Editor’s Note
A Richard Mille skeleton tourbillon watch has fetched over a quarter of a million pounds at auction in Geneva, underscoring the enduring high value of exceptional craftsmanship and complex engineering in luxury timepieces.
A 2021 watch by Richard Mille has sold for over a quarter of a million pounds at an auction in Geneva.
The Richard Mille Ref. RM17-01, a titanium tourbillon wristwatch with power reserve, function indicator, warranty, and presentation box, was sold for CHF 304,800 (approximately £266,000) on Wednesday at the Phillips Geneva Sessions.
The model featured Mille’s trademark skeleton look, displaying its ultrafine internal workings.
The watch was the most valuable item in the sale, selling comfortably within its CHF 200,000 to CHF 400,000 estimate range.
High-value watches continue to sell well, and 10 items in this sale – one of the standout events of the season – made around £100,000. Watches by Audemars Piguet, F.P. Journe, A. Lange & Söhne, Patek Philippe, and Jaeger-LeCoultre all sold for over CHF 100,000 (approximately £87,000).
Estimates for the top end of the sale proved largely accurate. However, an F.P. Journe 2018 Chronomètre Bleu sold for CHF 101,600 (£89,000) against a top estimate of CHF 80,000 (£70,000).
Richard Mille watches are expensive off the shelf, and, with a production of around 5,000 a year, extremely hard to come by.
They are renowned for their innovative use of space-age materials and unusual design. The company partners with some of the top sports stars in the world, including F1 drivers, and insists they wear their watches while they compete to show they are lightweight and strong enough for the most demanding uses.
The most expensive Mille ever sold at auction was the RM 52-01 Skull Tourbillon “Vanitas Vanitatum” that made $5.7 million at a sale in Monaco in 2020.