Watchmaker’s superbike collaboration shifts diversification drive into higher gear
Richard Mille and Brough Superior show off rare case of a €200,000 luxury motorcycle produced with the input of a watch brand
Luxury watchmakers have long experimented with motorcycle tie-ins, but most have stopped short at limited collaborations or branded one-offs. Partnerships such as the ones by now-defunct watchmaker JeanRichard with MV Agusta,
Jaeger-LeCoultre with racer Valentino Rossi and, more recently, Bvlgari with motorbike brand Ducati, have produced attention-grabbing watches but with little lasting impact.
A more ambitious move has been made by Brough Superior, the boutique motorcycle manufacturer, which has teamed up with Richard Mille to launch the RMB01 — a €200,000, track-only superbike designed in collaboration with the watchmaker. Unlike past branding exercises, this is a full production run of 150 motorcycles, with a third already spoken for.
The RMB01 represents a rare case of a motorcycle designed with the engineering philosophy and signature styling of a specific watchmaker. With its carbon fibre exoskeleton, aerospace-grade components, and design cues echoing Richard Mille’s six- and seven-figure timepieces, the project shows how luxury brands are extending their influence beyond accessories into high-value, high-performance engineering.
With its sci-fi movie styling, the RMB01 is a far cry from the Brough Superior that some will know as the prewar machine on which TE Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) lost his life 90 years ago after crashing in a Dorset lane.
Engineer George Brough built his first powered two-wheeler in 1919 and soon established a reputation for making “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles” with his SS80 and SS100 models, both now highly sought-after collector items. A 1929 SS100 fetched £315,100 at auction in 2014.
Brough Superior remained mothballed after the second world war until 2008 when British businessman Mark Upham acquired the rights and partnered with Thierry Henriette, owner of Toulouse-based engineering company Boxer Design, to develop a unique V-twin engine for the revived bikes. Henriette took over the reborn brand in 2013 and has continued to expand the line-up by adding one new model per year.
It was at the Rétromobile classic car show in Paris in 2019 that Richard Mille, the man behind the eponymous watchmaker, got into contact with Brough Superior. “We were exhibiting there and I saw someone come to our stand who began looking at one of our bikes in incredible detail,” recalls Brough Superior executive director Albert Castaigne.
“He spent a really long time examining every visible part and taking in all the design elements, and then someone told me it was Richard Mille. He introduced himself and said he was very interested in seeing how we worked, so we organised a factory visit,” says Castaigne.
After the visit Mille, who owns an exceptional collection of classic grand prix cars and describes the watches that carry his name as “racing machines on the wrist”, expressed an interest in collaborating. But it was another four years before the plan came to fruition.
“He gave us a direction to design something that drew parallels with Richard Mille watches, but emphasised that features should only be included if they had a purpose, not just for the sake of adding them,” says Castaigne.
An initial dozen design ideas were refined down to a machine that, while futuristic, harked back to America’s pared-down board track racers of the 1920s. Earlier this year the final renderings of the RMB01 were revealed. Last week, Brough Superior invited the FT to a specially organised test day at Spain’s Calafat race circuit, 100km south-west of Barcelona.
The multi-piece wheels have been designed to resemble a tourbillon cage, while the angled, hollowed-out shapes of the front forks and rear swingarm refer directly to the lightweight cases of Richard Mille watches. The chassis, meanwhile, takes the form of a carbon fibre exoskeleton from which the 997cc, V-twin engine and integrated six-speed gearbox are suspended, akin to skeletonised movements in the watches.
Other similarities include a clutch cover that resembles one of Richard Mille’s distinctive winding crowns and an instrument binnacle that mimics the view into an RM watch movement — complete with interconnected gears that oscillate when the ignition is switched on, activating the needles for the rev counter and speedo. The graphics are based on those on a typical Richard Mille dial, while the binnacle is bordered by a carbon fibre and titanium bezel featuring top-loading screws similar to those of the watches.
“We did suggest using exactly the same design of screws that make Richard Mille watches so distinctive, but he [Mille] said it was too obvious, so we went for something different,” says Castaigne.
Based in Toulouse — Europe’s aerospace manufacturing capital — Brough Superior has called on multiple small-scale manufacturers to supply aviation-grade components such as wheels and brake calipers, meaning that at least 50 per cent of the bike’s parts are made close to the Brough factory.
In reality, few RMB01 owners are likely to make extensive use of these bikes for the purpose for which they are intended. “It’s a mechanical work of art that’s sufficiently functional dynamically to be impressive when you ride it,” says motorcycle journalist and multiple race winner Alan Cathcart. “But it’s not street legal in any civilised country and I doubt many wealthy owners will want to grapple with it on the track on a regular basis. Thierry Henriette deserves credit for creating what I consider to be the most beautiful Brough Superior of the modern era, and for succeeding in the difficult task of designing the two-wheeled equivalent of a Richard Mille watch.”