Sell Your Richard Mille
We buy Richard Mille outright from private sellers across Australia, settling by bank transfer on authentication. This is the highest-value brand we handle and, honestly, the one we see least often — there are not many of these watches in the country. What matters at this level is not how many a dealer has traded but whether they can actually complete: quickly, quietly, and at the number they named.
The Smiling Second is run by two brothers, both practising doctors. We are not an anonymous trading name — we are identifiable people with professional reputations, and neither of us needs a watch deal to go a particular way. That is why our offer holds when the watch is as you described it.
Nothing is ever authenticated by us. An independent watchmaker examines every piece. In Melbourne that happens at our Collins Street boutique and takes around thirty minutes, so payment reaches you before you leave. In Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and on the Gold Coast, our watchmaking partner examines it and we settle on their word. Beyond those cities, insured transit is arranged at our cost and the terms do not change. You never post it yourself and you never wait on a courier.
How we buy across every brand sits on our sell a watch page. This page is about Richard Mille, and about the three things that actually decide whether a sale at this level goes through.
Why sell a Richard Mille to us rather than anyone else?
Three reasons, and none of them is a claim about volume.
We can actually complete
Very few buyers in Australia can settle a transaction at this level immediately. We do it by bank transfer the moment an independent watchmaker clears the piece — no financing condition, no staged payment, no fortnight of silence while funds are arranged.
Discretion is the point, not a feature
A Richard Mille is recognisable across a room, and its owner is often recognisable too. You already know that, which is why it shapes how we handle every part of the sale rather than being offered as an afterthought.
Our client network is international
Pieces at this level place internationally, because that is where the buyers are. A dealer whose reach ends at the Australian border is pricing for a market that may not contain a buyer for your watch at all.
Which references are we seeking?
Grouped as Richard Mille numbers them, and split between the men's and ladies' lines because both are a real part of this market. Every reference below is one Richard Mille has produced.
- Men's — flyback chronographsRM 011 · RM 11-03 · RM 11-03 McLaren · RM 60-01 Regatta · RM 72-01
- Men's — split-seconds chronographRM 65-01
- Men's — extra-flatRM 67-01 · RM 67-02 · RM 016 · RM 033
- Men's — automaticsRM 010 · RM 023 · RM 029 · RM 030
- Men's — signature and athlete seriesRM 027 · RM 035 · RM 038 · RM 055
- Ladies' — automaticsRM 007 · RM 07-01 · RM 07-02 · RM 07-04 · RM 037
- Ladies' — tourbillonsRM 019 · RM 026 · RM 51-01 · RM 51-02 · RM 71-01 · RM 71-02
Factory-set pieces are welcome. Aftermarket stones are not, and on a Richard Mille the difference is neither subtle nor arguable.
If your reference is not shown, write to us anyway. The list reflects where our interest currently sits rather than the limit of what we will look at.
Richard Mille we have bought
Three of them, photographed in our own studio. The rest sit in the Richard Mille collection.
One figure, and it holds.
Send the reference and confirm the set is complete. Settled by bank transfer the moment an independent watchmaker clears it — and no public listing unless you want one.
Start a confidential conversationDo you buy Richard Mille without the full set?
No. Full sets only, and there is no version of this where we make an exception. Box, papers, card, the strap and buckle it came on. This is the strictest position we hold on any brand, and it is here rather than buried lower down so nobody spends a week discovering it.
The original purchase invoice is a different matter, and worth reading carefully. We would very much like to see it — it is the cleanest confirmation of where a watch came from. But it does not need to be passed on with the sale. We will view it and hand it straight back. If you would rather your purchase record stayed private, it does, and that changes nothing about the offer.
Our position varies by brand, which matters if you hold more than one. Rolex, Audemars Piguet and Vacheron Constantin are full sets preferred, with incomplete sets considered case by case. Patek Philippe, Richard Mille and F.P. Journe are full sets only.
We will look at the invoice. We do not need to keep it. That distinction matters more to sellers than anyone in this trade admits.
What does the assessment actually look at?
These materials cannot be polished out
That is the whole difference between assessing a Richard Mille and assessing a steel watch. A scratch in a steel case is a job for a watchmaker. A chip in TPT, carbon or ceramic is permanent — the layers are the structure, and there is nothing to buff back.
So case condition carries more weight here than anywhere else in what we buy, and it is examined properly rather than glanced at. The same applies to the strap and buckle, which are part of the watch on these and not accessories.
Service history is taken into account alongside all of it. None of this is a search for reasons to pay less — it is what makes an offer survive the bench.
Three of those questions, in close-up.
How firm is the figure?
Firm, on one condition: tell us what the watch has been through. A chip in the case, a service that is overdue, a replaced strap — declare any of it and we build it into the number from the beginning, where it stays. It does not reappear as a deduction when you are sitting across the table, which is the moment sellers dread and the reason many put a sale off for years.
What no figure can absorb is what it was never told. If the watchmaker finds damage that was not mentioned, the number has to be looked at again — not as a tactic, but because the watch in front of them is not the watch we priced. At these values a figure that moves late is not a negotiation, it is a wasted afternoon for both of us.
The watchmaker is independent of us and has no stake in what we offer you.
Why would your figure be competitive on a brand you see rarely?
Because the figure is not carrying the cost of a long wait. A dealer who expects to hold a Richard Mille for a year has to build that year into what they pay — that is the honest arithmetic of retail, and it is not where we are buying from. We generally know where a piece at this level is going before we own it, and often to a client already looking for that reference.
The shallowness of the Australian market cuts both ways, and it is worth being straight about. A seller here typically finds very few parties who can engage at all, and fewer who can complete without conditions. We are not competing against a deep field. We would rather secure the piece than shave the number.
Start a confidential conversationWhere can I sell a Richard Mille in Australia?
Three ways to start, all finishing identically: one figure, paid once the watch has been cleared.
How does selling to us compare with the alternatives?
Selling to us
Completion: bank transfer on authentication, no conditions attached.
Certainty: one figure, held when the watch is as described.
Cost: nothing deducted from the number agreed.
Privacy: no public listing required; invoice viewed, never retained.
Private sale
Completion: depends entirely on a stranger's funds arriving.
Certainty: an offer holds only until it does not.
Cost: no commission, but every part of the risk is yours.
Privacy: the watch is advertised publicly, to an audience that pays close attention.
Auction
Completion: a date set months ahead, then settlement after it.
Certainty: nothing is known until the room decides, and a lot that fails to sell does so publicly.
Cost: seller's commission plus associated fees.
Privacy: catalogued and photographed permanently, in the record.
Consignment
Completion: when the right buyer appears, not before.
Certainty: no fixed date, though the piece stays insured with us.
Cost: a fee of 5–10% depending on the watch.
Privacy: as discreet as an outright sale.
On a Richard Mille we will say plainly when consignment would serve you better, and sometimes it would. For a seller who wants the matter closed and closed quietly, it usually would not.
Why do other dealers bring us the pieces they cannot move?
Because the business began on their side of the counter. It began as a wholesale business, trading between dealers, and the arithmetic has not changed since: thin margins, fast turnover. A retail-first dealer needs a wider margin for perfectly good reasons — they carry the watch, the premises and the wait for the right client. That was never our structure, and turning stock quickly on slim margins is what lets the number sit near the watch's real worth while the deal still works at our end.
Richard Mille is where that matters most. A jeweller or a retailer handed one of these often cannot price it and has nowhere to place it — the watch becomes a very large amount of capital sitting in a safe with no obvious exit. We are frequently the call that gets made. Coming to us yourself simply removes a step: you are dealing with the end buyer rather than someone who intends to resell it, and the number reflects where in the chain you are standing.
How do I find my Richard Mille reference?
Easier than on most brands, and you almost certainly know it already — Richard Mille references are how these watches are spoken about, and owners rarely need telling.
- The papers name it. Since we buy complete sets only, the card and documentation will be with the watch, and the reference is on them. For most sellers that is the end of the question.
- The model designation is on the watch. Where exactly it appears varies between references and generations, so rather than send you hunting, photograph the watch front and back and we will identify it precisely.
- The case is usually numbered. Please do not send us that number. We do not need it to give you a figure, and on a brand where so few examples exist, an individual number in circulation is a genuine risk to you rather than to us.
- If you are unsure of anything, photographs of the dial, the case profile and the buckle are enough. Identification is our job, not yours.
Can you sell a Richard Mille discreetly?
This is the question that matters most on this page, and you are right to be asking it. A Richard Mille is identifiable at a glance, there are few of them in this country, and the people who own them are often known. A seller understands all of that before they contact anyone.
What is standard. Pieces we buy are usually recorded, our sold archive included, since that is how a dealer evidences what it actually deals in. The number identifying your particular watch is never part of that. Case numbers appear nowhere — not on our site, not on any platform — our photography is framed so no engraving can be read, and we never publish an image of a card, paperwork or an invoice.
Your name does not travel with the watch. We do not tell buyers, other dealers or anyone else who sold us a piece. It is not a service we offer; it is simply how the business is run.
No public listing at all, when that is what you need. On Richard Mille this is closer to the norm than the exception. We can place a watch with nothing on the site and nothing visible to the Australian retail network, which is where our international client base earns its keep. Arranged in advance, before anything begins.
And the honest cost. A piece that never reaches the open market is never bid against, and that shows up modestly in the figure. You should weigh that up front rather than find out afterwards. Some sellers want the strongest possible number; others want to have never appeared anywhere. We will not pretend the second is free.
There are not many of these watches in Australia, and the people who own them are often known. We treat that as the starting point.
Questions sellers ask us
Will you buy without the box or the card?
No. On Richard Mille it is complete sets only, and that answer does not change with the reference or the figure. It is the one place we are entirely inflexible, and we would rather say so in a sentence than after a valuation.
Do I have to hand over my purchase invoice?
No. We would like to see it and we will give it straight back — it never forms part of what is passed on. If you would prefer your purchase record stayed private, it does, and the offer is unaffected.
There is a small chip in the case. Is it worth contacting you?
Yes, and tell us about it in the first message. It will be priced in from the start and stay priced in. What causes a problem is a chip the watchmaker finds that nobody mentioned.
How quickly can the whole thing be done?
An offer usually the same day you write. From acceptance, the watch is examined by an independent watchmaker and settled by bank transfer immediately on clearance — in Melbourne, before you have left the building.
Can you find me something in return?
Frequently that is the reason for the sale. Tell us the reference you want and our sourcing service goes looking, here and internationally. On this brand, knowing who holds what is most of the job.
When you are ready, send the reference and confirm the set is complete — or look through the Richard Mille we hold and have traded to see what passes through us.
Start a confidential conversation
