Horological heroes
of the hourCASE
STUDIES
PORTRAIT: JULIEN T HAMON WRITER: CARAGH MCKAYWoman of her time
Cécile Guenat channels Pokémon and African art at Richard Mille
It’s taken a long time for the ine-watch industry to get
to grips with what women want in a timepiece. There
have been sporty, lowery, minimal and jewelled pieces
to cater to a spectrum of tastes. But aesthetics tend to
err on the classic side.
Cécile Guenat, director of ladies’ collections at
Richard Mille, is out to change that. Her latest creation –
the ‘RM 71-01 Automatic Tourbillon Talisman’ – is a
super-technical, multi-textured object that looks as if
it sprang from a Ridley Scott storyboard rather than
the tiny Les Breuleux village in Switzerland’s Franches-
Montagnes region. ‘When I started designing this
collection, it was the summer of Pokémon Go. The
“morphing” that underlies the creatures’ evolution in
the game informed parts of the collection,’ she says.
Architecture is also a powerful inluence: ‘I really
like very clean spaces, but also the forms and volumes
of art deco – I was thinking of the longitudinal tautnessCÉCILE GUENAT, DIRECTOR
OF LADIES’ COLLECTIONS
AT RICHARD MILLE,
PHOTOGRAPHED IN HER
STUDIO AT THE BRAND’S
HEADQUARTERS IN THE
FRANCHES-MONTAGNES
REGION OF SWITZERLAND.
SHE WEARS ONE OF THE
TEN ‘RM 71-01 TALISMAN’
WOMEN’S DESIGNS SHE
CREATED THIS YEAR. FROM
CHF400,000 (€354,000)
of New York’s built environment in the geometric
and organic shapes of the collection.’ Ancient African
sculpture and masks, meanwhile, are a reference for
the graphic dial designs. ‘The contrasts and geometry
of these objects fascinate me because they preigure
elements of today’s design in content and form.’
Has being a female designer inluenced her creative
output? ‘If you claim the status of designer, it doesn’t
matter if you are a man or a woman. But I think you
have an obligation to remain attentive to popular
culture. I like to know what’s going on around me.’
Having graduated from HEAD, Geneva School of
Art and Design, Guenat learnt on the job with a
jeweller in Lausanne. She worked in creative teams for
fashion and jewellery houses and, three years ago, was
enticed back to the family business – watchmaking – in
the Swiss mountains. (Her father, Dominique Guenat,
is Richard Mille’s business partner). »Watches
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