricated hand-finished decoration such as drawing, polishing, and satin-finishing.

On the surface of the Tourbillion, there is a green super laser cannon stands reminiscent of the space station’s kyber crystal-enabled power.

The Tourbillion cage required 260’328 lines of code and makes one revolution per minute.

The traditional crown system was replaced by an inset push-button system. It features an engraving in Aurebesh script, which is one of the most widely used alphabets in the Star Wars Galaxy.

The exhibition case back is made of grade titanium and has 4 anti-reflective sapphire crystals which display the KS 7’000 manual-winding central tourbillon which beats at 21’600 vph and has 5 days power reserve.

To set and wind the movement, Kross Studio developed a D-ring-shaped crown, which is also on the case back.

• It has 30m of water resistance.
• Fully hand-assembled and hand-painted.
• Limited to 10 pieces

It is equipped with an interchangeable strap system that hides the two quick-release buttons found on the underside of the case. A wearer can quickly change straps with a simple click.

There are three straps included:

• Black rubber strap embossed with a death star-inspired pattern, black stitching, and black rubber inlay
• Grey calf leather with grey stitching and black rubber inlay
• Red rubber strap with red stitching and black rubber inlay

Kyber crystal container. It safeguards precious elements, the Death Star Tourbillon watch, a set of straps, and the kyber crystal. 

A functional art piece – more than 700 parts were necessary to produce each container. Scaled to half the original film dimensions of 3.94 feet long. Fully hand-assembled and hand-painted.

The container is divided into nine storage units. Three interior sections secure three removable capsules. The other six free storage spaces within the crate offer ample storage space for collectors to house their personal Star Wars collectibles and ephemera.

Kyber Crystal – official screen-used kyber crystal is part of the set. This is the power source of the Death Star’s super laser. This is the first time that authentic kyber crystal props will be released to the public and for die-hard fans to own a piece of the fascinating Star Wars Galaxy.