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Closely linked to the world of motorsports since its inception in 1999, Richard Mille is one of the few haute horlogerie brands making high-performance watches for racing enthusiasts. It has been the main sponsor and official timekeeper of the Le Mans Classic car rally since 2002 and has also launched special limited edition watches dedicated to this collaboration.
Over the years, Richard Mille has worked with Formula One drivers such as Fernando Alonso, Romain Grosjean and Brazilian racer Felipe Massa, who became the brand’s first celebrity ambassador in 2004. Massa wanted an extremely light watch that could endure the high g-forces on the F1 racetrack and Richard Mille presented him with the RM 006 – weighing just 43 grams, this was one of the lightest tourbillon watches on the market at that time.
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The brand relied on cutting-edge technology and new materials to create a minimalist movement, titanium case, and a carbon nanofibre baseplate. Developed to withstand the violent accelerations and vibrations of an F1 Grand Prix, this was the progenitor of a series of fine watches dedicated to the pursuit of lightness.
Richard Mille’s close ties to the world of motorsports is an extension of its eponymous founder’s passion for classic cars and rallies. He owns some of the most important racing and Formula 1 cars in the world and seeks inspiration from them to create his avant-garde watches. Mille’s close friends include F1 celebrities such as Jean Todt, president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and former CEO of Ferrari, and driver Kimi Räikkönen. Unlike many other watch partnerships, Richard Mille ambassadors don’t just wear their pieces to photo opportunities, but put their watches to the test.
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In 2015, Richard Mille met Viviane Zaniroli, the founder of Rallye des Princesses in Paris, and started sponsoring this unique women-only, classic-car rally that brings together around 90 international participants for a six-day race that emphasises average travel times over a fixed itinerary rather than all-out speed.
This year, the brand sponsored an all-women crew at the first Virtual 24 Hours Le Mans organised in June. Katherine Legge, Tatiana Calderón, Emily Jones and Sophia Flörsch took turns behind the wheel of Richard Mille’s LMP2 Oreca prototype, sporting a bright red livery – identical to the one that will compete in the live race, scheduled for September. All the drivers were seen wearing the Richard Mille RM 07-01.
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The event was organised by FIA’s Women in Motorsports Commission, which evaluated 15 drivers in selecting the final team for Richard Mille. There were 50 mixed teams consisting of SimRacers and renowned drivers from all the FIA championships – Formula 1, Formula E, World Endurance Championship (WEC) – competing against each other.
“We are working very hard to promote women in motorsports from the grass roots level to the uppermost category,” said Michele Mouton, former racing car driver and president of the FIA. “Our common goal [with Richard Mille] was to bring women to the podium at Le Mans, so we started to work together.”
This virtual race was an opportunity for the Richard Mille Racing team and Signatech to test the waters as they prepared for the start of the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) Championship, which began behind closed doors on July 17-19 at the Paul Ricard circuit.
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Although the winner of the first Virtual 24 Hours of Le Mans was Rebellion Williams Esports, the Richard Mille team performed quite well and placed 19th overall in the end, with Jones scoring one of the fastest top 65 laps in the 24th hour in the Le Mans Prototype category. “We wanted to offer fans, who are, as we all know, deprived of their passion, a new and singular event that brought together the worlds of motorsport and online racing,” said Gérard Neveu, CEO of the FIA WEC.
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After years of supporting motorsports, this year Richard Mille sponsored an all-women crew at the first Virtual 24 Hours Le Mans, with Katherine Legge, Tatiana Calderón, Emily Jones and Sophia Flörsch taking turns behind the wheel of a prototype LMP2 Oreca