Hublot Big Bang Steel White 41mm Dial White Automati Ladies Watch 342.SE.230.RW.174

Daniel Feau - Le Magazine
How did the RM saga start?
RM: At first I worked for various watch brands from Matra to Yema to the Mauboussin brothers on Place Vendôme. I already knew Laurent Picciotto then. He's a big name, recognised worldwide for his outstanding knowledge of luxury watches. Laurent only makes commitments when he wants to. He's a "mercenary" in the trade but everybody in the profession respects him. Laurent has taken risks and built up an international clientele that knows he can offer them models and advice they won't fi nd anyplace else. We began having casual chats about a future watch model I was vaguely starting to think about and that gradually took shape over the course of several work sessions. Then we decided to start an adventure together and create the watch we argued over so much.

LP: When Richard came to see me to say he was going to set up his brand, I told him he was crazy and that it wouldn't work unless he created a brand that would go beyond anything that exists, with a goal of genuine excellence. He replied that was exactly what he had in mind. His idea was to create a drastically different tourbillon right from the start. That's how it all started. Our approach was very different from the directions usually taken in watchmaking. We started working on the RM 001 in my "cellar office".
When Richard went to see R&P and explained what he wanted to do, they liked the idea right away because they saw it as a particularly exciting, incredible technical challenge enabling them to work on an extraordinary object without setting aside their watchmaking ingenuity, know-how and creativity. There was no turning back.
The watch was dazzling but extremely expensive compared to market prices, but turning back would have been a compromise. Nothing would have been less effective for an exceptional object.
RM: Coming up with a reasonable business plan was the next step.

LP: We had 250 promises to buy on our first day in Geneva. That was due to the piece's excellence and specialness. We delivered 43 watches the fi rst year.
 
Could you define a typical RM customer?
RM: Somebody who already knows watches and is clearly looking for something different.
LP: Just as people don't buy a racecar when purchasing their fi rst automobile, they don't buy an RM as their fi rst watch. It's a timepiece for mature buyers. When customers "test drive" an RM it's hard for them to turn back. Some people have almost the whole collection.
Customers don't come to see me for a lecture course. It's more like recess and I feel like a toy salesman.
There's a rumour going around that you're planning to sell RM.
RM: I've always felt that having fun is the most important thing. I like my close bond with Laurent and with my friend and partner Dominique. Our state of mind is the same as it was in the beginning, a thousand miles away from working sessions and endless meetings. We take our time. Our collaboration is a melting pot of ideas mixing technique and architecture, even though everything is normalised later of course. Very few models eventually come out. I don't notice the time fl ying by.
What is your position on the sale of your watches on the second market (series limited to 50 pieces)?
RM: I've made 7,000 watches since 2000. And few are on the market even during this economic slump.
LP: The RM 009 has never been sold at auctions or by vendors; otherwise I would've bought one!
RM: Most of our customers buy art works. The "Mille" has a real artistic dimension.
LP: Not all brands can claim the aesthetic aspect. For many, marketing predominates, but that does not stir up much emotion.
Why is there a RM 010 Black?Together: "Men in black!"
RM: The 30 RM 011 Black Chronopassion Felipe Massa timepieces have been very successful.
LP: We thought we'd be creating a very special piece by making a black RM 010 with a blue superluminova index and hands. When I saw the prototype I said to myself "I want one!"
RM: I am Laurent's slave. Whatever he says goes! This watch is a three-dimensional piece. Black is the most becoming colour for it. The satiny finish, micro-trim, layering effects with different tones, everything is as subtle as in "haute couture". The rotor is a marvel of tints; all the materials are different, gold, titanium...

What led you to choose Chronopassion as the point of sale?
RM: Real luxury is working with people you like!
LP: I develop limited series with several brands but three or four years ago we viewed the issue from a political angle. The only two times this process was zapped was with Jean Claude Biver for Hublot and Richard Mille. Everything was fast, wild and instinctive.
RM: Laurent is a rebel! We went very fast, but small is beautiful! If we like something we dive in headfi rst. Independence is what gives us that strength.
LP: That's the benefit of "small is beautiful". You have to work and have fun at the same time. In a world that has become impersonal, the ideal situation would be the brand's owner becoming partners with the retailer.
RM: Any other brand would have said "we have a boutique on Place Vendôme, why do that with LP?"
LP: We don't deny that dimension, on the contrary! I thank Richard for clarifying that point. Construction depends on a community of partners, ambassadors.
RM: Missionaries!
An advertisement showing the maker and the retailer? The "Mille Bravos" slogan?
RM: Laurent mentioned the idea and it took me three seconds to say yes. I would have been bored working on this project with anybody else. I feel proud and honoured that he did it with me.
LP: "Mille Bravos" laid the groundwork and enabled others to create their watchmaking businesses. Thanks to Mille because we work and enjoy ourselves at the same time. 
Knowing your interest in the topic, what's your defi nition of marketing for RM?
RM: The absence of marketing! When I started I should have done a market study but instead I made a list of "pros" and "cons". The result was a page of "cons" and three lines of "pros". The deliberate decision to forego marketing has become an asset.
LP: Non-marketing has become marketing!
RM: The anti-marketing approach is a clinical promise with clinical elements and three parts: the most innovative technology; the best architecture with an artistic dimension; the best of watchmaking culture. Unlike many brands, everything is done by hand.
LP: Cost is in last place, unlike with conventional watchmakers.
RM: Price has become an essential sales component, but not out of provocation! At fi rst I had to argue with the advertising agency to let the ads show the price. I'm actually at war with the idea of perceived value. Let's take the example of the 29-gram aluminiumsilicon- carbon (ALUSIC) RM 009, which was the total opposite of everything that had been done until then. As inconceivable as it might seem, the price was inversely proportional to the weight.
LP: The materials matter as much as watchmaking know-how. And yet creating a watch like this would have given even NASA a headache.

Do you think your career might inspire people seeking the same success?

LP: Richard Mille has enabled brands such as Urwerk, Max Busser and Bethune to emerge and young people like Lionel Ladoire to have self-confi dence, break out of the watchmaking straightjacket and design and make watches in a different way.
RM: The guardians of the temple would have burnt me at the stake at the time!
LP: Nobody acknowledges RM's work today but many people aren't sincere. They take the easy way out.
RM: I did what others didn't want to do. But you can't make people happy against their will.
LP: "Mille Bravos.