Style Edit: Richard Mille backs Alexia Barrier’s all-female circumnavigation

Feb 20, 2026

The Famous Project saw French sailor Alexia Barrier lead the first all-female team to attempt a circumnavigation of the globe, without stopping and without support. The feat was backed by watchmaker Richard Mille. Photo: Handout

The Famous Project saw the French sailor aim for the historic Jules Verne Trophy, during which her multinational 8-member crew were presented with severe technical challenges

A maker of the most technically advanced, boundary-pushing watches, Richard Mille has always worked hand in hand with the leading lights of high-performance sport. In addition to its associations with the luminaries of technically demanding sports, from tennis to golf to athletics, the cutting-edge Swiss luxury watchmaker has forged a close partnership with sports like motor racing, where fractions of a second count and technical mastery is everything. The manufacture not only works with iconic Formula One teams McLaren and Ferrari, but also has its own endurance sports operation, the Richard Mille Racing Team.

The Famous Project’s boat, the Idec Sport. Photo: Alexander Champy-McLean

The company is equally deeply embedded in another sport that combines pioneering technology with exacting individual skills – that of sailing. The brand has its own regatta in the Richard Mille Cup, for example, through which it brings grace and elegance to the seas in a competition for beautiful yachts built before 1939. Now, the brand is supporting a sailing venture that has recently carved out a whole series of world firsts, smashing a few glass ceilings along the way.