Richard Mille unveils its largest store in the world, in Singapore! The new flagship in Orchard Road boasts 11 lifestyle spaces inspired by Prohibition-era bars – and houses a horological secret

Oct 11 , 2023

Swiss luxury watchmaker Richard Mille just unveiled its sleek St Martin flagship boutique in Orchard Road, Singapore. Photos: Richard Mille

Swiss luxury watchmaker Richard Mille just opened a 7,500 sq ft boutique in Singapore, its largest in the world – the ‘speakeasy’ concept took three years to construct and will not be replicated

The St Martin flagship is lifestyle-centric, featuring a sports bar, dining room, outdoor patio and even crafting space with a workbench, used for after-sales service as well as watchmaking workshops

Watchmaker Richard Mille has set up a home in Singapore! The luxury Swiss horological brand just opened a spacious 7,500 sq ft boutique – its largest in the world – on 1 St Martin’s Drive in the Lion City’s prestigious Orchard Road district. The brand marked the occasion with a star-studded launch event last week.

Richard Mille’s newly launched boutique in Orchard Road, Singapore is not your typical watch store

But instead of creating a typical watch store where the timepieces are displayed prominently, the team was inspired by the secret cocktail bars of the Prohibition era to conceal a “home” behind the exterior facade of the boutique.

Guests first step into a den or central hub, where an impressive library featuring curved floor-to-ceiling shelves showcase a curated collection of tomes on a range of topics including film, music, architecture, history and art. An olive tree, a work by French visual artist William Amor, takes root at the centre, evoking a touch of the Mediterranean basin that Richard Mille holds dear.

The St Martin boutique features a Moroccan-themed outdoor patio, reminiscent of a riad

“This place must feel like entering the mind of Richard Mille, the man. We sought to define his most important ideas and inspirations. My father has an insatiable curiosity, an incredible capacity for openness, even though his extremely generous and humane personality is also very complex. The idea was to sum up this multifaceted personality in one place,” says brand director and Mille’s son, Alexandre, who was in Singapore for the boutique’s launch.

An in-house team based in the brand’s Paris head office came up with the concept for the boutique, which took three years to construct. While the team will draw inspiration from the “mood and spirit” of the space for future boutiques, it will not replicate this exact design anywhere else, says Alexandre.

A sports bar is not what visitors would expect at Richard Mille’s boutique on 1 St Martin’s Drive, Singapore

“We never want to be too comfortable and copy-paste the concept everywhere else in the world. What we will take from this space is the thought process of designing it and how it inspired us and translate that to other locations,” he adds.

The St Martin boutique comprises 11 different interconnected spaces that beckon guests to explore, lounge and linger, including a sports bar, a dining room, outdoor Moroccan-inspired riad patio and even a hidden library.

“The architectural organisation of St Martin creates a feeling of astonishment at not having guessed such a space could exist behind this door. Discovering it makes you wonder what the next surprise will be. Our intention was to play with visitors’ expectations,” says Alexandre.