SPECIAL ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
51 — WATCH YOUR TIME USA — FOCUS
Sweet treats Richard Mille’s Bonbon watches are, quite literally, wrist candy. The collection, a huge surprise from this high-mech brand, was designed by Cécile Guenat who already made an impression with the RM 71-01 Talisman.
Back in 1961, “Sweets For My Sweet” put The Drifters into the R&B top ten. Richard Mille has taken this message to heart with its latest Bonbon watches in ten limited editions. It’s a collection no-one was expecting from a brand more readily associated with world-class athletes, advanced mechanisms and high-tech materials — and the subject of gentle mockery in certain quarters when it was unveiled at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie in Geneva last January. How wrong they were. The Bonbon collection is now being hailed for its huge originality, uncompromising mechanical solutions and use of innovative materials to inject some much-needed fun into an often right-thinking industry. Richard Mille’s candy-themed collection is typical of a brand that has never ceased to impress with products at the cutting edge of technology and innovation, thanks to which it maintains a growth rate of 15% per year. The world’s lightest mechani-
cal watch at 18.83 grams, strap included? That was Richard Mille. The first tourbillon to be put through its paces by a world-class athlete? Richard Mille again. The first watch with a cable-suspended movement for ultimate shock protection? Still Richard Mille. So when a brand with these credentials decides to dip into the candy jar, best take it seriously. High-tech meets design The Bonbon collection breaks down into ten limited editions of 30 pieces each. “Just saying ’bonbon’ is enough to make you smile,” laughs Cécile Guenat, who imagined the collection. “Sweets are for pleasure, sweets are for sharing. The collection was an opportunity to have fun, to become a child again. It’s disruptive, stylish, humorous and creative. The brand is serious about watchmaking but also dares to go its own way and this collection, which took eighteen months to bring to fruition, is typical of that.” This isn’t the first time Guenat has made her mark as a designer.
She is behind last year’s RM 71-01 Talisman, a fantastic blend of Art Deco and African art that positioned Richard Mille firmly in the women’s watch segment. Without going into detail, the RM 07-03 Myrtille (Blueberry) gives an idea of the various technologies and decorative techniques used. Four swirly lollipops, two gummy ribbons and two sugar canes share the dial. Each sweet is painted in acrylic and lacquered by hand. The bezel is made from Carbon TPT®, a superposition of hundreds of carbon filaments which are compiled on a machine to modify the orientation of the fibres between layers. After firing, this Carbon TPT® is sliced open to reveal random patterns. The caseback is in Quartz TPT® whose turquoise shade is a new colour that took a full year to develop. As for the caseband, it uses a gradient of both materials, allowing a gradual colour transition between the bezel and the caseback. Inside is the CRMA2 skeleton movement. A sweet treat, indeed. Christophe Roulet
RICHARD MILLE RM 07-03 BLUEBERRY. LISTENING TO CÉCILE GUENAT,
RICHARD MILLE RM 16-01 LIQUORICE. THE SMOOTH APPEARANCE OF THE
RICHARD MILLE RM 16-01 STRAWBERRY. THE LOLLIPOPS, SUGAR CANES
CRE ATIVE DIRECTOR , THE IDE A FOR THE BONBON COLLECTION CAME
GIANT ROLL OF LIQUORICE, ACHIEVED BY APPLYING A BLACK CHROME
AND OTHER CANDIES ON THE BONBON WATCHES ARE MACHINED FROM
ALMOST BY ITSELF. “IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT THE CROWN ON THE
COATING AFTER STAMPING FROM A BLOCK OF TITANIUM, SUGGESTS THE
SHEETS OF TITANIUM THEN HAND-PAINTED IN ACRYLIC TO RECREATE THE
RM 07- 01 LOOKED LIKE A PIECE OF CANDY. AND THE CASE OF THE
CARNAUBA WAX THAT TRADITIONALLY COVERS THIS DISTINCTIVELY FLA-
BRIGHTNESS AND TEXTURE OF A SUGAR COATING IN MOUTHWATERING
RM 016 REMINDED ME OF LIQUORICE . WE ALSO WANTED TO REVISIT
VOURED SWEET. BLACK, IN WATCHMAKING, USUALLY SERVES TO HIGH-
COLOUR. EACH MINIATURE IS SET INTO THE OPENWORKED DIAL, FIRMLY
THE EXISTING COLLECTIONS, IN A FUN WAY. E ACH OF THE 16 BONBON
LIGHT A TECHNICAL COMPLEXITY; HERE, IT MAKES OUR TASTEBUDS TINGLE.
SECURED ON SANDBL ASTED, HAND-CHAMFERED TITANIUM PL ATES.
WATCHES HAS ITS OWN THEME AND DECOR ATION.”
