Closed | Important watches – Saturday 16 May 2015

In the end of the 1990s, Richard Mille, who by then had 25 years experience from the watch industry, decided to start his own brand. This took relatively long time since he was very fond of using advanced technique and he was inspired by both the aviation and car industry. Mille also used materials and methods that the watch industry hadn’t seen before. The first ever Richard Mille watch, a very exquisite and sophisticated object, was presented in Les Breuleux, Switzerland, in June 2001.

Like many other designers, Richard Mille has been strongly influenced by Formula 1, both when it comes to function and technical solutions. One of the Richard Mille ambassadors is the Brazilian F1-star Felipe Massa, who during qualifying to the Hungarian Grand Prix 2009 was hit in the head by a spring that had loosened from competitor Rubens Barrichello’s Brawn GP. The Ferrari driver Massa was immediately hit unconscious, went of the track and crashed at high speed. The accident left him with a concussion and one eyebrow was cut open by the crushed helmet. He was also forced to rest from racing for quite some time.

The Richard Mille watch that Felipe Massa was wearing during the bizarre accident fared well without as much as a scratch though.