m
M a n u fac t u r e
THE
By Nitin Shankar
ULTIMATE IN
RM 50 27-01
CASE MANUFACTURING
Richard Mille’s ProArt watch
case manufacturing plant is
unlike any other in the world.
A
visit to the Richard Mille ProArt watch case manufacturing plant is the best way of understanding what it
takes to create a top-end luxury brand.
On the face of it, the ultra-modern plant, located in
Les Breuleux, a village amidst the beauty and solitude of the Swiss
Jura landscape, conforms to Swiss manufacturing standards where
everything is excessively clean and well organized. After a plant
tour, I understood the rationale for a Richard Mille factory engaged
in producing watch cases, bridges and other components in small
quantities – a facility unlike any other in Switzerland.
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Wristwatch | 2016
RICHARD MILLE ORGANIZATION
The Richard Mille production organization, which includes the
ProArt plant, consists of a hub of suppliers, often held together by
co-ownerships. Other companies in this ‘designated supplier’ group
are Horometrie SA, Valgine SA and Audemars Piguet Renaud &
Papi SA (APR&P). Each of these entities has special skills in a
specific area of the production process.
While ProArt crafts all Richard Mille cases, APR&P supplies
the complications and Vaucher Manufacture Fleurier supplies automatic movements. However this is in flux at the moment as Richard
Mille has introduced a few in-house designed automatic calibers the
last two years, and have started producing some parts for these new
calibers in-house.
When I first visited the APR&P assembly line ten years ago, I
picked up a Richard Mille RM 001 manual winding Tourbillon. For