As rare as the timepieces themselves, bonds of trust and partnerships keep a family business ticking steadily towards the future
Some daughters inherit jewels. Amanda Mille, however, was born with instinct. This disposition has carried Richard Mille’s brand and partnerships director — heir to the eponymous founder — well beyond the predictable orbit of luxury, sparking collaborations and friendships that might seem unlikely on paper. Chief among them is Christophe Bacquié, the Michelin-starred chef more accustomed to coaxing flavours of the Mediterranean than appearing, whisk in hand, amid vitrines of haute horlogerie on a rainy day. Not that anyone in the room complained — we were the lucky beneficiaries of freshly baked madeleines so delicate they might have startled Marcel Proust, who once immortalised those “deliciously squat, plump cakes” in his opus Remembrance of Things Past.
For a while, even in a boutique devoted to watches, conversations strayed from the mechanical. Writers and enthusiasts, usually quick to parse movements and metals, found themselves enthralled by the dessert’s signature bump — or la bosse in French — and its scalloped shell, which, with a soft snap, revealed molten honey or a tumble of warm fruit jam. Unwittingly, one would reach for two, three or perhaps five of these rosemary-kissed teacakes that vanished almost as soon as they appeared. Pastry chef Keisuke, working alongside Bacquié, drew another tray from the oven — a final indulgence, as if to seal the sugar-filled afternoon and place into memory.
That place, improbably, was the world’s largest Richard Mille flagship on Singapore’s St Martin’s Drive. Outfitted with a fully equipped kitchen (in case you were wondering where those toasty morsels magically emerged from), library, sports bar and a private dining salon, this lifestyle-centric refuge is designed to resemble a summer villa tucked near Orchard Road. Iconoclasts need not always obey the rigid grammar of retail nor the conventional boundaries of their creative crossovers.
“There’s a deep similarity between what we do and what chef Bacquié does. We’re both in fields that demand extreme precision and technique,” says Amanda of the maestro, who once held the prestigious title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France, an honour reserved for the finest craftsmen and artisans across disciplines ranging from gastronomy and metallurgy to agriculture. After earning three Michelin stars, Bacquié and his wife, Alexandra, eventually stepped away from the relentless circuit to open Le Mas Les Eydins, an intimate guest house set in a 19th-century building at the foot of the Petit Luberon in Bonnieux, France.
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“My father has always been passionate about motorsports. He would spend the day at the racetrack behind Hôtel du Castellet, then end it with dinner at chef Bacquié’s restaurant, which served some of the most extraordinary Mediterranean food. Over time — and especially during the launch of the RM 70-01 Tourbillon Alain Prost in 2017 — their conversations sparked a mutual respect for how things are made. Christophe soon became the first chef partner of the brand,” explains Amanda.
“The thing about partnerships is that they always start with a good feeling. We’re never out searching — it’s more about letting life bring the right people along. Yes, we’ve collaborated with big athletes like Rafael Nadal, Felipe Massa and Charles Leclerc, but we also have partners from other worlds, including some who come from a very niche universe. What I admire most about Christophe is that he walked away from fame and took a huge risk to pursue something more human and personal.”
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Her father’s namesake empire was never meant to blend subtly into the Swiss valleys. Born of an insatiable curiosity about science and engineering, Richard Mille watches arrived like shockwaves: bold, unapologetically modern machines that refused to lean on heritage — real or imagined — as a claim to legitimacy. In 2014, Amanda traded her career in hospitality and services for her family’s atelier, bringing a fluency in relationships that would help reshape the brand’s discourse with female clients in the Middle East. During her three years in Dubai, Richard Mille claimed a strong increase in market share among conservative clientele. She returned to Paris in 2018 to expand a network of partners and spearhead a women-centric motorsport initiative. Under her guidance, the Richard Mille Racing Team entered the LMP2 class with an all-female crew — a bold experiment in the European Le Mans Series before the team later competed in the World Endurance Championship under mixed line-ups.
“When I was called back to Paris, I told the committee we might have too many partners. How could they expect me to take care of everyone when there are only 24 hours in a day?” she recalls of the megawatt roster that included Jamaican sprinter Yohan Blake, cinematic titan Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh and professional golfer Bubba Watson. “But a few months later, I found myself adding more names to the list — and everyone just laughed, like, ‘Aha!’
“So again, that’s the beauty of connections. There’s no checklist. Whole new universes have opened up to us. For example, our landmark collaboration with New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), which shares our passion for pushing the boundaries of creativity, allows us to explore the intersection of art, technology and design in new and exciting ways.” Richard Mille supported the evolving display of the museum’s contemporary collection and the experimental programmes in the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio, including backing the highly anticipated return of Christian Marclay’s The Clock — a 24-hour cinematic montage of watches and clocks, in which time becomes art itself.
Heir of confidence
Everybody loves a tale of renewal in a business succession: the son who modernises, the daughter who globalises, the prodigal sibling who returns to steer the ship. But not every family dynasty requires upheaval. What we interpret as daring transformation is often a careful recalibration — a tightening of screws rather than drafting up new architecture. Continuity, after all, can be as radical as change.
“We never grew up with the heavy expectation that we would one day take over and, for a long time, it wasn’t even something my father or we imagined,” says Amanda, who, despite being the eldest, was not burdened with the duty of assuming the mantle.
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Her younger brother, Alexandre — inspired by the works of Stanley Kubrick — studied film and the arts before eventually joining the company, where he now serves as brand director.
“Life simply brought us here, and we’re happy because we know we’re doing it for the right reasons. That matters, especially when you bear a well-known family name — you can only do a good job if you’re here out of genuine passion and pleasure. Today, I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else. It makes me proud to see what’s been created and to be part of continuing that story. Of course, it comes with pressure, because you want to make sure you respect what has already been built while carrying it forward.”
Having once led the charge of invention, the patriarch of the house now lets the next generation add their voices to the chorus of ideas, which have always lifted the brand’s direction above the din of tradition. For Amanda, the transition was never a foregone conclusion.
“When my father said he was retiring, I think none of us believed it. He really let go, and said he was so proud and happy with what we’re doing he doesn’t need to be around. He’s still keeping himself busy as president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Endurance Commission but we know he’ll always be there if we need him. There are moments when we want to make sure the decisions we make aren’t going against his vision, even though we know it by heart. Ultimately, the brand carries his name not by chance but because what he created is who he is.”
In steady hands
At Richard Mille, intuition remains the compass. The philosophy is disarmingly simple: If the work ever ceases to be fun, it is time to ask the difficult questions. Each month in Switzerland, during the ritual of committee sessions and research meetings, the mood is less corporate than playful. “Honestly, if someone saw us working that way, they’d think we’re crazy,” Amanda admits with a laugh.
That sense of mischief, paired with rigour, seeps into the watches themselves: technical marvels that never lose their spark of wonder. Customers recognise this duality — machines of breathtaking sophistication developed by a maison that refuses to take itself too seriously. Yet, behind the levity lies discipline: a refusal to take for granted what has been achieved. It is this balance that keeps the pipeline of launches stretching confidently towards 2030.
Yet, even for a house propelled by ingenuity, the wider landscape is shifting. The storied hills of Swiss horology are under gathering clouds. According to Morgan Stanley and LuxeConsult’s annual report, the overall market contracted in 2024, with export value slipping nearly 3%, even as the very top tier held firm. The “Big Four” independents — Rolex, Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet and Richard Mille — now command almost half of the market, their dominance growing as many others falter. In this climate of thinning volumes and squeezed margins, survival depends less on craft than conviction. There is mounting fear that some of watchmaking’s quieter names may not endure without reinvention.
“We’re fortunate. Don’t get me wrong — anything can happen and, who knows, tomorrow can be a hard day for us. But I also think that it’s not only the way we design our watches that matters but also the relationships we’ve built around the brand. We saw it even more clearly during Covid: The respect and trust we’ve shown to our clients, and vice versa, have created a bond that feels like family. In a world where everything is too often reduced to transactions — what you can give me or we can get out of you — we’ve tried to cultivate loyalty built on sincerity. I was so touched that many friends called us to find out whether we were doing okay.
“Also, our small scale helps. We don’t have warehouses of stock to clear and our production is so complex it could never be mass. That gives us the freedom to keep creating, let some models go or make room for new ones. It’s just life itself — endings and beginnings, each giving way to the other.”
The horology powerhouse is not without missteps but its stewards have shown an unusual ability to turn frustration into fuel. When the tonneau-shaped RM 016 debuted, the market resisted a design its founder adored, leaving him “momentarily disheartened”. Similarly, early efforts in the women’s segment met with muted response, a reminder that the maison, conceived with a testosterone-charged mindset of mechanical jewellery for men, needed to widen its horizons. That said, these moments became lessons rather than defeat. Instead of blaming an unreceptive clientele, the brand looked inward, asking what it could refine, how it might communicate more clearly and whether the world simply needed time to catch up with its ideas.
Amanda stresses that resilience comes with a responsibility to repay the industry in kind. “At the beginning, some people trusted our vision when no one else did,” she recalls of her father’s first appearance at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (now Watches and Wonders) without even a booth, holding out a watch so radical that people scoffed.
“No one would buy a watch that expensive without a single diamond on it.” Those early doubts make the present all the more poignant: Richard Mille’s legacy, she believes, will be measured not only in groundbreaking tickers but also in the way generosity becomes part of the mechanism. “What’s the point of luxury if we cannot give back and do a bit of good?” she muses.
House proud
Richard Mille rewrites retail with a lifestyle-centric boutique designed for discovery
At the centre of Richard Mille’s Singapore flagship on St Martin’s Drive stands an olive tree that never knew soil but seems to breathe with permanence. Conceived by French artist William Amor, the sculpture is composed of hundreds of discarded plastic bottles — sterilised, dyed and hand-engraved into shimmering leaves — while its trunk and branches are fashioned from reclaimed pine and fallen wood. More than a striking centrepiece, it embodies friendship, loyalty and peace, gesturing towards the South of France so deeply woven into the brand’s identity.
Three years in the making, the 700 sq m space is designed to welcome friends, clients and the simply curious into a setting that blurs retail and hospitality. Its façade conceals a world of surprises in the manner of a speakeasy: libraries lined with art and design books, a Moroccan-inspired patio, a sports bar filled with signed memorabilia, and even a hidden vault door leading to a second library. At the heart of it lies the crafting area, where skilled watchmakers not only service timepieces but, more evocatively, dismantle them piece by piece to reveal just how intricate and painstaking each creation truly is.
To bring the boutique to life, nearly 30 specialist artisans pooled their expertise across disciplines, working with some 250 materials, ranging from leather and wood to metal, stone and glass — each carefully chosen for visual harmony. Richard Mille brand and partnerships director Amanda Mille sums up the essence of this horological haven: “Why build a vast boutique just to show off its size? My brother and I began brainstorming, and the ideas grew from there. We asked ourselves, ‘What’s the one thing people have never truly seen from the brand?’ That question became the spirit of this place. It reflects who we are, sharing not just watches but also wine, food, culture and the arts.”
