THE HUMAN ELEMENT
Apart from Michelle Yeoh and Natalie Portman, Richard Mille also works with other female brand ambassadors, namely professional golfers Diana Luna and Christie Kerr. “When you partner with athletes, you know they’re not always [going to be] at the top of their game. They go through peaks and troughs. What’s important to us is building long-term relationships,” says Malachard, adding that one key criteria to its partnerships is that athletes must agree to wear their Richard Mille watches when they compete. “That’s how we develop our products and improve our know-how. When our engineers develop watches, they are doing it specific to the requirements of each sporting discipline.” Take Richard Mille’s high-profile partnership with tennis ace Rafael Nadal. Malachard elaborates, “When we signed with Nadal, he was sixth or fifth worldwide, and a lot of people were saying he’s finished, his knees are finished… But he came back and won five, six majors. He’s now got 14 major titles. At the moment he’s going through some slight injuries. He might come back and win some majors, he might not. But he’s got such a career and he’s such a character as well, such an amazing person.” Today, Richard Mille has a 20-strong team of brand partners—of these, only three women in a sea of men. But there is more to come, as Malachard reveals that the company will add to the list a horse rider who will shift the balance in favour of the women. Indeed, the women who wear a Richard Mille are few and far between, but that only serves to underscore the sheer exclusivity of these watches. Lobby Level, Grand Hyatt Singapore, tel: 6733 1313