Friends from Place Vendome

Early in 2006, with the 150th Anniversary of Boucheron around the corner, Richard and a former neighbour and friend on Place Vendome: Jean-Christophe Bedos (CEO of Boucheron) decided on a collaborative venture. To create a unique watch, a watch of substance, and yet a simple jeweled mechanism. I asked Jean-Christophe why Richard? And likewise, I asked Richard, why now, why for the Boucheron anniversary? Even before founding Richard Mille watches, while CEO at Mauboussin, Richard had played around with the idea of creating a watch using precious or semi-precious stones.



Jean-Christophe answered: “…it is because we were friends before that we decided to work on something unique together. Richard decided to use Boucheron's 150th Anniversary celebrations as an opportunity to create the RM018: a jewelled watch with all the stones inside, and no stone set outside".

For Richard, he decided to use the ideas he had fostered for some time simply out of friendship; for his friend Jean-Christophe. Richard wanted to create osmosis between the skills of the jeweler and the skills of haute horologie. And this is what has been accomplished with this truly unique watch. The RM018 is a watch as a jewel and a jewel of a watch. Hold a jewel to the light, and look deeply into the gem, and the colour, fissures, edges, and clarity all become apparent. The characteristics of the jewel change in the light of the day, each time it is held to the light, each time we gaze into the heart of the gem. So it is with the RM018.

I was allowed unprecedented access to some of the research around the RM018 and below is a look at the devotion to achieving the near impossible.