Peter Harrison

Spear’s Review

The story of Swiss watch brand Richard Mille is quite extraordinary.

Since its launch in 1999, the company has grown at breakneck speed to become Switzerland’s sixth largest luxury watch brand – leapfrogging much older marques such as Breitling, IWC and Vacheron Constantin in the process. With more than CHF1.5 billion in sales in 2023, it sits at the top table alongside the other Swiss watchmakers that Spear’s readers know only too well. 

A large part of Richard Mille’s success has been down to, well, Richard Mille. The man who gives the company its name is a virtuoso and has used his engineering expertise, modern materials and almost total disregard for convention to create stunning timepieces that are inspired by a love of racing. (The company tagline is ‘a racing machine on the wrist’.)

But, behind the scenes, Peter Harrison is the one who keeps things ticking. The company’s CEO for the EMEA region (not to be confused with Schroders CEO Peter Harrison) has been instrumental in its growth since its early days.

He previously told Spear’s that the arrival of Richard Mille – which develops highly engineered watches with advanced, modern, often lightweight materials – represented a change of pace for the industry. ‘It used to be the case that a watch being or looking heavy meant that it was expensive,’ Harrison said. ‘But our audience – people with a passion for racing – understand that reducing weight can be a good thing.’

The brand has had an extraordinary array of partners – from Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc to actors Michelle Yeoh and John Malkovich, as well as organisations from Airbus Corporate Jets to the Louvre Abu Dhabi.