It’s well known that the miniature mechanical wonders Richard Mille creates are dubbed racing machines on the wrist. At this luxury watchmaker, the racing spirit is perfectly echoed by its obsession with technical ingenuity and innovation. The never-ending quest for ever lighter, sturdier high-performance materials for instance; or the design of horological features like function selectors, rapid-wind barrels, and variable-geometry rotors that mirror high-octane pistons, camshafts and spark plugs.
Masculine as it might seem on the surface, motor sport has seen a recent surge in popularity and found fans of all genders and ages. Call it prescience, perhaps, that as early as 20 years ago Richard Mille had already brought women into the fold. Its first ladies’ watch, the RM 007, was designed expressly with the same dedication to technical perfection as any of the brand’s other men’s models.
The feminine distinction, of course, was a new dimension of beauty expressed in gem-set designs. That set a path for the brand to combine glamour—through diamonds, sapphires and much more—with all the sporting, technical and innovative qualities that mark a Richard Mille timepiece. Women’s watches are treated, in a sense, with simultaneously equal but different care and obsessiveness.
Take the RM 07-01 Automatic Starry Night, pictured above, for example. When designing this model, the watchmaker opted only to use one of its star materials: super-light and high-strength carbon TPT, a composite of stacked carbon fibre layers. The brand fashioned a case out of this material with its fine damascene pattern, and a matching bracelet that weighs just 29 grams. Because carbon TPT is so hard, Richard Mille had to develop a novel way and use special machines to set diamonds in the material. Its 181 diamonds are set with gold prongs in an arrangement that nods to the heavenly bodies and the twinkle of constellations.
This love of women and beauty plays out in two key events that the brand supports: the biennial Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille, and the yearly Rallye des Princesses. Both are dedicated to women and cars, and these events can be seen as in-person extensions of the Richard Mille feminine universe.
The Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille is an elegant affair. It is held on the grounds of Château de Chantilly, a historic Renaissance-style castle estate that’s said to be one of France’s finest. Here in the French countryside, guests are invited to rallies, showcases that pair couture and supercars, and a concours d’état where collectors of exceptional automobiles vie, on grounds of beauty, to win best in show. The objective here is not lap times or speed—rather, rarity and aesthetics from pre-war classics to futuristic concept cars. Culminating in a garden party at Château de Chantilly’s Le Nôtre gardens, the weekend is designed to be a perfectly elegant experience for car lovers.
Rallye des Princesses, meanwhile, is a more driven pursuit. One of the world’s very few women-only motorsport events, it nonetheless puts a twist on the challenge. Instead of speed and making it first, the rally is judged by consistency and being able to keep to an ideal speed—no need to be faster than necessary—and enjoying the drive above all.
The rally is designed to start from Paris and end in the French Riviera, with close to 1,800km of scenic roads chosen for their splendour and visual interest. The 2026 edition starts first in the glitzy Place Vendôme square in Paris, then picturesque Troyes, the resort and spa town of Vichy, the thermal spa haven of Aix-les-Bains, the historical ‘French-Roman’ city of Nîmes, and finally the glamorous coastal jewel that is Saint-Tropez. The principle, it appears, is that though race cars and automobiles may be built for speed, the pleasure of driving them ought not to be forgotten.
From Paris to the Riviera, it’s easy to imagine charmed journeys happening with a timepiece that wears both sportiness and absolute glamour in equal measure. One of the more dazzling embodiments of Richard Mille’s bold elegance is the RM 07-01 with baguette setting. This model is crafted in white gold and features baguette-set diamond pavé on its tonneau-silhouette case and dial. The design is both outrageously luxurious yet subdued, creating a tone-on-tone look that is emphasised by a dark anthracite finish on its openworked and skeletonised Calibre CRMA2 movement. Crafted with Grade 5 titanium baseplate and bridges, this in-house automatic movement is rated for approximately 50 hours of power and beats with a rhythm of 28,800 vibrations per hour. A powerful engine inside and a work of beauty on the outside. Now, was it a watch or a car again?
The October 2026 ‘Artisanal’ issue of Vogue Singapore is available online and on newsstands.
