How Richard Mille Built a Billion-Dollar Brand From Scratch
Richard Mille watches can cost over $1 million and survive 14,000 Gs of force. Today's newsletter explains how the brand used scarcity and elite athletes to outperform Rolex and Patek Philippe.
When I was in Austin, Texas, last year for the Formula 1 race, I had dinner with an executive from one of the world’s most successful luxury car companies. We talked about many different topics, but at one point, he made an offhand comment that I often think about. He said that Richard Mille is one of the only non-heritage luxury car or watch manufacturers to garner mainstream attention over the last two decades.
The comment caught me off guard because surely it couldn’t be true, right? Well, think about it. Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Omega, and Rolex were all founded in the 1800s or early 1900s. The same can be said for luxury cars. Mercedes-Benz, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce, and Bentley were producing cars well before you or I were born.
Brands like De Bethune, F.P. Journe, and Pagani have made some noise over the years, but the average person can’t pronounce their name, much less tell you what they do.
This is a credit to Richard Mille. In just over two decades, the Swiss luxury watch company has done what many considered impossible, establishing a new ultra-luxury watch brand that commands both industry respect and extraordinary price points.
You may think the watches are ugly or ridiculously overpriced, but you have to respect what Richard Mille has accomplished. The brand has rewritten the playbook, pairing an unrelenting approach to quality with artificial scarcity and aspirational marketing.
World-famous athletes like Rafael Nadal wear Richard Mille watches while competing, and the brand’s profit margins have become the envy of the watch world.