Kevin O’Leary’s First Richard Mille Ever l Mr. Wonderful's Premiere

Hey Mr. Wonder, why am I standing outside a Richard Mill store? I wonder if I'm picking up my first Richard Mill ever. I haven't bought this brand yet, I haven't collected it yet, 'cause I had a lot of pops with the size of the watches. But maybe they've got something for me in there that solves this problem and gets me on the RM trade watch.

[Music] This [Music] hey Mr. Wonder here, I'm in a very special place. Um, this is Richard Mill. Now, I haven't collected not one watch yet, and the reason is that they're beautiful pieces, but for a lack of any better words—and this is specifically for Shark Tank—they steal the show. You know what that means? Where the shot, where the director says, "What is that on your wrist? That's too big, it's too explosive. Bring it down a notch."

For years I kept showing them ideas 'cause I wanted to add Mill to the collection, as I like to call it, until you and I met, right? While I was in Japan a few months ago, a friend of mine showed me a Mill that was made out of titanium, thin and subtle and beautiful, just, and I immediately took a picture on his wrist, sent it to wardrobe and said, "Hey, would this work on Shark Tank?" I said, "We love it! Get one of those!" And today, am I getting one of these? Yes, you're getting one of those!

Let's start with looking at, um, a traditional Mill. Something that they wouldn't let anywhere. Okay, so first of all, we start with what the brand is. Yeah, so okay, Richard Mill is the new brand compared to the old horological industry. That's true. The horological industry starts back in the 1600s. Mr. Mill, here, yeah, he founded the brand in 1999, right? The first watch that came out was the RM001 Monster, which by then, by those standards, it was pretty—it's pretty big, pretty thick.

But also, the technology behind the watch was very different back then. It was all made in titanium. I remember when it came on the scene, a lot of people were talking about it. It had a Frank Muller vibe to it, say a curve; a lot of people said that. It hadn't exploded into popular culture yet with sports stars, which was another direction you guys went. So, you really picked up some momentum with the whole tennis thing, for sure.

One round would come up in my collector community; that's when I first started hearing about it. "Have you heard about Mill? Do you have a Mill?" You know they're going into some really crazy dials, which everybody knows I'm a dial guy. And I said, "Yeah, but can I—A can I get a red band for TV? And, B can I wear it on TV?" Because my attitude is, if I can pull something out of the collection, they got to be able to wear it. And I want a really crazy dial.

So these early pieces were big, big, big watches. Yeah, and going back to where the familiar vibes and everything, you have to understand these are shapes in traditional horology. Most of the watches they're round. Why? Because the movement, the engines, they're round. But this is called a tonneau shape. Fringe for barrel shape. Cartier has it, AP has it. RM from—they all share it.

At that moment, FRM was the hype, was the most popular brand. What year was this? We're looking around early 2000s. 2001, this watch came out in 2001. But then from sport around 2003, 2004, and from there you're going to start seeing how everything derived. This first TRB on movement and Richard Mill RM001. You have split second, knows the first tourbillon. This is what the base, or let's say the essence of our tourbillon movements.

Most of the collection we also have automatic or manual movements, non-tourbillon, but the base, like what defines RM. I just want to make a point here. People ask me all the time, "Why do you need a resale store anymore for the watch industry?" What we're doing right now tells you why. This is actually the client's den, if you want to call it that. I'm having a little espresso, we're going through the whole, you know, chest to get in the mood, in the zone of receiving a new piece, which is always very special.

And it's a chance for us to discuss the background on these pieces, and it's very important in the watch industry. Wherever I go, anywhere in the world, you find rooms like this that cost a fortune to make. Even though it's very hard to get these pieces, the experience makes it worth it. Now, if I was just going to get this in a FedEx envelope, that would suck! I would rather go through this experience. I don't want it delivered to my house in a box; I want to live and inhale the experience of that watch and really enjoy receiving it.

That's exactly what we're doing now. I'll try my best. Yeah, as time goes by, more watches are designed. This is the RM005, first automatic one, right? Remember that? Yeah, and this one actually was special; it was one of the first ambassadors, Philippe Massa. It's when you started introducing some pretty brash colors into the dial. That was when it really started to get interesting, and that was when the buzz started to increase. Hip-hop culture embraced this big time. I mean, I saw it a lot on stars' hands, and yet, still for me, too big; couldn't wear it.

You know, I got a tough crowd in the television world that just don't want—when you're holding up your arm to steal the show. Yeah, we've been at it for years trying to find the perfect. No, and you're right; you've done it. That's great. Look, some other emblematic pieces are square, which a lot of people don't know have a Far Vibe in that.

Yeah, exactly. Again, those are shapes that already existed in the watch industry. Yeah, very important watch, RM07, Tribun Square. And then from there, you're gonna start jumping—oh, I remember some of these really interesting dials. The crazy stuff started showing up. This is a very important watch. These have become very collectible. Yeah, very—today it's hot. That's when you start getting aftermarket appreciation.

The big question with me at the beginning was what would hold value in the secondary market? For a while, it was a little shaky; that's not the problem today. Yeah, there's more brand awareness also. Big time, you're more exposed to the brand. A lot of people know about it, so people want it. Probably is that production doesn't increase that much, but that's always going to be the problem. I mean, people want what they can't get. That is the nature of the watch industry.

It's the weirdest dynamic ever, you know, that's what happens. And you know what? A lot of people get me; they criticize me, like, "Okay, so why don't you make more watches?" And the answer is: it's just impossible; it's very difficult.

Well, I know the titanium we're looking at today is very hard to manufacture. It's really difficult. You know, one difficult part of the watch manufacturing is not the movement itself; it's the casing. In fact, the back sapphire to make it so thin that it fits in the watch, it is very, very difficult.

And the production, the rejection in production is extremely high. So maybe 20 watches are planned to be made; maybe 4 or 5 come out. I get it, I get it. That's been a problem for a lot of makers. FPJ had that problem with a lot of his early dials. This is where we start getting some very interesting complications on these pieces.

Yeah, now you start seeing T B on. So example, this is the RM21. Yeah, came out in titanium first. The base plate is designed from, uh, inspiration from aerodynamics in airplanes. This watch appreciated almost 30% right out of the gate, about.

Yeah, you don't find them anymore, actually. And we just unveiled a new one, a new edition of 2201. I'll show it to you. It came out in a combination of black carbon, white carbon, and titanium. Yeah, so as you see this, now we're going to the RM27010, the Rafa. That's when Rafa became part of their—I consider this when you actually crescendoed when that deal happened, which was really a deal on your behalf.

And the whole idea that it could take the tremendous stress that tennis puts a watch under; it would still hold time and the caliber would remain intact. That was such a hell of a story. And I got—I got hand there many stories there, an engineer's story that they gave the watch up. "Okay, here's your new watch; go test it."

"No problema." He goes, plays, plays with it; then he comes back, "Here's your watch. What happened?" "I don't know. It's not moving." And the watch fell. "Oh yeah, no problem; put it back together; here, try it again." And they did that, they did that, they did that onto the watch. The G-forces of a Rafa slam must have been incredible! And that's the design behind the watch.

Well, I think that's absolutely brilliant to do it that way. And then once the word got out that he could play tennis with it on, although I think he put it on his left wrist—also, another thing is that there are not many watches in the watch industry designed for this. You're going to see other—not naming names—but you're going to see other players that go through other big brands. They play with the watches, they play without the watches, and then when the picture comes up, they put the watch on.

This guy, you know, he wears it during the whole thing. Fantastic! So, as you progress, you know, also got round this; this is a very important watch in the collection, RM028. Yeah, it's a little unusual. People that want their first or second Mill want the Mill look, yeah? You know, the round is defin—that's when you see a "What do you—okay, that's a Richard Mill."

But people are not so—they not recognize this piece as a Richard Mill. I've seen this piece; yeah, it's not easy. You have to look at it and say, "What is that?" And then you realize Mill went off-piste, so to speak. And did you know that a round piece is the one that Mr. Mill was wearing? I'm sure he is the only one.

Yeah, I get it, I get it that he wears. Fast forward to today, actually, the RM06701, which is today's hero Manuel. That is the watch I'm getting! That's the watch! You—and there's a reason for that. It is so beautiful in terms of the dial and subtle and blends into the whole aesthetic that I have for Shark Tank, which is that black suit, white shirt, crisp look.

This marries perfectly! Of course, it's going to have a red band, I assume? Yes, it does, absolutely! All right, let's have a look at it. Well, bring it!

Important to note about this watch, even the dial, it does not have a dial. Well, it's a skeleton, right? That's it! Yeah, that's it! And that's a beauty. Most, most, most of the watches, unless they are for all, um no. But the way the skeleton is done, it's almost a floating image; it's beautiful. I mean, what I've noticed about this watch, 'cause I saw it in person, the digital image does not do it justice.

It just never—it does not do it justice, 'cause we're going to see it now, and it's just a whole different experience. I keep saying that; I keep telling that, when you see these renderings, trust me, when you have the watch on the wrist, it's a totally complete, totally different experience.

Yeah, let's see it! Be back! Here we go, ready? Exciting! It's always my favorite part—bring out the piece! Roll the drums! They’ve been waiting a long time for this Mill. It’s taken a long time to get it! Um, on the other hand, you got to wait for pieces. Anything worthwhile, you got to wait. That's how it works.

I will say one thing, though: it's a very comfortable piece, 'cause when I was in Japan with the FP Jordan Society, and these guys are hardcore collectors, we talk about all of our FPS, but we also have a lot of other pieces we travel with. And a lot of people were showcasing their Mills. I didn't have one, obviously, and we talked a lot about it. But when I saw—I wore this one on my wrist and said, "This is the one for me. I'll start my journey into Richard Mill with this piece, 'cause it's going to work so well."

And you know, each year, on Shark Tank, I try and find nine new pieces; there's nine different watches where I shoot Shark Tank. So, you know, each year my journey is the Shark Tank nine—where am I going to find them? And this year, I'm attempting to do everything new, everything new. Every single piece will have never been on Shark Tank before! That's the challenge! I'm starting right now!

And so I've got basically six months to pull it off. I got a lot of watches coming, but they're all going to be first-time entrances into the tank. All right, this is the big reveal here from Roy!

Yeah, absolutely! Absolutely! [Music] Wow! Isn't that beautiful? That's spectacular! Look at that! Of course, this works so well with red; it's crazy! I mean, that's perfect! Also, this titanium is beautifully light and crisp. It's a different—when you see it and then the take, that when you take the watch, you don't expect it to be so light—beautiful flywheel!

Yeah, very, very interesting design on the flywheel. See that? Amazing! Remember what I told—did I mention to you about the back side to Mill? That sapphire, so that wheel—the movement is so thin that it actually comes out of the case into the space where the sapphire would be. You're kidding!

So they have to extra mill the sapphire and make room for it to fit? Yeah, and that is extremely difficult! Yeah, it's spectacular! Let me set it for you, sure. So this comes with a butterfly clasp? Good, they're like a safety clasp. I can see right now; I cannot guess. Tell me if it’s too tight or not. That's perfect—good eye, good eye!

Let's be in large business. Wow, that's beautiful! Absolutely stunning! Yeah, I mean, you can see from five yards away, it's a real beauty! Absolutely spectacular! Oh, that's nice! Thank you very much! Pleasure, boss, and you got it right on time! You said you’d get it in December. You got it!

I tried, meaning I try to keep expectations, you know, realistic. Yeah, well, I'm going to wear it! That’s absolutely gorgeous! Okay, so setting the date and time. So the watch, besides being full titanium, the crown, if you notice, the crown, it has a function selector! As you open, as you turn around, this isn’t very nice!

Wow, that detail is incredible! Yeah, wow! WDH, WDH stands for W winding, D date, and H hours. So as you, many, the crown, you open and close the crown, it would shift into gears. The raised numerals are beautiful. Yeah, it's ni—so sh, really interesting! Fantastic!

There's a power reserve here? No, it doesn’t have that—that's the little hand that indicates the gear. Oh no! Yeah, so when you move the crown, if you notice, it will jump into gear. I see, is that a screw down crown? No? Okay, you open that.

I see, I see—so right now we're at hands. Yeah, that's interesting! Yeah, that take 127…oh, perfect! That's fantastic! Well, thank you very much! My pleasure! This always—this side first, how? And then, and when, with time, as you close it, you learn that too. Beautiful!

I didn’t even make me too tight, but you told me, "No, it's fine!" Okay, thanks a lot! That’s my pleasure! Oh well, that's it! I've got my Mill, and a new journey begins. Watch for this one on season 16 of Shark Tank! You can't miss it! And of course, it's got the red band! Thank you! You did a great job on this!