September 10, 2025 | 05:09 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The watch brand Richard Mille has recently become a hot topic online following the looting at the residence of Indonesian lawmaker Ahmad Sahroni in North Jakarta. On Saturday, August 30, 2025, a Richard Mille RM 40-01 watch, with an estimated value of Rp11 billion, was among the items stolen.
This Swiss brand is popular among the super-rich. Its wearers often make headlines not only for the unique and bold designs but also for the billion-rupiah price tags. Many people wonder why these watches are so expensive and who would buy such a pricey timepiece.
The high price of these watches is due to several factors. Richard Mille spares no effort in creating impressive, intricate, and highly technical products. In the world of watchmaking, the brand operates in what is known as haute horlogerie, or luxury watchmaking. This level of craftsmanship involves avant-garde designs with skeleton dials and movements, along with hand-finished details on even the smallest components. These intricate techniques are combined with advanced technical materials and luxurious designs.
Reasons for the High Price
Alex Mille, the brand's commercial director and son of its founder, explained that a key factor is the time required for development. "We put absolutely no limits in the time that it will take to develop a watch, and when you are doing everything in Switzerland with Swiss people, each day has a cost," he said, as quoted by Gear Patrol.
Switzerland has highly trained watchmaking technicians and craftsmen. As a high-cost country where Richard Mille watches are made, wages for this expertise are not cheap.
Alex Mille also noted that many elements are developed from scratch for each model, rather than building on existing ones, as most manufacturers do.
A watch goes through several prototyping stages because many components have a high rejection rate. These small changes mean production can take another year, so many models are developed over several years. A single tourbillon in a Richard Mille watch can cost millions of dollars.
Additionally, the price includes production costs, finishing touches, and the assembly of hundreds of tiny components that make up each watch, not to mention other factors and costs.
The Brand Factor
However, the price of Richard Mille watches is not merely based on their components and production costs. Every brand sets its prices according to market demand. Alex also invests heavily to ensure his watches are known for being expensive.
The fact that the brand is synonymous with "expensive" and "limited" is highly appealing to many. The brand produces about 5,000 watches per year, and estimates that around 54,000 watches across 140 different models were available in 2022.
Alex Mille himself doesn't wear Richard Mille watches because he prioritizes clients getting them. "We have less than one watch per boutique in stock," he said.
Richard Mille Watch Prices
Richard Mille's retail prices are considered high even among other prestigious Swiss watch brands. The prices of antique and auctioned watches can be even more staggering.
The prices for these watches vary. Many are produced in extremely limited quantities and sell out before they are even officially marketed. Some models have official prices above $1million, or around Rp16.5 billion, and can even reach tens of billions.
Sotheby's lists some of the brand's most expensive watches, including the Richard Mille RM 53-02 Sapphire Tourbillon (2022), which sold for US$4.5 million, or around Rp71 billion, in October 2023. Wrapped almost entirely in blue sapphire crystal, the RM 53-02 required over 1,000 hours of meticulous work.
Other high-priced models include the Richard Mille RM 38-02 Tourbillon Bubba Watson, priced at US$2 million (around Rp33 billion); the RM 56-02 Sapphire Tourbillon, priced at US$1.8 million (around Rp30 billion); the RM 52-05 Pharrell Williams, priced at Rp26 billion; and the RM 27-01 Raphael Nadal Prototype 3, also priced at Rp26 billion.
While Richard Mille is a leader in the segment of expensive watch brands in the world, it is not the only brand producing such high-priced timepieces. Other luxury Swiss watchmakers include Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, Armin Strom, Biver, and Greubel Forsey, all of which are also from Switzerland.
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