Richard Mille, I don't get it
Discussion
They used to advertise in a magazine that I've been involved with at times over the years, and one of our production staff phoned them up to tell them that they'd missed a decimal out of the price on the advertisement. He was genuinely trying to be helpful, and fortunately they had a sense of humour over it, but the watch was EUR 400,000 and he'd assumed it should have been 4000.00 
.
I was never a huge fan as the styling isn't really my thing, but I had a chance to handle one a couple of years back and it really is a staggeringly well made and innovative piece in the flesh. Very light, superbly well finished and detailed and you are very much left with the impression that a huge amount of work has gone into conceiving and executing the design.
It'd be after a lot of other stuff on my list, but I think I'd probably find room in my safe for one.
.I was never a huge fan as the styling isn't really my thing, but I had a chance to handle one a couple of years back and it really is a staggeringly well made and innovative piece in the flesh. Very light, superbly well finished and detailed and you are very much left with the impression that a huge amount of work has gone into conceiving and executing the design.
It'd be after a lot of other stuff on my list, but I think I'd probably find room in my safe for one.
okgo said:
WhAt does an rm005 cost? Why has he mot posted pics!! I'd love to see that. Desolate is the chap with the Bristol isn't he?
They go for around $20K mint but second hand. Not too bad when the £ was at very nearly 2 to 1 with the dollar.
Mine is titanium and is very nice, although the straps are stupidly expensive and don't last.
I've had mine about 18 months and love it - easily the most comfortable watch I have ever worn. The RM010 is marginally bigger than the RM005, but still reasonable and looks a bit nicer as the movement is more skeletonised, but not nice/different enough to spend a few extra K to change.
Love it . . . want one.
Just love the date wheel on the outside of the dial .. .
How about one of these . . . made by a guy who owns a Griffith. Gotta love the irony of precision and elegance 'v' blackpool shed engineering
www.mbandf.com
Just love the date wheel on the outside of the dial .. .
How about one of these . . . made by a guy who owns a Griffith. Gotta love the irony of precision and elegance 'v' blackpool shed engineering
www.mbandf.com
Johno said:
How about one of these . . . made by a guy who owns a Griffith. Gotta love the irony of precision and elegance 'v' blackpool shed engineering
www.mbandf.com
Don't these things make the list pricing of an RM look like pocket money by comparison?www.mbandf.com
Strangely, I am, as far as watches are concerned, going downmarket these days. I've had my share of good watches and still have an IWC Spitfire chrono, but frankly I get more enjoyment out of the Monster these days because it is just such good value for money. It tells the time accurately to a minute a month, is an in-house mechanism (which the IWC isn't) is waterproof and has great lume. But on the subject of Richard Mille his watches are a tour de force as far as technology is concerned which is why they are so expensive. If you won the lottery then why not if it gives you pleasure? It wouldn't be me but I can understand why people do like them - unless it is just to ostentatiously show their wealth.
desolate said:
They go for around $20K mint but second hand. Not too bad when the £ was at very nearly 2 to 1 with the dollar.
Mine is titanium and is very nice, although the straps are stupidly expensive and don't last.
I've had mine about 18 months and love it - easily the most comfortable watch I have ever worn. The RM010 is marginally bigger than the RM005, but still reasonable and looks a bit nicer as the movement is more skeletonised, but not nice/different enough to spend a few extra K to change.
It's a bit above my current budget but if business is good this year and sterling strengthens against everyone else then I see no reason why I couldn't eventually (with a couple of years' saving) get $20k together. I've got a few watches to sell as well.
However, if it's as big as the jumbo Franck Muller tonneau cases (e.g. the 'Chocolate' like my cousin owns) then it'll be too big for my wrist and painfully conspicuous. And I don't want expensive kit being conspicuous. The Italian chap in Courmayeur I spotted wearing one whilst having lunch in the sun last Easter made it look very large... but I couldn't tell which model it was. His wife, as is the Italian fashion, was sporting a men's steel sports Rolex (a Sub, IIRC, but all the Italian women there for the 'parade' rather than the skiing were wearing men's Rolexes for some reason). The RM the bloke was wearing was substantially larger and also much taller on the wrist.
I know the models with complications (like the chronographs Felipe Massa is seen wearing) are bigger than the RM005, and Massa is a small chap but the watch looks enormous on his wrist.
The trouble with Richard Mille is that it'd be a bit of a mission for me to actually idly try one on for size. Firstly, I can't think off the top of my head who sells them second hand (the lads at SWC who I've dealt with repeatedly in the past *did* have one once, I think, but they're not common), and I don't think the Bond St posh shops would let me in
I was in Paris a couple of months ago and had a good browse around the second hand watch shops between the Madeleine church and the Place de la Concorde - some nice Breguets caught my eye but virtually all 'classic' stuff - no 'modern' haute horlogerie around...
Also - your comment about the strap worries me - it doesn't look particularly good from your photos (whilst the watch looks awesome) and if they don't last *and* are priced insultingly high, then may be a problem - I'm assuming that the special case construction forbids aftermarket straps?
Can you give me an idea of size in comparison with more common watches that I'm more likely to have tried / seen??
It is certainly not a large watch - neither is the RM010.
I am unsure about the exact measurements, but it "wears" smaller than a sub or a sea dweller and significantly smaller than an IWC Ingenieur 44mm. Worn with most of the straps available it is very understated. The croc is a bit shiny.
The VV expensive/complicated watches are SIGNIFICANTLY larger - I would say that the RM005 would be classed as a "small" watch by current standards.
I am sure if you walked into to Marcus on Bond Street they would show you an RM 010, they are actually quite friendly - and I have only ever bought straps from them.
MY wife wears it as her "night out" watch and one I thing I would say is that it is very much a "stealth" watch when worn.
I am unsure about the exact measurements, but it "wears" smaller than a sub or a sea dweller and significantly smaller than an IWC Ingenieur 44mm. Worn with most of the straps available it is very understated. The croc is a bit shiny.
The VV expensive/complicated watches are SIGNIFICANTLY larger - I would say that the RM005 would be classed as a "small" watch by current standards.
I am sure if you walked into to Marcus on Bond Street they would show you an RM 010, they are actually quite friendly - and I have only ever bought straps from them.
MY wife wears it as her "night out" watch and one I thing I would say is that it is very much a "stealth" watch when worn.
desolate said:
It is certainly not a large watch - neither is the RM010.
I am unsure about the exact measurements, but it "wears" smaller than a sub or a sea dweller and significantly smaller than an IWC Ingenieur 44mm. Worn with most of the straps available it is very understated. The croc is a bit shiny.
The VV expensive/complicated watches are SIGNIFICANTLY larger - I would say that the RM005 would be classed as a "small" watch by current standards.
I am sure if you walked into to Marcus on Bond Street they would show you an RM 010, they are actually quite friendly - and I have only ever bought straps from them.
MY wife wears it as her "night out" watch and one I thing I would say is that it is very much a "stealth" watch when worn.
If it wears smaller than a sub or sea dweller (both of which I've owned) then game on. And there was I, thinking my JLC (when it *finally* gets repaired I am unsure about the exact measurements, but it "wears" smaller than a sub or a sea dweller and significantly smaller than an IWC Ingenieur 44mm. Worn with most of the straps available it is very understated. The croc is a bit shiny.
The VV expensive/complicated watches are SIGNIFICANTLY larger - I would say that the RM005 would be classed as a "small" watch by current standards.
I am sure if you walked into to Marcus on Bond Street they would show you an RM 010, they are actually quite friendly - and I have only ever bought straps from them.
MY wife wears it as her "night out" watch and one I thing I would say is that it is very much a "stealth" watch when worn.
) would satiate my watch-lust... 
Thanks for the info though.
Given the shape, which naturally wears smaller (like the smaller FM Curvex models), if it's 'small' by modern standards then on my thin wrists it'd be ideal...A trip to Marcus may be in order - perhaps they'll let me in if I'm wearing the Breguet or JLC
But I know I won't be buying a new one, and really will be looking for a nice used RM005, so I always feel a bit of a fraud going to shops knowing that I'm just a 'tyre-kicker'... perhaps I'll have to put my morals back in the box for this one, as I'd *love* to try one on and see whether I like it as much as I do in pictures...It'll take me long enough to be in a position financially to acquire one for a few to appear on the market, I'd have thought - do you know how many 'stealth' RM005s were made? By this I mean titanium or steel, anything but gold
I've got an RM11 Felipe Massa - I bought it lasy year when no one was buying anything. I got it for nearly half price! Cost me 40k, that is alot but I reckon I would get back at least that and probably more.
It is a gorgeous watch, the only thing I would say though is that the crown feels a bit flimsy. Apparently they all do.
It is a gorgeous watch, the only thing I would say though is that the crown feels a bit flimsy. Apparently they all do.
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