‘The one accessory I can wear is a watch,’ says Miles Chamley-Watson, the Brixton-born US Olympic fencer. ‘We’re always in white, right? And I’ve got a mask on. That’s why I got my hands tattooed, so you can see it’s me, because I’m always covered up. Mum wasn’t happy.’ But, he explains, ‘When you fence, the right hand holds the foil, but the left hand is just kind of free. So right here is where the jacket ends,’ he indicates, ‘right at the tattoo. And the watch is right there.’
The watch in question is a diamond-encrusted Richard Mille RM 67-01 Automatic Extra Flat, specially made for Chamley-Watson, which he says he only takes off when he sleeps. Like all Richard Mille’s sporting partners, what makes his relationship with this Swiss watchmaker different is that he wears his timepiece when he competes.
You’ll see Nafissatou Thiam the Belgian three-time Olympic champion heptathlete running and jumping with her RM 07-04 on (as she did in Paris when she won her record-breaking third Olympic gold in her event) and left-hand-playing Rafael Nadal wearing the RM 27-05 manual winding flying tourbillon on his right wrist when he’s on the tennis court (the lightest mechanical tourbillon ever made, weighing in at only 11.5 grammes without strap). In fact, it was the Spanish tennis player who first got Chamley-Watson interested in Richard Mille. ‘Around 10 years ago I saw Rafael Nadal wearing one and I thought what is on his wrist? Because they look like very unique pieces. And since I found out about it (when I was about 14/15) and started to learn about watches, it became my dream to be part of the Richard Mille family.’
That became a reality when he met Dimitri Mille, who is a fencing fan, and was invited to his wedding. There Chamley-Watson was introduced to his sister Amanda and Richard, their father and founder of the company. ‘It was an amazing experience, and later, Amanda said, “I have something for you.” What’s interesting is that the watches they create for partners are chosen for what you do. So a high jumper will get an RM 67-02, which is very light. But they said, “You’re very different – we’ve got a full-set RM 67-01 diamond watch, can you wear it?” And I said, “Of course, I can wear it!” It’s such a me watch. The most stunning watch I’ve ever seen. It’s brilliant.’
Another Richard Mille partner, champion skier Alexis Pinturault, once told me he broke a few of his watches (RM 67-02s) by smacking them against slalom gates at over 80 kilometres an hour on his high-speed descents. Richard Mille timepieces are super high-tech, inspired by the racing car and aeronautics industries, and since launch in 2001 the brand has pioneered the use of materials not previously used by watchmakers such as graphene, titanium and carbon nanofibers, and many others. This, combined with the limited numbers made, means that these watches retail for hundreds of thousands of pounds. So I asked Pinturault whether smashing his Richard Milles had been a problem. ‘They were really happy about this,’ he said. ‘For their R&D they can fix the form then – they know what is weak, or what was too weak, or what was strong enough. And then they can deal with it and make big improvements.’
Has Chamley-Watson had similar experiences?
‘I did crack it open once,’ he says. ‘I don’t think it was from the foil – I might have celebrated and hit something. I went to my room and called them. I said, “Hey, I’m product testing. I’m really sorry.” And they said, “This is good. Now we know.”’
Interestingly, during the Paris Olympics Chamley-Watson was seen testing a different Richard Mille timepiece, an RM 65-01 Automatic Split-Seconds Chronograph in dark yellow quartz TPT. The striking colour makes it highly visible in the context of his white fencing gear. Maybe this will now share his bedside table with the diamond-set model.
Peter Howarth has been the style director of British GQ and the editor of Arena, British Esquire and Man About Town. He is the co-founder and CEO of London creative agency SHOW and editorial director of Secret Trips
