The smell of hot oils and hot metals lingers as baseplates and bridges are taking shape in the latest generation of CNC machines that work 24/7, with huffing and puffing sounds worthy of a wolf trying to blow a house down. The spick-and-span robot-controlled industrial halls of the Richard Mille manufacture in Les Breuleux in the Jura Mountains are a stark contrast to the exterior of bell-wearing cows peacefully grazing in the surrounding fields.
Rue du Success is the suitable address of the manufacture – what word could better describe the joint journey of Richard Mille and Dominique Guenat, who released the first Richard Mille watch in 2001? When launched, the world had never seen a watch like RM 001: Tonneau-shaped, high-tech materials, extreme resilience. To prove the latter, Richard Mille himself hurled the tourbillon watch on the concrete floor at Baselworld. And it worked. Given its stratospheric development and production cost, the watch came with an astronomical price tag. But the watch world couldn’t care less. Confirmed orders came in the hundreds, and the rest is history. Fast forward 25 years, and 140 models have been made – more than half of them in this anthracite-coloured building that was the first building in the canton of Jura to be given the top sustainability status of Minergie. This is also where watches are designed, conceived, and rigorously put through 120 tests that seem to come from a torture chamber manual. They include being hammered with a club, having its crown stem wound as it would over many years of use, being shaken 144’000 times in heavy-duty boxes, water boarding, sorry waterproofing, and much more. The test phase alone can take years – proof that the brand leaves no stone unturned in its quest to create such durability.
In 2024, 55% of the 5’900 Richard Mille watches were made here in Les Breuleux. This includes the new RM 16-02 Terracotta and the RM 67-02 worn by top athletes, including Tour de France-winner Tadej Pogačar.
Another 40% were made by Vaucher, including the round RM 33-02. The remaining 5% are made by Audemars Piguet Le Locle. Do note that the watches or calibres made by suppliers are proprietary to the brand.
The modern manufacture in Les Breuleux has roots back to the 19th century, when Dominique Guenat’s grandfather took over the watch factory in 1900. One hundred and twenty-five years later it has gone a long way from assembling nickel and silver pocket watches to having 15 CNC machines making most components using titanium and ultra-technical materials. After the CNC treatment the majority of parts are finished by hand using traditional techniques like mirror polishing, bevelling, and satinage. But it depends on the material. For instance, materials like Carbon TPT®, carbon nano fibre or Titacarb® come out in perfect form from the machining process. However, a material like titanium or ARCAP® used for bridges will benefit visually by being painstakingly brushed and polished by hand.
But even though the manufacture makes 80% of the parts, the brands also work with partners, similar to Formula 1 teams that rely on suppliers and partners based on the best professionals available.
Twenty-five years on, the company has become an important local employer. Of its 250 employees, 52% of them live in the surrounding Franches Montagne with less than a 15-minute drive to work. A way of keeping that stability for the locals is by keeping it in the family – the company is not for sale. Richard Mille himself could today be described as an active retiree, and in recent years the company has been led by the next generation of the two friends who started collaborating at the dawn of the millennium. Amanda Mille is Brand and Partnership Director, Cécile Guenat is Creation and Development Director, while their siblings Alexandre Mille and Maxime Guenat hold the titles of Commercial Director and Manufacture General Director respectively. The cows in Les Breuleux can keep calmly grazing – their huffing and puffing neighbour continues will keep making watches the world has never seen.
