Why Are Richard Mille Watches So Expensive
Why Are Richard Mille Watches So Expensive-Even though Richard Mille has only been in business for a few decades. The high-end luxury watch industry has stood the test of time. Due to its craftsmanship, inventiveness, and general idiosyncrasy.
Richard Mille has been very quick to establish itself as the game’s most exclusive brand. Even though the name is respected by everyone. It is uncommon to see one in the wild. Except for very wealthy friends.
The majority of people will only see a Richard Mille watch while browsing the internet. And while the watches themselves are impressive to look at.
It is often the price that is most remarkable. The high cost of Richard Mille watches causes casual watch enthusiasts to wonder, “Why?”
This brings us to today’s topic’s purpose: Why are watches made by Richard Mille so expensive? Here are five specific explanations for Richard Mille’s outrageous prices.
What is the price of Richard Mille watches?
The cost to join the Richard Mille club is approximately $80,000. That is for their “cheapest” model, a brand-new RM 005. You might be able to get it for 20% less than the retail price if you buy it used.
The watches keep going up and up from there. Richard Mille watches cost anywhere from $80,000 to more than $2 million.
We should also note that tourbillon watches from Richard Mille cost between $500,000 and $800,000. Despite their high popularity.
The point is that Richard Mille watches are expensive—and even more expensive. The Richard Mille catalog’s price indicates that Richar Mille is the most expensive watch brand in the industry.
So, why are Richard Mille’s timepieces so costly? And is the cost reasonable?
We will respond to your inquiry, but first, allow us to provide you with a brief history of the Richard Mille brand.
History and mystery of Richard Mille Watches
To comprehend the brand, you must learn about Richard Mille, its creator.
In the 1970s, Richard Mille worked as a watchmaker for the French company Findhorn. In 1981, when Matra bought Finhor, Mille started to do well. He progressed through the ranks and eventually became in charge of the entire watchmaking business.
Mille left Matra, which had been bought out by Seiko by that point, after about a decade, and took over as the head of a new watchmaking venture for jewellery company Mauboussin, which was trying to break into the luxury watch market.
Mille decided to start his brand at the end of the 1990s. Richard Mille, the brand that astonishes us and that we all know and adore today.
He started his business by working with Audemars Piguet. Which is now Richard Mille’s shareholder. The idea behind the Richard Mille brand was to bring watchmaking into the modern era.
The Richard Mille brand achieved exactly that. With help of Mille’s extensive technical expertise and forward-thinking outlook.
The RM001, Richard Mille’s first watch, was released within two years (around 2001). The watch industry had never seen anything like it. It was a tourbillon watch.
High-profile endorsements, inventive marketing, and the prolific production of revolutionary timepieces followed.
Why are watches from Richard Mille so expensive?
Richard Mille embodies the brand. Although Richard Mille has many notable brand ambassadors. It includes Roberto Mancini, Fernando Alonso, Pharrell Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Felipe Massa.
Richard Mille is the only person who embodies the brand’s essence. He leads an authentic life that perfectly reflects the inspiration for the watches.
Mille travels the world in high-end private jets. He hangs out with famous actors and athletes and loves Richard Mille watches, and always wears them.
He is also passionate about regatta races and Formula 1. The man is as trustworthy as he gets. Richard Mille watches are exactly representative of Mille’s lifestyle.
Five Reasons Why Richard Mille Watches Cost So Much
Watchmaking:
A differently designed Richard Mille watch is recognizable at first view. It appears to be a cross between a futuristic timepiece and a Formula 1 race car.
It is a major source of inspiration for the brand itself. The design is bold and different. Besides, they are all designed to be very lightweight and comfortable to use.
Many people are unaware of the difficulty involved in creating Richard Mille’s watches. The tonneau-shaped case is very famous.
The company has been established as one of its main characteristics. The sandwich-style watch case is hard to make and very expensive. It has three curved decks, with a middle section, front and back bezels, and three decks.
Because there are no flat surfaces, machining is very challenging. Additionally, the curved surfaces are perfectly aligned within a hundredth of a millimeter.
This prevents any moisture or dust from entering. This should make you particularly impressed if you are familiar with machining.
Everything is done thinking of the design. So to make the product as comfortable and pleasing to the eye as possible. All the watches are highly technical and finished by hand.
The dial itself, or the absence of one, is very complicated. Richard Mille is also well-known for his skeletonize dials.
It features a detailed layering of sapphire crystals. The other components ensure optimal legibility and viewability of the intricate movements.
One reason why Richard Mille watches are so expensive is due to hand-made watchmaking. As watchmaking of this calibre is very laborious. It requires the highest level of technical professionalism.
Innovative Materials:
The high-tech innovative materials used in Richard Mille watches are as revolutionary and futuristic. as the watches themselves. They are using materials that have never been used in watches before.
These are cutting-edge materials that are as usual found only in racing yachts. Also the aerospace industry, and Formula One automobile. They use revolutionary materials in watchmaking.
To use these materials in their watches, Mille spent many years. Plus, millions of Swiss francs on research and development. The compositions of these metals and materials are novel to watchmaking.
Although it is hip to say that “these watches have special materials.” It is done for a reason: it serves a purpose.
It will become clear when you try on a Richard Mille. Despite their size, Richard Mille watches are very light. They only average 40 grams in weight. It’s like having a credit card on your wrist!
Additionally, these materials add tremendous toughness and endurance to the mix. The construction as a whole is very sturdy, the feel is light, and the patina is stunning.
When you take into account the complexity of the case’s architecture. I discussed it earlier. It becomes even more mind-boggling.
The list of materials goes on and on. The silicon nitride, gold fused with carbon and quartz, carbon nanotubes hardened with ceramic etc.
Moreover, the processes used to make these materials. It results in random patterns in the carbon layers. As a result, no two cases are alike.
Although each Richard Mille watch is unique. They are not identical copies, despite their rarity.
Complicated Movements:
Not only does Richard Mille use cutting-edge materials to build the case, but so does the movement. The Richard Mille team went about watchmaking differently.
Most of the time, the parts of the movement are made of a special alloy. With about 90% grade, 5 titanium, 6% aluminium, and 4% vanadium.
Again, these materials are only used in very high-tech industries. So, they are not used in watchmaking. With regards to the coatings and baseplate.
The PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) or Titalyt, is very long-lasting and resilient. It is used to treat them. The development of this kind of innovation takes many years. Richard Mille’smicroengineers are world-class.
In addition to the materials themselves, the methods of finishing are exquisite. This includes burnished pivots, burnished wheels, satin bridge finishes, hand-polishing, and more.
The execution is of the highest order, resulting in a technical, sporty move that is a joy to watch.
When it came to realizing that contemporary watchmakers want to see a watch’s movement, Richard Mille was a true trailblazer. After all, a mechanical watch’s movement is arguably its most intriguing component.
In addition, Richard Mille is a big fan of tourbillons, a rotating cage that requires a lot of creative finesse to break out of.
They are perfect tourbillons with a comprehensive redesign and high-tech materials. Their tourbillons demonstrate their commitment to advancing Haute’s Horlogerie.
A Richard Mille watch’s movement is intuitive and made to withstand a lot of wear and tear. Richard Mille offers beauty and sophistication in addition to unwavering accuracy, precision, and dependability.
Richard Mille ought to be your choice for an apocalyptic mechanical watch.
Scarcity
As you already know, making a Richard Mille watch takes a lot of time and effort. Handwork is used for most of the work!
But that isn’t the only reason why there aren’t many Richard Mille watches. It comes down to exclusivity as well. It loses some of its mystique if you produce a large number of watches every year.
As a result, Richard Mille only produces fewer than 5,000 watches per year. For such a young brand, that is not exactly a small number, but it does keep things very exclusive.
Every year, there is a lot more demand than there is supply, which keeps people wanting more. This effect is worsened by the fact that many models are produced in limited quantities as well.
The strength of this brand’s value can be seen in the high auction and secondary market prices.
Altogether, scarcity is a very effective marketing strategy. This brings us to our final explanation for the high price of Richard Mille watches.
Amazing Marketing and Status Symbol
Only the richest people wear Richard Mille watches on their wrists. In the watch industry, it has evolved into the pinnacle of wealth expression.
For those who wear Richard Mille’s, they coined the term “Billionaire’s Handshake.”
Richard Mille’s marketing is pure genius. Despite the watches’ impressive design, engineering, and innovation. It may be the primary factor in their ability to ask for such high prices.
They have successfully created a strong sense of exclusivity. If you own a Richard Mille, you are aware that only you can afford one.
You are showing that you have spent a significant amount of money by sporting a Richard Mille. Along with Patek Philippe, which is again a well-known brand. It has emerged as the watch industry’s highest status symbol.
Even more so because people are aware that you paid a lot of money for a Richard Mille. Also, only the wealthiest celebrities wear them.
Plus, Richard Mille watches are much more well-known than some of Patek’s watches. They are more unclear and pricey models.
To put it only, Richard Mille’s name and reputation alone are worth a significant premium. Whether you like watches or not, it’s impressive to know that someone has that much money to spend on one.
Although this is, without doubt, a challenging business model. Richard Mille accomplished it very well.
And if you ask people why it costs so much. They can also point to Richard Mille’s slogan, “A racing machine on the wrist,” as an explanation.
Is the price of a Richard Mille watch justified?
Richard Mille stands out from the crowd. Whether technical complexity, visual finishing, and advanced colourful material use. They are famous for their elitism and for doing things in the watch industry that no one else has done.
Hence, it is irrelevant whether Richard Mille watches should or could be priced lower.
The fact of the matter is that there is nothing comparable to a Richard Mille. Something available for less than its asking price.
The products themselves are also exclusive to the brand. Once more, there is nothing like it anywhere!
Conclusion for Richard Mille
It is up to you to decide whether it is worthwhile. We affirm that it is!
We’ve played with a lot of them. After all, we sell watches by Richard Mille!
We can say that a Richard Mille gives you a special feeling, like how a large sapphire or ruby feels. The cost seems reasonable.
People would have realized by now if it wasn’t. There is no denying that the luxury watch community is intelligent.
Altogether, the value is obvious, so you can buy one for a lot of money and resell it for a lot of money quickly. All that matters is that the market has demonstrated its value.
